A few years before Prince‘s tragic death in 2016, the singer announced his 2010 Welcome 2 America tour, which was supposed to arrive alongside an LP of the same name. The tour originally went ahead without an accompanying album but now, nearly a decade later, Welcome 2 America is finally about to debut. Prince’s team has offered another glimpse of the project with the revved-up track “Hot Summer.”
The new single is injected with Prince’s infectious energy. It features powerful electric guitars, a clapping beat, and a vocal hook from The New Power Generation’s Liv Warfield.
“I really love the fact that everything else on Welcome 2 America was so serious, but then it came to this fun, kind of like feel-good vibe,” Warfield said about her contribution to the song.
Welcome 2 America boasts 11 track that have never seen a proper release. Some of the songs have been performed live or played on one-off radio premieres, like “Hot Summer,” but the LP will generally feature never-before-heard music. So far, Prince’s team has previewed the effort with the title track and the funk-forward single “Born 2 Die,” which was written when President Obama was just a year into his term and the musician reflected on issues of racial injustice.
Back in 2010, Prince made a statement about Welcome 2 America, noting all the misinformation in society at the time. “The world is fraught with misin4mation,” he said. “George Orwell’s vision of the future is here. We need 2 remain steadfast in faith in the trying times ahead.”
Listen to Prince’s “Hot Summer” above.
Welcome 2 America is out 7/30 via The Prince Estate/Legacy Recordings. Pre-order it here.
Source: https://uproxx.com/indie/prince-hot-summer-welcome-2-america/