''Xpectation'' (subtitled "New Directions in Music By Prince") is the twenty-sixth studio album by American recording artist

Prince A prince is a Monarch, 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 title, hereditary, in s ...

. It was released on January 1, 2003, by

NPG Records NPG Records is a record label that was owned by 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. Though the 1994 co ...

. It is the first instrumental album released under Prince's own name. Previously unannounced, it was released as an MP3 download on New Year's Day, 2003 to members of the

NPG Music Club NPG Music Club was the official website for Prince from 2001 to 2006, and was named after Prince's New Power Generation band. Based on being one of the first mainstream artists to use the internet as an independent music distribution hub, Prince won ...

with no formal artwork, only two weeks after the commercial release of his previous album, '' One Nite Alone... Live!''. In 2004, ''Xpectation'' was released through the NPG Music Club's Musicology Download Store. The artwork by Sam Jennings was officially released in September 2015, when a digital lossless version was made available through music streaming service Tidal. All the tracks in the album have titles starting with the letter 'X'.

Track listing

All songs written by

Personnel

Musicians *Prince – keyboards and guitar *

John Blackwell John Blackwell may refer to: * John Blackwell (Alun) (1797–1840), Welsh poet * John Blackwell (engineer) (c. 1775–1840), English civil engineer * John Blackwell (musician) (1973–2017), drummer in the New Power Generation * John Blackwell (ref ...

– drums *

Rhonda Smith Rhonda Smith is a Canadian bassist, best known for her work with Prince and Jeff Beck. Biography Smith was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Her family moved to Montreal when she was a child. She and her three siblings were encouraged to ...

– bass guitar *

Candy Dulfer Candy Dulfer (born 19 September 1969) is a Dutch jazz and pop saxophonist. She is the daughter of jazz saxophonist Hans Dulfer. She began playing at age six and founded her band Funky Stuff when she was fourteen. Her debut album '' Saxuality'' ...

– saxophone *

Vanessa Mae Vanessa-Mae (陈美 Chén Měi; born 27 October 1978) also called Vanessa-Mae Vanakorn Nicholson, is a Singaporean-born British violinist with album sales reaching several million, having made her the wealthiest entertainer under 30 in the Uni ...

– violin

References

2003 albums Prince (musician) albums Albums produced by Prince (musician) NPG Records albums Instrumental albums {{2000s-album-stub

Track listing

Personnel

See also

References