Prince’s ‘Hot Summer’ will turn your pandemic blues around
Musician Prince performs onstage at the 36th Annual NAACP Image Awards at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 19
By Lisa Respers France, CNN
Prince may have left us five years ago, but his music lives on and remains always right on time.
His estate and Legacy Recordings, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, have debuted a previously unreleased song by the late legend, titled “Hot Summer.”
The single is from “Welcome 2 America,” an album that Prince recorded in 2010 that will be released from his legendary Paisley Park vault in standard and deluxe editions on July 30.
The album is described as “a powerful creative statement that documents Prince’s concerns, hopes, and visions for a shifting society, presciently foreshadowing an era of political division, disinformation, and a renewed fight for racial justice.”
The title track, “Welcome 2 America,” began streaming in April on several platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.
“Hot Summer” arrives at the same time as a new season of the Webby awarded official podcast “The Story of Welcome 2 America,” which, according to a press release for the podcast, “takes listeners on a journey into the studios of Paisley Park and out onto the road with Prince in 2010-2011, when he recorded his political and poignant album ‘Welcome 2 America’ and then archived it, choosing to focus instead on creating unparalleled live concert residencies in cities around the US.”
On the first episode, NPG vocalist Elisa Fiorillo shared that after recording “Hot Summer,” Prince took her and others for a drive past the beach while cranking the new tune.
“All those people were outside and I’m thinking it’s broad daylight, they’re gonna see him. But we didn’t care,” Fiorillo said. “We had the windows rolled down and we were playing ‘Hot Summer.’ There’s nothing like driving in a car and listening to music and I think he agreed.”
Prince died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl in April 2016. He was 57.
The-CNN-Wire
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