Prince estate denies AI use on posthumous album ‘Timeless’

The estate of Prince has addressed fan concerns regarding the potential use of artificial intelligence on the posthumous album ‘Timeless’. The controversy centered on the track ‘Calabama’, recorded in 2003, where listeners noted instrumental changes that differed from original recordings.

In a statement released via Instagram, NPG Records and The Prince Management Team clarified that no AI was used in any of Prince’s music. They explained that for ‘Calabama’, a group of musicians who had close ties to the artist—Greg Boyer, Adrian Crutchfield, and Lynn Grissett—were assembled to overdub a synthesizer track with live trombone, saxophone, and trumpet. This approach was intended to align with Prince’s own historical production methods.

The estate emphasized that all of Prince’s original recorded parts remain intact and that ‘Calabama’ is the only track on the album that received such posthumous overdubs. The ‘Timeless’ album features ten previously unheard tracks recorded between 1977 and 2016.