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Art Official Age

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Untitled

Art Official Age is the thirty-seventh studio album by American recording artist Prince.[1][2] It was released on September 30, 2014 by NPG Records under a renewed license to Warner Bros. Records, marking the second collaboration of both parties since 1995's The Gold Experience.

Prince also released the long-awaited album Plectrumelectrum, with his all-female touring band 3rdeyegirl, simultaneously.[3][4]

Commercial performance

Art Official Age debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 and sold 51,000 copies in its first week.[5] In its second week of sales, the album dropped to number 22 on the chart, selling 15,000 copies, bringing the total to 66,000 copies.[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
The A.V. ClubA–[8]
Chicago Tribune[9]
The Daily Telegraph[10]
Los Angeles Times[11]
The Observer[12]
Pitchfork Media6.5/10[13]
Q[14]
Rolling Stone[15]
Slant Magazine[16]

Art Official Age received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 24 reviews.[17] In his review for the Chicago Tribune, Greg Kot said that it is "a more substantial and stranger album" than Plectrumelectrum.[9] Randall Roberts of the Los Angeles Times called it "an exquisite Prince R&B album",[11] while The Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick said it is "a slick, seductive electro funk sci-fi concept album".[10] Kitty Empire was favorable toward Prince's use of digital production in her review for The Observer and called it "a far better album than you'd dare hope from the latterday Prince".[12] Billboard magazine's Kenneth Partridge said Prince is "funnier, sexier, and more self-aware than he's been in ages" and that the album is his most creative since the 1990s.[18]

In a less enthusiastic review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote that Art Official Age is a "full-fledged R&B album" in the vein of Prince's work with the New Power Generation, but some of his "modernization feels a bit ham-fisted".[7] Q magazine was more critical and dismissed it as "an overlong, pan-generic concept album",[14] while Jon Pareles of The New York Times said its songs lack memorable melodies despite the "musicianly ingenuity" of their production. Pareles added that it abandons the concept established by the album's first few songs and interludes, which have Prince "waking up from suspended animation 45 years from now".[19] Robert Christgau cited "Breakfast Can Wait" and "FunknRoll" as highlights in his review for Cuepoint, facetiously remarking, "our greatest composer-performer of romantic nu-funk erotica wakes up 40 years later wishing he was Janelle Monae".[20]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Prince

No.TitleLength
1."Art Official Cage"3:41
2."Clouds" (featuring Lianne La Havas)4:34
3."Breakdown" (featuring Andy Allo[21])4:04
4."The Gold Standard"5:53
5."U Know"3:56
6."Breakfast Can Wait"3:54
7."This Could Be Us"5:12
8."What It Feels Like" (featuring Andy Allo)3:53
9."affirmation I & II" (featuring Lianne La Havas)0:40
10."Way Back Home" (featuring Delilah)3:05
11."FunknRoll (Remix)"4:08
12."Time" (featuring Andy Allo)6:49
13."affirmation III" (featuring Lianne La Havas and Delilah)3:27

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[22] 15
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[23] 8
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[24] 18
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[25] 21
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[26] 3
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[27] 4
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[28] 20
French Albums (SNEP)[29] 6
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[30] 3
Italian Albums (FIMI)[31] 9
Japan (BillboardJapan200)[32] 16
Japan (Oricon Album Chart)[33] 6
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[34] 17
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[35] 2
Scottish Albums (OCC)[36] 9
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[37] 9
UK Albums (OCC)[38] 8
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[39] 1
US Billboard 200[40] 5
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[41] 1

References

  1. ^ "Fall Album Preview: 72 Anticipated Releases". Billboard. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  2. ^ "Prince announces details of two studio albums". The Guardian. August 25, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2015.
  3. ^ "Prince to release two new albums Art Official Age and Plectrum Electrum on the same day". The Independent. Jess Dehnam. August 26, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  4. ^ "Prince Amps Up Funk and Soul on Two New Albums This Fall". The Rolling Stones. Kory Grow. August 25, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2014.
  5. ^ HipHopDX (October 8, 2014). "Hip Hop Album Sales: Prince, Chris Brown, Childish Gambino". HipHopDX.
  6. ^ HipHopDX (October 15, 2014). "Hip Hop Album Sales: Keyshia Cole, Childish Gambino, Tinashe, Flying Lotus". HipHopDX.
  7. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Art Official Age - Prince". AllMusic. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  8. ^ Covington, Abigail (October 1, 2014). "Prince puts an end to his patchy period once and for all". The A.V. Club. Chicago: The Onion. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Kot, Greg (2014). "Prince says let's go crazy in 2 different ways". Chicago Tribune. No. September 29. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  10. ^ a b McCormick, Neil (2014). "Prince, Art Official Age, first review: 'delightfully nuts'". The Daily Telegraph. No. September 26. London. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  11. ^ a b Roberts, Randall (2014). "Prince dazzles and baffles on two new releases". Los Angeles Times. No. September 29. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  12. ^ a b Empire, Kitty (2014). "Prince: Art Official Age review – partying like it's 1999 all over again". The Observer. No. October 4. London. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  13. ^ Deusner, Stephen M. (October 3, 2014). "Prince / 3rdEyeGirl: Art Official Age/PlectrumElectrum". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Q (November). London: 107. 2014.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link)
  15. ^ Dolan, Jon (October 23, 2014). "Prince's New Album: Art Official Age". Rolling Stone (1220). New York. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  16. ^ Henderson, Eric (October 1, 2014). "Prince: Art Official Age". Slant Magazine. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  17. ^ "Reviews for Art Official Age by Prince". Metacritic. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  18. ^ Partridge, Kenneth (2014). "Album Review: Prince's First Two Albums In Four Years Are a Mixed Bag". Billboard (September 30). Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  19. ^ Pareles, Jon (2014). "Looking at Two Sides of Rock Royalty". The New York Times. No. September 30. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  20. ^ Christgau, Robert (October 17, 2014). "Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Retrieved October 23, 2014.
  21. ^ "Andy Allo Releases First Single Off Upcoming EP". prurgent.com.
  22. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Prince – Art Official Age". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  23. ^ "Ultratop.be – Prince – Art Official Age" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  24. ^ "Ultratop.be – Prince – Art Official Age" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved April 30, 2016.
  25. ^ "Prince Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  26. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Prince – Art Official Age". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  27. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Prince – Art Official Age" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved October 4, 2014.
  28. ^ "Prince: Art Official Age" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  29. ^ "Lescharts.com – Prince – Art Official Age". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  30. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2014. 40. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved October 10, 2014.
  31. ^ "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 40 (dal 29-09-2014 al 05-10-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  32. ^ "- BillbpardJapan200 Top Album (dal 06-10-2014 al 13-10-2014)" (in Japanese). Billboard Japan. Retrieved October 11, 2014. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  33. ^ "- 2014年09月29日～2014年10月05日のCDアルバム週間ランキング（2014年10月13日付） (dal 29-9-2014 al 5-10-2014)" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  34. ^ "Charts.nz – Prince – Art Official Age". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 3, 2014.
  35. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Prince – Art Official Age". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 11, 2014.
  36. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  37. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Prince – Art Official Age". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 8, 2014.
  38. ^ "Prince | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  39. ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 5, 2014.
  40. ^ "Prince Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
  41. ^ "Prince Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved October 9, 2014.
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