3121 (album)

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3121
Prince's studio album

Publication
(s)

March 21, 2006

admission

November 19, 2004 to the end of 2005

Label (s) NPG Records / Universal Records

Format (s)

Compact Disc , Double LP , Download , Compact Cassette

Genre (s)

R&B , funk , soul , pop music , rock music

Title (number)

12

running time

53:44

occupation All songs were produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince . His band members added the following to the recordings:
  • Michael Bland - drums in 3121
  • Greg Boyer - Trombone in Te Amo Corazón , Satisfied , Get On the Boat
  • Ray Montiero - Trumpet in 3121 , Te Amo Corazón , Satisfied , Get On the Boat
  • Joshua Dunham - Bass in Te Amo Corazón , Get On the Boat
  • Cora Coleman Dunham - drums in Te Amo Corazón , Get On the Boat
  • Herbert Urena - congas , bongos and percussion in Te Amo Corazón
  • Támar Davis - Additional vocals in Incense and Candles , Love , Satisfied , Beautiful Loved and Blessed , Get On the Boat
  • Lisa Chamblee Hampton - Assistant Sound Engineer
  • Afshin Shahidi - photo shoots
  • Sam Jennings - cover design

production

Prince

Studio (s)

3121 Antelo Road ( Los Angeles )
Insomnio Studios ( Panama City )
Paisley Park Studio ( Chanhassen )

chronology
Musicology
(2004)
3121 Planet Earth
(2007)
Single releases
December 20, 2005 Te Amo Corazón
March 27, 2006 Black sweat
May 22, 2006 Fury

3121 (pronounced "thirty-one, twenty-one") is the 31st studio album by the US musician Prince . It was released on March 21, 2006 on the Universal Records / NPG Records label . The music on the album belongs to the genres R&B , funk , soul , pop and rock . Guest musicians include Candy Dulfer , Clare Fischer , Maceo Parker , Sheila E. and Támar Davis.

3121 is Prince's fourth number one album in the US , making it the top position in the US album hit parade for the first time in 17 years. Music critics rated 3121 mostly positive. The album tour took place exclusively in Las Vegas , Nevada, at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino , where Prince completed a series of 40 concerts.

Emergence

Prince began recording album 3121 on November 19, 2004, when drummer Michael Bland and bassist Sonny Thompson were doing a soundcheck in Saint Paul, Minnesota at the O'Shaughnessy Theater for Michel Portal's upcoming performance when Bland called from a Prince's guitar technician with the request to stop by the musician spontaneously. After the concert was over, Bland and Thompson left the O'Shaughnessy Theater and drove to Chanhassen at Prince's Paisley Park studio at around 11:30 p.m. (approximately 38 kilometers away). There Prince had provided the equipment for the recording of some songs and within three and a half hours the three musicians recorded eleven songs, including the title track 3121 .

From October 2004 to September 2005 Prince lived in a villa he rented in Los Angeles at 3121 Antelo Road. In this villa there was a home studio, in which he made further album recordings. He was also in Panama City at the end of June 2005 , where he performed percussion overdubs for the song Te Amo Corazón in the Insomnio Studios . Prince also worked on the album for the first time with drummer Cora Coleman Dunham and her husband Joshua, who plays bass on two songs. A first version of the album 3121 did not contain the songs Beautiful, Loved and Blessed and Fury ; instead the following tracklist was available:

No. 3121 : late 2005 annotation
01 3121
02 Lolita
03 Streets of Panama until today (2020) unpublished
04th Te Amo Corazón
05 Incense and Candles
06th Black sweat
07th The Morning After 2009 on download version of Lotusflow3r
08th Love
09 Satisfied
010 The Word
011 The dance
012 Get on the boat

On December 9, 2005, Billboard magazine reported that Prince had signed a deal with the Universal Music Group label . Four days later, on December 13th - this date was chosen deliberately as it is a mirror image of the album title 3121 - Prince held a press conference and officially confirmed the Billboard information. "I don't see Universal as a slave ship, " Prince replied to the usual journalists' questions about why he wanted to work with a major label again. "I have my own contract - without the help of a lawyer - and got exactly what I wanted," he added. Prince also presented the song Te Amo Corazón as the first single from the album 3121 .

