Chelsea Studios, with its violet lighting and plum-colored carpeting, recently served as a picture-perfect locale for previewing unreleased Prince music—namely Timeless, a 10-track compilation by the Prince Estate as its latest offering of previously unheard music from the late Minneapolis genius.
A handful of select guests sipped wine and noshed on hors d’oeuvres while L. Londell McMillan and Charles F. Spicer Jr. (the co-managers of Prince Legacy LLC) emceed the occasion, taking turns introducing songs with enthusiasm. New York City-based singer Kris Kollins, who starred in the Prince role of The Kid in last year’s Purple Rain: The Musical and is premiering the role on Broadway next year, sat grooving to the funk nearby longtime Prince super-fan Gabriella di Piazza and others. Any sneak peek of unknown music by the beloved artist is an A-U-T-O-matic cause for celebration.
But preaching to the converted is easy. Since its official release, reactions to Timeless have ranged from mixed to negative. Choosing songs from each decade of Prince’s career from the 1970s to the 2010s (as this posthumous album does) might’ve been a novel approach if the choices electrified listeners. But that’s not what happened.
Guitar-centered songs like “The Guilty Ones” (from 2007) and “Tick, Tick, Bang” (a strong 1981 rocker later reworked for the “Graffiti Bridge” album) sound perfect for a future compilation proving Prince’s bona fides as one of the best shredders in rock music. But “Tick, Tick, Bang,” “Heaven,” “With This Tear” (recorded by Celine Dion in ’92), “Stone” (released by Sandra St. Victor—who co-wrote it—in 2018) and the closing live version of “How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore” have all been heard in various forms over the years by Prince’s hardcore family of aficionados.
That’s literally half the album, and it lacks any real unifying cohesion. Remaining tracks like “I Wonder” leave one wondering why stronger material wasn’t unearthed for a project like this, and what might result if Prince-inspired artists like Q-Tip, H.E.R. or Steve Lacy were allowed to pick tracks from his voluminous vault of unreleased material instead of record executives.
Official Prince podcaster Andrea Swennson opined, “With an album geared toward neither Prince’s steadfast fans nor casual listeners, it’s hard to say what the impact of Timeless will be…” Rolling Stone also concluded, “If somebody were to tell you he was [the ultimate pop star], and then played Timeless for you as proof, you’d never listen to Prince—or that person—again.” Many of Prince’s supporters across social media seemed to agree.
Days after McMillan’s EBONY interview, more controversy surfaced. Co-manager Charles Spicer initially denied that Timeless contained any modern overdubbing that didn’t reflect Prince’s original vision for his material. Yet trombonist Greg Boyer (of the NPG Hornz, Prince’s 2000s horn section) mentioned afterward on social media that he’d recorded horns for the Timeless funk workout “Calabama” in his basement studio months ago, forcing a clarification from Spicer on X: “…that statement was not accurate, and I will take responsibility for what I stated.”
Fans pushed back about the dishonesty, wondering how the Prince Estate couldn’t have known about the “Calabama” additions, why they’d be less than forthcoming about them if they did, and why music as Prince originally intended wasn’t respected by those charged with curating his work.
Before the fallout, McMillan spoke with EBONY about Timeless, future Prince releases, the 2027 Broadway debut of Purple Rain: The Musical, and more.
EBONY: Take me through the evolution of deciding to make Timeless the latest release from the Prince Estate. Which song came first?
L. Londell McMillan: Well, the 10th anniversary of his passing provided an opportunity for us to create a project that uniquely focused on his evolution and revolution of life. We wanted to pick 10 songs that reflected his music over five decades. In the course of trying to decide which songs, we listened to many. Based on the storytelling of the songs, the timing of the songs and crossing out songs that may fit with other projects we have on the deck for releasing within the next 18 to 24 months, we came up with a list of songs we thought would show his genius across those decades.
I believe the first song we selected, certainly the first we released, was “With This Tear.” One of the other early songs I know was “Bestest Friend.” And that was because no one had ever heard (or heard of) this song. [The selection was about] giving our very insatiable audience things they’ve never heard before. We thought that would be a delight for them as well.
Is there a strategy regarding the scheduling of new releases? How does the estate choose what will come out from year to year?
The strategy is in formation. Previously, they were choosing songs, albums and projects that were anniversary milestone moments. Now we’re choosing music and material that is culturally right and generationally appropriate, with some milestones included. But we are also still discovering all of the music. It’s not as if Prince, when he was alive, had an archivist team and cataloguists, and all of this [music] in one bundle with details and descriptions and all of the things, right? That didn’t exist. So, we’re looking at various different elements of I guess what you would call a strategy. But it’s more of, we’re in discovery and creativity mode. And also trying to satisfy those who have been his most loyal consumers over the years. And balancing that with the generations to follow and to come, who are very important to preserving and optimizing his legacy over time.
