Welcome 2 America

Background

In 2008, Tal Wilkenfeld, a 21-year-old musician from Australia, got an unexpected call from Prince. He told her he had been watching her YouTube videos over and over. Prince then invited her to parties at his Los Angeles home, where sometimes his band would play for just her, and they spent time jamming in a local studio and riding around in a limousine listening to music. The next year, Prince called from Minneapolis and said he wanted to form a trio with Wilkenfeld, asking her to pick a drummer.

They chose Chris Coleman, and Prince flew both musicians to Paisley Park for the first time in late 2009. In March 2010, Wilkenfeld arrived at Paisley Park and started improvising and playing chords based only on Prince's instructions. She said she made everything up, with no guidance beyond an occasional chord, and never heard the lyrics, the melody, or understood what the songs were about. This work became the album Welcome 2 America.

Prince began by recording live instrumental tracks with Wilkenfeld and Coleman. Then he brought in New Power Generation singers Liv Warfield, Shelby Johnson, and Elisa Fiorillo to share lead and harmony vocals. Morris Hayes added keyboards and simulated string and horn parts, earning a co-producer credit on six of the album's twelve songs. Prince told Wilkenfeld he was inspired by the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Wilkenfeld noted that even though the album later included keyboards and background vocals, it was essentially recorded as a trio, which gave it a raw feel.

Songs

The track "Hot Summer" debuted on the website of Minnesota public radio station 89.3 The Current on June 7, 2010, which was Prince's 52nd birthday, ahead of the album's planned release. In January 2013, "Same Page, Different Book" appeared as an audio-only stream over a static image on the YouTube channel of 3rdeyegirl. A reworked version of "1000 Light Years from Here," featuring new lyrics and arrangements, was issued in 2015 on Hit n Run Phase Two as a 3:05 coda to the song "Black Muse." Another alternate take of "When She Comes," with different words, also came out on Hit n Run Phase Two. "Stand Up and B Strong" is a cover of a Soul Asylum track, originally from their 2006 album The Silver Lining.

Critical reception

Critics generally gave Welcome 2 America a positive reception. On Metacritic, the album earned a score of 76 out of 100 from 16 reviews, which the site classifies as "generally favourable." Noel Murray of The A.V. Club called it "fantastic" and an "incredibly entertaining and vital set of music." Andrew Trendell from NME said the record "speaks to today's problems and demands to be heard."

Rolling Stone's Kory Grow felt the album had "stronger songs and sharper messages than much of the music he released during his final years," adding that "the grooves are funkier, the sex jams are sexier, and the Curtis Mayfield homages are superflyier." Jon Pareles of The New York Times noted that the songs address racism, exploitation, disinformation, celebrity, faith, and capitalism. He observed that even though the album was recorded eleven years prior, Prince sounds not pessimistic but matter-of-fact.