Design of the cover

On the front cover of the digipak , Prince is shown with his back to the camera, his head turned sideways to the left. He wears a kind of black hockey jersey with the number "3121" on his back, which is white. The name "Prince" is nowhere to be read on the front. If the digipak is opened, Prince's villa at the time in Los Angeles , California at 1235 Sierra Alta Way can be viewed. He rented this villa for $ 95,000 per month from September 2005 to May 2006 from former US basketball player Carlos Boozer . Prince had the villa remodeled according to his own ideas, but had this reversed when he moved out.

The tracklist for 3121 is printed on the back of the digipak . The 14-page booklet contains the lyrics of the individual album songs, as well as photos of the interior of the villa. “3121 The Music” can be read on the compact disc .

Art director Sam Jennings said after Prince's death in 2016: “The original album cover showed house number 3121. You had to open the gate. One CD was 3121 The Music , the other 3121 The Movie . There is a final version of the film, but only the album was released. "

Támar Davis

In 2006, Prince was protégée Támar Davis, who is involved in five songs on album 3121 . She was born Ashley Támar Davis in Houston , Texas on March 31, 1980 and appears under the stage name Támar Davis. As a twelve-year-old she was a member of the girl group Girl's Tyme - with Beyoncé (then 10 years old), Kelly Rowland (11) and LaTavia Roberson (10) , among others . The girl band took part in the US talent show Star Search and reached the finals, but could not win it. Davis left Girl's Tyme and sent demo recordings of songs to Prince in Minneapolis in 1997 . "He had me and my mother flown into Paisley Park, where I recorded Somewhere over the Rainbow ," Davis recalled. A meeting between her and Prince did not take place at the time. In 1997 Davis studied musicology at the University of Southern California , joined a jazz radio girl group called Angaza and recorded the album Light with the band .

In 2005, choreographer Fatima Robinson restored contact between Támar Davis and Prince. Robinson and Davis are friends, and Robinson invited Davis to the set while she was filming the music video Black Sweat in January 2006 . Davis said, "We [Davis and Prince] just went into the recording studio , started singing, and we ended up writing Beautiful, Loved and Blessed ."

Originally the album Milk & Honey by Támar Davis was supposed to be released on the major label Universal on March 21, 2006 , on the same day as 3121 . But for "various reasons", as Davis stated as an official statement in April 2006, Milk & Honey has not yet been published (as of 2020). In Japan the album was only withdrawn shortly before the planned release, so that some already pressed copies were then offered on eBay for some 800 US dollars. It wasn't until 2011 that Davis released her debut album My Name Is Támar on the independent label Syren Music Group.

Although Milk & Honey was ultimately not released, Davis toured the US from January to March 2006 to promote the album. Prince accompanied her on this tour and was a member of her band as a guitarist and keyboardist. The concert dates were always announced a few days before the performance date and the concerts took place in music clubs after midnight. The playing time was usually 60-70 minutes. The national daily Star Tribune asked skeptically: "Who the hell is Támar, and why is she being advertised higher than Prince for the short concert at the Orpheum ( Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis) on Saturday ?"

In 2016, Davis took part in the 10th season of The Voice (United States) , but dropped out on the first live show on April 11th.

Title list and publication

No. song author length
01 3121 Prince 4:31
02 Lolita Prince 4:06
03 Te Amo Corazón Prince 3:34
04th Black sweat Prince 3:11
05 Incense and Candles (feat.Támar Davis) Prince 4:04
06th Love (featuring Támar Davis) Prince 5:45
07th Satisfied Prince 2:50
08th Fury Prince 4:01
09 The Word Prince 4:11
010 Beautiful, Loved and Blessed
(duet with Támar Davis)
Prince, Támar Davis 5:43
011 The dance Prince 5:20
012 Get On the Boat (featuring Támar Davis) Prince 6:20

3121 was released worldwide on March 21, 2006. The album is available on compact disc and on compact cassette , later also as a download . On February 8, 2019 The Prince Estate published (dt .: The Princeton discount ) on the music label Legacy Recording that to Sony Music Entertainment heard 3121 for the first time on record . It was released as a double album in purple vinyl. Posthumously , The Prince Estate officially manages all of Prince's phonogram releases.