Are there plans you can reveal about releases after Timeless—“super deluxe” box sets or otherwise?
We’ve got multiple releases that will be expanded and enhanced. One of the reasons why we chose to go with this particular release of 10 songs is because, again, showing the breadth of Prince’s work across five decades has never, ever been done before. If we just put these songs on a big box set, we have seen that many don’t even open the box set. Because they keep the box set as an artifact or coffee table book, and don’t even know there were new songs out. And then when you say to them, “There were almost 200 unreleased sound recordings that have come out over the past 10 years,” they go, “Where? How?”
Really?
Many are quite aware and can tell you about the releases and painstaking details. But many are completely flabbergasted. What we wanted to do was focus on this singular product. I even see in the media—which is not true—them saying, “the first album of unreleased recordings.” Well, you know, we put out many unreleased recordings. Previously, these unreleased recordings were mixed into box sets that had some of the classic recordings remixed, mastered, remastered, put in Dolby Atmos and so forth and so on.
Our next project is gonna be 3121, and it’s gonna be an enhanced project, and you have more music on that. I can’t give a date now because it interferes with what we’re doing now. But Parade is something that’s in the works that we will see within the next 12 to 24 months. And it will come out when it’s right.
Is a different process involved for streaming remastered albums by Prince-helmed projects from The Time, Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Madhouse, The Family, Jill Jones, etc.?
There are plans for that. There are a host of different, um, not just negotiations, but agreements, discussions and marketing plans that are in the works. Relationships that are being reformed and established. As you know, prior to my coming on, there were some conflicts with some of these people from the former estate. There’s clearly clearances issues, planning issues, timing issues. The estate is not a huge corporation of people. There are not hundreds of people on payroll here to run and go through everything. There was no archived index of all of Prince’s works prior to his passing. So, there’s time that things are gonna take.
We certainly have demonstrated that we’ve built and rebuilt great relationships with all of his affiliates, musicians and artists, and people in these Prince Celebration [annual events at Paisley Park] that I produce. We see them joining forces with us and creating that purple family. And so, we want it to be authentic. We want everybody to feel good about it. And we think we’re almost there. We think we’ve done a great job in rebuilding those relationships that, quite frankly, were a little sour when Prince was alive. So, [we’re] getting things together so we can roll out projects: whether it’s with Time, Sheila E., Chaka Khan, Támar, all of these wonderful folks that he worked with. But right now, our most insatiable audience wants Prince.
Last year at Purple Rain: The Musical in Minneapolis, I asked you when it was coming to Broadway, and you said April of this year. Per the latest announcement, the musical won’t appear until 2027. Could you walk us through the decision to hire a new director and a new writer?
Did I say April 2026 or April 2027?
You said this year. Either way.
Well, that’s correct. What you saw in Minneapolis was what we call previews. And with previews, obviously we look at what works well, what can work better. We also added in more than what we intended to actually bring to the stage on Broadway, to get reactions, to see what works. What we concluded was that some of the adaptation material went outside of where most people enjoyed Purple Rain in general. And we needed to reduce the time because it ran long intentionally in Minneapolis. We needed to lose 30 to 50 minutes of the show so that people could really get the full experience, enjoy it, and perhaps may even want to come again. So, the creatives and producers went about the task of revising the show and seeking to have revisions made.
I personally enjoyed and loved the show in Minneapolis. I’m very grateful for the work that Lileana Blain-Cruz as director contributed; I thought they did a terrific job. With the new team that’s on board, I think they’re doing that fantastic job as well. And I love the new show. It’s definitely more streamlined, less adapted and more focused on the general story. We decided to be more intentional about the performers playing music or instruments in the show. It’s gonna be much more music-driven, as well as focused around the story of Purple Rain.
One final bonus question: Any update on the old Prince Vault Series?
I had [something] called a Prince Vault Series, meaning we intended—as we get a handle on the system for indexing and archiving—to not only release music, but also talk about how it sits in the vault and what the vault was all about. That would be more like original content. And so, that process continues.
We’ve got a museum that operates pretty much 24-7. We’ve got music releases remastered, unreleased. We got Prince Celebrations. We got documentaries in the works. We got biopics in the works. We’ve got a musical that hits the street next year. We’ve got merch that’s outselling every day. We got so much going on. [laughter] And unlike some estates, we never sold anything related to Prince. We are only curating and preserving everything related to Prince. The imaginative mind can only think of so much more to do, but we do the best we can. We continue to license music on programs from Dancing with the Stars to Stranger Things. So, we’re gonna keep pushing it out and trying to serve those who love Prince and those who are yet to discover him. We’re not perfect, but we’re doing a lot more than most and grateful for those consumers who continue to support us, which are many.