Lotusflow3r

Lore & Background

The album was recorded and mixed by Richard Furch. In December 2008, four songs were premiered on Los Angeles radio station Indie 103: a cover of 'Crimson and Clover', '4ever', 'Colonized Mind' and 'Wall of Berlin'. A month later in a Los Angeles Times article, further song titles were mentioned, namely 'Hey Valentina' (written for Salma Hayek's daughter), 'Better with Time' (an ode to Under the Cherry Moon co-star Kristin Scott Thomas), 'Love Like Jazz', '$' (about 'the most popular girl in the whole wide world'), and '77 Beverly Park'. To generate excitement, Prince launched mplsound.com in December 2008, offering an instrumental of '(There'll Never B) Another Like Me', later replaced by the finished track. A month later, the site was shut down and replaced with an announcement of a new interactive website (lotusflow3r.com), proclaiming it would allow fans to 'listen, watch and buy' music and videos featuring Prince and guest artists. The site, possibly acknowledging early reviews that the music hearkens back to his Purple Rain days (and the fact that 2009 marked its 25th anniversary), featured a thrown-down television set on a cliff with a frame from the movie. The site had three songs for listening: 'Crimson and Clover', 'Here Come', and '(There'll Never B) Another Like Me'. A couple of weeks later, it was updated again with more interactive content. The site contained 60-second samples of three songs: 'Chocolate Box', 'Colonized Mind', and 'All This Love'. On January 31, more changes were made with a new instrumental available for listening, as well as a 'teaser' video. The site also had three full songs for listening: 'Colonized Mind', 'Discojellyfish' (an instrumental non-album track based on 'Chocolate Box'), and 'Another Boy', which is sung by Bria Valente. The album contains a few songs previously known by fans. 'Feel Better, Feel Good, Feel Wonderful' was posted on Prince's now-defunct NPG Music Club website as a one-minute demo in 2006; 'U're Gonna C Me' is a remake of a track from Prince's 2002 album One Nite Alone...; and 'Kept Woman' is a track from Prince's unreleased 2006 project with Támar called Milk and Honey. Originally intended to be released together with Prince's 3121 album, the project was eventually leaked onto the internet by Támar on her website. 'Here I Come' had been posted on Prince's now-defunct 3121.com site in 2007. An excer

In Their Own Story

The studio lights hummed low as Prince adjusted the microphone, the air thick with the scent of old wood and electric potential. He signaled for the band to lock in, the rhythm section driving forward with an urgency that felt like a heartbeat waking from slumber. There was no room for hesitation here; this was the sound of freedom finally taking shape, raw and unpolished, echoing through the room as if the walls themselves were listening.

Reader's Guide

The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, selling 168,000 copies in its first week and becoming Prince's fourth consecutive top-three album in the United States. The album narrowly missed the number-one spot, selling 3,000 copies less than Keith Urban's Defying Gravity. As of February 1, 2012, the album has sold 543,700 units, according to SoundScan. Upon their release, Lotusflow3r and MPLSound received generally mixed to positive reviews from most music critics, based on aggregate scores of 61 and 62/100 from Metacritic. Bria Valente's Elixer received generally mixed or average reviews from most music critics, receiving an aggregate score of 49/100 from Metacritic.

Did You Know?

• The set includes three albums: Lotusflow3r, MPLSound, and Elixer by Bria Valente.
• The album debuted at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200, selling 168,000 copies in its first week.
• The song 'Crimson and Clover' was replaced by 'The Morning After' on the digital version.
• Prince performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno three nights in a row in March 2009.