Purple tickets

Similar to the lead actor Willy Wonka from the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from 1964, Prince had so-called "Purple Tickets" hidden in seven US editions of the album 3121 . In Japan and the Netherlands, albums were given a winning code that could be redeemed online. iTunes , a British radio and an Australian television broadcaster, organized competitions and also gave away “Purple Tickets”. The total of 25 winners of the "Purple Tickets" worldwide came from the USA, Mexico and the Netherlands and were invited to an "An Evening with Prince" concert on May 6, 2006 in his villa in Los Angeles at 1235 Sierra Alta Way . The winners also received pocket money of US $ 250. All winners could bring a guest and all costs were covered. The total of around 50 people were chauffeured from the hotel to the villa at 8:00 p.m. Two film teams were on site and interviewed the winners. Around 11 p.m., other guests from the music and acting industry appeared, such as Angela Bassett , Bruce Willis , Cicely Tyson , David Duchovny , Forest Whitaker , Jada Pinkett Smith , Jessica Alba , Jude Law , members of the band Maroon 5 , Mekhi Phifer , Natalie Cole , Sharon Stone , Thandie Newton and Trisha Yearwood . The concert started at 11:30 p.m. and Támar Davis sang as opening act for about 60 minutes . Then Prince played for about 65 minutes and ended the evening. Larry Graham supported him as a guest musician .

When the Prince book 21 Nights was presented on October 1st, 2008 at the luxury hotel The Dorchester in London, winners of the “Purple Tickets” were also invited. However, Prince did not attend the event at the time. On February 1, 2009, three “Purple Tickets” winners were invited to “a journey through the galaxy” in Prince's villa in Beverly Hills , where he presented his then new homepage Lotusflow3r.com as host . Prince lived in this villa he rented in 2008 and 2009.

Single releases

Three singles were released from album 3121 ; on December 13, 2005 members of the NPG Music Club - Prince's homepage at the time - could download the song Te Amo Corazón . On December 20, 2005, the song was released as a 1-track CD single, which was not released worldwide. On February 14, 2006 a CD single was released in limited edition, on which the music video of Te Amo Corazón can be seen.

Dancer Celestina Aladekoba, 2007

Black Sweat was made available as a download single on February 21 from Prince's homepage at the time - the CD single was released in the USA on March 27, 2006, B-side is the song Beautiful, Loved and Blessed . On May 22, 2006, Fury was released as the last single, which was only released in Europe. The B-side shows Prince's live appearance on February 15, 2006 at the BRIT Awards , but only the live versions of Fury and Te Amo Corazón can be heard. The songs Prince also played at the time, Purple Rain and Let's Go Crazy, cannot be found on the B-side. All single versions are identical to the respective album version of 3121 and Black Sweat and Fury were also released as vinyl -axis single picture disc .

Music videos

Prince produced three music videos for the singles Te Amo Corazón , Black Sweat and Fury . The music video for Te Amo Corazón was shot in Marrakech , Morocco at the end of 2005 and the actress Mía Maestro is involved. The director was Salma Hayek .

On January 21, 2006, the music video for Black Sweat was filmed in Prince's mansion at 1235 Sierra Alta Way. Apart from Prince, only the dancer Celestina Aladekoba (* 1984) and DJane Rashida Gonzalez Robinson (* July 17, 1980), who is also known under her pseudonym DJ Rashida, are involved in the video . Prince worked with her from 2005 to 2007. The director of Black Sweat was Sanaa Hamri (* 1974), who was responsible for the music videos for the album Musicology in 2004 . In August 2006, Black Sweat was nominated by MTV in the MTV Video Music Awards / Best Cinematography category, but the award went to James Blunt for the video for You're Beautiful .

The music video for Fury was shot in a studio where Prince performed the song with his backing band and dancers. The director was again Sanaa Hamri, but further information is not known to the public.

