"Letitgo" is a song by American musician

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 ...

, released in August 1994, by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, as the second single from his fifteenth studio album, '' Come'' (1994). Despite statements that the album consisted entirely of "old" material, "Letitgo" was actually newly composed for the album. The mid-

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

song relies heavily on a

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

pattern and

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

with

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s in the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeated in poetry or in music">poetry.html" ;"title="Line (poetry)">line or lines that are repeat ...

. A keyboard and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

solo appear toward the end. The song is sung in

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

in unison with another track layered in his regular, lower register. Kathleen Bradford provides backing vocals, while Eric Leeds provides flute accompaniment. The track was produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince, with the additions of Kathleen Bradford on background vocals,

Eric Leeds Eric Leeds is an American saxophone player, mostly known for his work with Prince (musician), Prince. He has recorded mostly music in the Pop music, pop and funk genres, but is a studied jazz musician.Cole, George.Eric Leeds: Interviews: The Las ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

and additional keyboards by Ricky Peterson. The

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

speak of Prince's disappointment with Warner Bros. Records' decision not to release music as quickly as Prince created it. He chides them that they will be sorry when he leaves the company. 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 ...

was the album track "Solo", a downbeat number with Prince's voice only accompanied by

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

, which was composed by David Henry Hwang. The title refers not to a musical solo, but actually that Prince's mood is "so low". It ties in with the slightly more upbeat "Letitgo". In addition, a

CD single A CD single is a single (music), music single in the form of a compact disc (CD). Originally the ''CD single'' standard (as defined in the Rainbow Books, Red Book) was an 8 cm (3-inch) "mini CD" (''CD3''); later on the term referred to any si ...

was released in the UK containing an edit of "Letitgo", "Solo", the extended version of "Alexa de Paris" (originally the B-side to "

Mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher ...

" in 1986) and "Pope", which was originally on '' The Hits 2'' from 1993. A

maxi single A maxi single, maxi-single, or maxi CD (sometimes abbreviated to MCD or CDM) is a music single release with more than the usual two tracks of an A-side song and a B-side song. Maxi singles are often mistaken for extended plays (EPs), especial ...

on CD and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

included several

remix A remix, also sometimes called reorchestration or rework, is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, poem, or photograph ca ...

es of the track provided by Quincy "QD3" Jones III, Chronic Freeze., J-Sw!ft and Gerald "G Bomb" Baillergeau.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine wrote, "On what could be one of the final projects issued under the name Prince, punters are given a dark jack/

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

ditty, pumped with a thick bassline and a wicked

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

that is truly irresistible. Given the heat he is enjoying at radio under his alter-ego, the future of this superior effort looks mighty bright. One of many reasons to dive into the new '' Come'' collection." In 2019,

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' commented, "By 1994, Prince was more interested in fighting with his record company than the quality of his releases. ''Come'' was evidently thrown together to fulfill his contract. But even when he didn't really care, he couldn't turn his talent off completely. "Letitgo" isn't a classic, but nor is it a disaster. Perhaps he made more of an effort because its about his desire to leave the Warners label." Chuck Campbell from ''

Knoxville News Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel'', also known as ''Knox News'', is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: '' ...

'' called it a "snoozer single". In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

described it as "a fairly nondescript piece of Prince funk", while Dave Jennings from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' viewed it as "a monstrously tedious, tired piece of wine-bar funk". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' wrote, "After the royalty in exile as Symbol, he now returns in his original identity with a mean

swingbeat New jack swing, new jack, or swingbeat is a fusion genre of the rhythms and production techniques of hip hop and dance-pop, and the urban contemporary sound of R&B. Spearheaded by producers Teddy Riley, Bernard Belle, Jimmy Jam and Terry L ...

track of early

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreogr ...

proportions. Will he keep the ballet army under control?" Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave "Letitgo" a score of four out of five, calling it "one of his seductive rolling funk numbers". In his review of ''Come'', Tim Marsh from '' Select'' said, "The only signs of life appear on 'Let It Go', which marries swingbeats to a Clinton-esque melody". Sylvia Patterson from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' gave it two out of five, writing, "This is what you'd call one of his "mid-pace" sojourns, trunding along with interesting thumb-flappin' bass and, he's like, just "sitting back and lettin' the vibe flow", man and that's about that, really."

Chart performance

"Letitgo" was moderately successful on the charts, peaking at number 31 on the US ''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), o ...

, number 10 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, number 13 on the Rhythmic chart, number 17 on the Mainstream/Pop chart and number 30 on the UK Singles Chart.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Letitgo" contains clips from the ''3 Chains o Gold'' motion picture. It contains Prince signing a contract with an early version of his love symbol signature.

Track listings

* US 12-inch and CD # "Letitgo" (Caviar radio edit) – 4:59 # "Letitgo" (Cavi' street edit) – 5:02 # "Letitgo" (Instrumental) – 5:02 # "Letitgo" (On the Cool-Out Tip radio edit) – 4:34 # "Letitgo" (Sherm Stick edit) – 5:42 # "Letitgo" ((-) Sherm Stick edit) – 5:42 # "Letitgo" (original radio edit) – 4:15 # "Letitgo" (original album version) – 5:33 * 7-inch single # "Letitgo" (edit) – 4:15 # "Solo" – 3:48 * UK 12-inch single and CD # "Letitgo" (edit) – 4:15 # "Solo" – 3:48 # "Alexa de Paris" (extended version) – 4:54 # "Pope" – 3:28

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control Prince (musician) songs 1994 singles 1994 songs Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) Songs written by Prince (musician) Warner Records singles