''Planet Earth'' is the thirty-second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American recording artist

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

. It was released on July 15, 2007, by

NPG Records NPG Records is a record label that was owned by Prince (musician), Prince and run by Trevor Guy. "NPG" is short for New Power Generation. It was founded to release his music after Paisley Park Records was shut down by Warner Bros. Records in 1994. ...

and distributed, in the UK, as a free

covermount Covermount (sometimes written cover mount) is the name given to storage media (containing software and or audiovisual media) or other products (ranging from toys to flip-flops) packaged as part of a magazine or newspaper. The name comes from th ...

with ''

The Mail on Sunday ''The Mail on Sunday'' is a British conservative newspaper, published in a tabloid format. Founded in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it is the biggest-selling Sunday newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper, the ''Daily Mail'', was first published i ...

'' national newspaper. This was followed by the album's worldwide distribution. It features contributions from his newest protégée Bria Valente and former

New Power Generation The New Power Generation, also known as the NPG, was the backing band of musician Prince (musician), Prince from 1990 to 2013. They were replaced by 3rdeyegirl as his backing band in 2013. In 2015, the New Power Generation reunited as Prince's ...

members Marva King,

Sonny T. Sonny T. (born Sonny Thompson) is an American bass player. He was a member of The New Power Generation, Prince's recording and stage band, from 1991–1996. Sonny T. was a member of the Minneapolis bands Back to Black and The Lewis Connection ...

, and

Michael Bland Michael Bland (born March 14, 1969) is an American musician best known as a drummer for Prince starting in 1989. He was with Prince during The New Power Generation era and played with him live and on albums for seven years. From 1995 to 1997, B ...

, as well as Sheila E. and former

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

members

Wendy & Lisa Wendy & Lisa (briefly known as Girl Bros.) is a music duo consisting of Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman. They began working with Prince in the early 1980s and were part of his band the Revolution, before branching out on their own and releasi ...

. The CD package's liner notes credit the album to Prince & The New Power Generation. The album debuted at number 3 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 96,000 copies in its first week.

Release and promotion

On June 27, 2007, "Future Baby Mama" was leaked to the Internet via an American online radio station. The first single, "

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

", was distributed in partnership with

Verizon Wireless Verizon is an American wireless network operator that previously operated as a separate division of Verizon Communications under the name Verizon Wireless. In a 2019 reorganization, Verizon moved the wireless products and services into the div ...

. During the week of September 3, 2007, Prince flew to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, and then Spain to film a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for " Somewhere Here on Earth". The clip was released but it has only been played on the TV channel

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

. Initially, Prince came to an agreement with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

to distribute the record worldwide. Prince and Columbia had previously teamed up for the release of his ''

Musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

'' album in 2004. However, Prince's management struck a deal with ''

'' to release ''Planet Earth'' as a free

CD with the July 15, 2007, edition of the paper. This move brought much criticism from UK record stores, which resulted in Columbia refusing to distribute the album in the UK, though its release in the rest of the world remained unaffected. Giving away albums for free was not new for Prince. In 2004, he gave free copies of ''Musicology'' to all concert goers during the tour of the same name. Similarly, the ''Planet Earth'' album was given away with tickets to his 2007 concerts in London. As a result of the decision by Sony BMG to not distribute the album in the UK, record store chain

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

announced it would stock the July 15, 2007, edition of ''The Mail on Sunday'' in lieu of the CD, admitting that "selling the ''Mail on Sunday'' next week will be the only way to make the Prince album available to our customers, which, ultimately, has to be our overriding concern". On July 10, 2007, several days before the official UK release through ''The Mail on Sunday'', a low quality version (recorded from a stream) of ''Planet Earth'' was leaked onto the Internet. Prince forwent $4.6 million in licensing fees, but the promotion paid off with his subsequent sold out 21-show concert run at London's

O2 Arena O2 Arena may refer to: *The O2 Arena, London * O2 Arena, Prague *The 3Arena, Dublin, formerly known as The O2 *The Uber Arena, Berlin, formerly known as O2 World *The Barclays Arena Barclays Arena (originally known as the Color Line Arena an ...

, earning him a gross of $23.4 million, and thus an $18.8 million profit.

Singles

"Guitar" was the first single from ''Planet Earth''. This song was number 39 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. The music video for the song, featuring his current dancers "The Twinz" premiered on the Verizon website. It was directed and written by Milos Twilight, and produced by Prince and Milos Twilight, through Umania Digital Studios and Twilight Films. "Chelsea Rodgers" was the second single released from the album, and was released worldwide on August 6, 2007. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

is album track "Mr. Goodnight". A video was made using footage of the band's performance at

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London, England, twice a year, in June and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fash ...

. It premièred on October 28, 2007. "Somewhere Here on Earth" was the third single to be released. On the week of September 3, 2007, Prince flew to Prague, and then Spain to film a

for the song. The video was produced and written by Milos Twilight, Umania Digital Studios and Twilight Films. The full music video premiered on

on February 12, 2008.

Reception

The album debuted on the US ''Billboard'' 200 at number three with 96,000 units sold in its first week, less than half of both ''

'' and ''

3121 ''3121'' (pronounced "thirty-one twenty-one") is the thirty-first studio album by American musician Prince. Released on March 21, 2006 (3/21) by NPG Records and distributed, under a "one-album deal", by Universal Music, the album reinforced Pr ...

''. As of April 2015, the album has sold about 278,000 copies in the US, with almost no promotion, with the exception of the Verizon Wireless ad for "Guitar". Although not released as a single, "Future Baby Mama" gathered radio airplay on American R&B radio and charted within the top 40 of ''Billboard''s

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. The song won Prince his last

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

, for

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance was awarded between 1968 and 2011. The award has had several minor name changes: *In 1968 it was awarded as Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male *From 1969 to 1994 it was awarded as Best R&B ...

at the

2008 Grammy Awards The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonie ...

. ''Planet Earth'' received generally positive reviews. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, it holds an average score of 65 out of 100, based on reviews by professional critics. Veteran critic

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

gave the album a three-star honorable mention, indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure". Writing for ''

MSN Music ''MSN Music'' was a part of MSN's web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. The website also served as a digital music store from 2004 to 2008. History ...

'', he cited "Guitar" and "The One U Wanna C" as highlights and summarized the album with the remark, "Viva Las Vegas and later for Viagra – but not never".

Track listing

All songs written and produced by

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

*
Planet Earth
' at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

*
The Once and Future Prince
— by

Jon Pareles Jon Pareles (born 1953) is an American journalist who is the chief popular music critic in the arts section of ''The New York Times''.Album review
— by ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

''
Album review
at

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly The Mining Company, About.com and Dotdash) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, hom ...

Purple Drizzle (Album review)
from ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

''
Album Review
at ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' {{Authority control 2007 albums Prince (musician) albums Albums produced by Prince (musician) NPG Records albums Columbia Records albums