Cover version

Only a cover version is known of the album 3121 ; in September 2006 the Swedish singer Viktoria Tolstoy released a jazz version of the song Te Amo Corazón .

tour

The tour for the album called Prince "Per4ming Live 3121" and found on 11 November 2006 to 29 April 2007. Only Las Vegas in Nevada in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino instead. There he gave a concert series of 40 concerts and designed each concert individually with a different selection of songs, whereby the concert length varied between 90 and 140 minutes. The concert usually started after midnight and the audience capacity was 1,100 seats. Guest musicians have performed at some concerts, such as Katt Williams on November 18, 2006 , January 20, 2007 Mavis Staples , January 28, Larry Graham and Will.i.am , February 10, Elton John , February 17, Cee-Lo Green , Natalie Cole and again Will.i.am, February 19th Dave Chappelle , Ludacris and Talib Kweli , March 24th Susannah Melvoin and her twin sister Wendy Melvoin , March 31st Candy Dulfer and Sheila E. , April 1st Támar Davis, March 15th April Babyface and Wayne Brady , and on 22 April 2007 Macy Gray .

Prince's backing band consisted of the following eleven members during this concert series:

  • Cora Coleman-Dunham - drums
  • Greg Boyer - trombone
  • Josh Dunham - electric bass
  • Maya McClean and Nandy McClean - dancers and backing vocals
  • Mike Phillips - saxophone and vocoder
  • Morris Hayes - keyboard
  • Renato Neto - keyboard
  • from December 30, 2006: Shelby J. - Backing Vocals
  • from January 20, 2007: Lee Hogans - trumpet
  • from November 25, 2006 to January 14, 2007, from February 17 to February 19 and from April 21 to April 29, 2007: Maceo Parker - saxophone

Drummer Cora Coleman-Dunham (born September 4, 1980 in Houston , Texas) is married to bassist Josh Dunham and also appears under the pseudonym CC Dunham. The dancers Maya and Nandy McClean (born April 18, 1982 in Sydney , Australia) are twins.

Aftershows

From 1986 onwards, Prince occasionally played an aftershow after the main concert, i.e. another concert after midnight. His aftershows took place in smaller music clubs in front of mostly 300 to 1,500 spectators and Prince did without the lavish stage shows, choreographies and light shows of his main concerts. In addition, he designed the song selection differently and often did without his top ten hits. Some of the aftershows' highlights were guest appearances by well-known musicians.

At 25 of the 40 concerts in Las Vegas, Prince played an aftershow, which usually only started at 3 a.m. and - like the main concerts - all took place in the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino. Various guest musicians appeared at some of these after-shows, such as: On December 30th and 31st, 2006 Carlos Henriquez and Eldar Djangirov , February 10th 2007 Sheila E. , February 17th Will.i.am , February 18th Doug E. Fresh , Talib Kweli and again Will.i.am, February 24th Christian Scott and Esperanza Spalding , March 11th Lakecia Benjamin , March 24th Larry Graham , Susannah Melvoin and their twin sister Wendy Melvoin , and on April 1st, 2007 Támar Davis. Sheila E. also performed as a guest musician on March 31st, April 1st and the last aftershow on April 29th, 2007.

reception

Press

The reviews of the album were mostly positive. The music journalist Robert Christgau from the US music magazine Rolling Stone awarded four out of five stars and entitled his report on the album 3121 with the headline: "Prince's latest sensation". The US magazine Billboard speculated that 3121 could "bring Prince back to the top of the charts" because he was "one of those rare artists" who "remain important without compromising his eccentric style." The nationwide US daily Los Angeles Times found that 3121 was an " odd number ", but entertainment. The New York Times described 3121 as "a kind, happy, and concise album". The US music magazine Blender was of the opinion that the "minimalist songs" on the album were "among its best".

