Prince’s estate has confirmed that no AI was used on his new posthumous album Timeless following concerns from fans.
The collection of rare and previously unreleased Prince songs was announced by his estate in June, with the album featuring 10 tracks recorded between 1977 and 2016.
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Timeless was released on August 28, with the tracks carefully selected by Prince’s estate from across his four-decade career.
However, some fans raised questions about the use of AI on the album, particularly on the song Calabama.
The estate has now addressed those concerns in a statement shared on Instagram.
“As concerns have arisen regarding the credits, timing and arrangement of Prince’s song ‘Calabama’, which appeared on ‘Timeless’, we are respectfully responding to provide more context and clarity,” the statement read.
The estate explained that musicians who had previously worked with Prince were brought in to add a horn arrangement to the song.
“A group of horn players who played with Prince were assembled to overdub Prince’s synthesiser track with the intended horn line, and this version was released on ‘Timeless’,” they said.
'Of course, no AI was used on any Prince music.'
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The musicians involved were Greg Boyer on trombone, Adrian Crutchfield on saxophone and Lynn Grissett on trumpet.
The estate said all of the musicians had close ties to Prince and were credited in the album packaging.
They also confirmed that Prince’s original recordings remain intact on the track.
While Calabama did receive posthumous additions, the estate stressed that they were performed by real musicians.
For the other nine songs on Timeless, the estate said there were no posthumous overdubs.
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The album marks another release of material from Prince’s extensive archive, following his death in 2016 at the age of 57.
Timeless brings together recordings from different stages of his career, giving fans access to songs that had never previously been officially released.