Jonathan Fischer from Spiegel Online praised: “Even if 3121 doesn't come close to the classics: The pop world needs Prince. Especially in times when R'nB singers [sic] seem like interchangeable assembly line goods , and half a dozen hit producers split the charts among themselves, a Prince album seems like a reminder of all the idle possibilities of black music. Te Amo Corazón or not: synth -driven radio -Minimalismen as Black Sweat can still use any The Neptunes compete -Beat. And: Prince references reach far beyond the MTV universe: From the brass and Latin rhythms- fueled Jam Get On The Boat to the old-school soul ballad Satisfied . "

Sven Appel of the weekly magazine Stern wrote: “With the varied long player 3121 he [Prince] is returning to old virtues - and reaching a new top form.” The song Love reflects “the classic Prince school and gives the basses plenty of work. In Fury the guitars screech as if Jimi Hendrix himself had unpacked his wah-wah again . And at the bouncer The Dance , Prince grabs the keys again very melancholy . So the album title 3121 is maybe not just a capricious choice after all. It could also indicate a return to the roots: The '82 LP 1999 finally invites you to a party with the title song of the same name. ”Dietmar Dath from the FAZ said that the album“ reminds of the best times without nostalgia. ”

Ralph Geisenhanslüke from Die Zeit praised the four songs Te Amo Corazón , Black Sweat , Fury and Get On the Boat , but the “remaining eight songs, that may dampen the Hosanna a little, seem solidly built, but are reminiscent of their sugary bitchiness how long the eighties have already passed. "Nevertheless, Prince is" finally back from this world. Welcome back!"

The US magazine Entertainment Weekly was more cautious with praise; Listen to 3121 “his so many disappointments” and Prince has not figured out “how he can go back to his 1980s bag of tricks and create something that sounds contemporary.” However, his “students” like OutKast and The Neptunes managed to do this. British music critic Barney Hoskyns noted that 3121 was " mainstream " and that some songs sounded like "Prince recorded on autopilot". Still, moments on the album would prove that "there is still a fire in the guy's stomach [Prince]".

After Prince's death in April 2016, the music journalists Albert Koch and Thomas Weiland from the German music magazine Musikexpress reviewed the album 3121 and gave it four and a half out of six stars. They wrote, among other things, that Prince is “ renovating his own funk in Lolita or Black Sweat for the 21st century. It works. The magic is back, born from the whim of a bon vivant ”.

Charts and awards

Charts Top ranking Weeks
Chart placements
Germany (GfK) Germany (GfK) 4th (12 weeks) 12
Austria (Ö3) Austria (Ö3) 15th (8 weeks) 8th
Switzerland (IFPI) Switzerland (IFPI) 1 (1) (13 weeks) 13
United Kingdom (OCC) United Kingdom (OCC) 9 (4 weeks) 4th
United States (Billboard) United States (Billboard) 1 (1) (16 weeks) 16

3121 was his only album in Prince's lifetime that debuted at number one in the US. At the same time, it was his fourth and last number one in the US album hit parade after Purple Rain (1984), Around the World in a Day (1985) and Batman (1989). 3121 has been sold around two million times worldwide and has been awarded gold and platinum status internationally:

  • CH: 1 × gold for 15,000 copies sold in 2006
  • US: 1 × gold for 500,000 copies sold on June 26, 2006
  • UK: 1 × silver for 60,000 copies sold on July 22, 2013
year Title
album
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)
Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
2005 Te Amo Corazón DE58 (6 weeks)
DE
AT61 (3 weeks)
AT
CH24 (15 weeks)
CH
UKnvUK -
• Not decoupled worldwide
2006 Black sweat DE80 (4 weeks)
DE
- CH52 (6 weeks)
CH
UK43 (2 weeks)
UK
US60 (1 week)
US
Fury - - CH92 (1 week)
CH
UK60 (1 week)
UK
USnvUS
• Only decoupled in Europe

literature

  • Afshin Shahidi: A Private View. St. Martin's Press, New York 2017, ISBN 978-1-250-13443-1 .
  • Jake Brown: Prince in the Studio (1975-1995). Colossus Books, Phoenix 2010, ISBN 978-0-9790976-6-9 .
  • Jason Draper: Chaos, Disorder, And Revolution. Backbeat Books, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-87930-961-9 .
  • Jason Draper: Prince - Life & Times (Revised & Updated Edition). Chartwell Books, New York 2016, ISBN 978-0-7858-3497-7 .
  • Mobeen Azhar: Prince 1958–2016: His life in pictures and text. Edition Olms, Oetwil am See / Zurich 2016, ISBN 978-3-283-01265-6 .
  • Ronin Ro: Prince - Inside the Music and the Masks. St. Martin's Press, New York 2011, ISBN 978-0-312-38300-8 .
  • Steve Parke: Picturing Prince. Cassell Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London 2017, ISBN 978-1-84403-959-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

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  5. To own or rent Prince's former home in Los Angeles. In: DerStandard.de. April 10, 2020, accessed April 10, 2020 .
  6. Booklet of CD 3121 from Prince, Universal Records / NPG Records, 2006
  7. Azhar (2016), p. 118
  8. Cheryl Laird Staff: Girls Tyme / Ok guys, step aside. Six Houston preteens figure it's their turn for success in the music business. (No longer available online.) In: web.archive.org. August 18, 1992, archived from the original on October 22, 2012 ; accessed on April 11, 2017 (English).
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  10. a b Draper (2016), p. 174.
  11. Lee Bailey: Tamar Davis and Joe Maye reflect on 'The Voice', Life beyond the Show. In: euroweb.com. April 28, 2016, accessed September 20, 2017 .
  12. Parke (2017), p. 214.
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  14. ^ One-Off Performance. In: Princevault.com. December 21, 2016, accessed April 11, 2017 .
  15. Draper (2011), p. 257.
  16. Draper (2011), p. 258.
  17. ^ Te Amo Corazón. In: Princevault.com. February 28, 2016, accessed April 11, 2017 .
  18. Shahidi (2017), p. 162.
  19. ^ Ro (2011), p. 342.
  20. Shahidi (2017), p. 175.
  21. ^ K. Nicole Mills: Sanaa Hamri: The Director Behind Some of Prince's Most Prolific Music Videos. In: Hollywoodsblackrenaissance.com. April 22, 2016, accessed April 12, 2017 .
  22. Cover version "Te amo corazón" by Viktoria Tolstoy on Coverinfo.de
  23. a b c Prince Per4ming Live 3121 Tour Map. In: Princevault.com. December 29, 2016, accessed May 20, 2020 .
  24. ^ Cora Cole-Dunham. In: Princevault.com. June 25, 2016, accessed April 20, 2018 .
  25. Maya McClean. In: Princevault.com. February 27, 2016, accessed April 20, 2018 .
  26. ^ One-Off Performance (2000). In: Princevault.com. June 19, 2016, accessed May 10, 2020 .
  27. ^ Robert Christgau: Prince's New Sensation. In: RobertChristgau.com. April 6, 2006, accessed April 11, 2017 .
  28. a b Draper (2016), p. 173.
  29. a b Ro (2011), p. 346.
  30. Jonathan Fischer: Prince-Album 3121 - Funk und Weihrauch. In: Spiegel.de. March 24, 2006, accessed April 11, 2017 .
  31. Sven Appel: 3121 - A real Prince . In: Stern.de. March 25, 2006, accessed April 11, 2017 .
  32. Dietmar Dath: Fumble on, fully mature seducer! In: FAZ.net. March 27, 2006, accessed April 11, 2017 .
  33. Ralph Geisenhanslüke: Sexy Motherfunker . In: Die Zeit , No. 12/2006
  34. ^ Ro (2011), p. 343.
  35. ^ ME editors: From the big Prince special - an overview of all albums. In: Musikexpress.de. May 22, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2017 .
  36. Prince. officialcharts.de, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
  37. Prince. austriancharts.at, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
  38. Prince. hitparade.ch, accessed on February 16, 2019 .
  39. Prince. officialcharts.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .
  40. ^ Prince - Chart History. billboard.com, accessed February 16, 2019 .
  41. ^ Edelmetall 2006. In: Hitparade.ch. 2017, Retrieved April 11, 2017 .
  42. Gold & Platinum. In: riaa.com. 2016, accessed April 11, 2017 .
  43. ^ BPI - Certified Awards Search. In: BPI.co.uk. 2017, accessed on April 11, 2017 .
  44. Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US