Planet Earth (Prince album)

Planet Earth is the thirty-second studio album by American recording artist Prince. It was released on July 15, 2007 by NPG Records and distributed, in the UK, as a free covermount with The Mail on Sunday national newspaper. This was followed by the album's worldwide distribution. It features contributions from his newest protegée Bria Valente and former New Power Generation members Marva King, Sonny T., and Michael Bland, as well as Sheila E. and former Revolution members Wendy & Lisa.[2] 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 in its first week.

Planet Earth
Studio album by
Prince
ReleasedJuly 15, 2007
RecordedNovember 2004; 2006–spring 2007[1]
Genre
Length45:00
LabelNPG, Columbia
ProducerPrince
Prince chronology
Ultimate Prince
(2006)		 Planet Earth
(2007)		 Indigo Nights
(2008)
Singles from Planet Earth
  1. "Guitar"
    Released: July 9, 2007
  2. "Chelsea Rodgers"
    Released: August 6, 2007
  3. "Somewhere Here on Earth"
    Released: September 2007
  4. "The One U Wanna C"
    Released: 2007

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", was distributed in partnership with Verizon Wireless.[3] During the week of September 3, 2007, Prince flew to Prague, and then Spain to film a music video for "Somewhere Here on Earth". The clip was released but it has only been played on the TV channel BET.

Initially, Prince came to an agreement with Columbia Records to distribute the record worldwide. Prince and Columbia had previously teamed up for the release of his Musicology album in 2004.[4] However, Prince's management struck a deal with The Mail on Sunday to release Planet Earth as a free covermount 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.[5]

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.[6] 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 announced it would stock the 15 July 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".[7] 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.[8] 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, earning him a gross of $23.4 million, and thus an $18.8 million profit.[9]

Singles

"Guitar" was the first single from Planet Earth. This song was number 39 on Rolling Stone'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 [10].

"Chelsea Rodgers" was the second single released from the album, and was released worldwide on August 6, 2007. The B-side is album track "Mr. Goodnight". A video was made using footage of the band's performance at London Fashion Week. 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 music video for the song.[11] The video was produced and written by Milos Twilight, Umania Digital Studios and Twilight Films.[12] The full music video premiered on the BET Channel on February 12, 2008.

Reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(65/100)[13]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[14]
The A.V. ClubB[15]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[16]
Los Angeles Times[17]
NME6/10[18]
Pitchfork Media4.8/10[19]
Rolling Stone[20]
Slant Magazine[21]
Spin[22]
The Village Voicemixed[23]

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 Musicology and 3121.[24] 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 song won Prince his last Grammy Award, for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008 Grammy Awards.

Planet Earth received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 65/100 from Metacritic.[13] In his consumer guide for MSN Music, Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention (),[25] indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure."[26] He cited "Guitar" and "The One U Wanna C" as highlights and quipped, "Viva Las Vegas and later for Viagra -- but not never".[27]

Track listing

All songs written and produced by Prince.

No.TitleLength
1."Planet Earth"5:51
2."Guitar"3:45
3."Somewhere Here on Earth"5:45
4."The One U Wanna C"4:29
5."Future Baby Mama"4:47
6."Mr. Goodnight"4:26
7."All the Midnights in the World"2:21
8."Chelsea Rodgers"5:41
9."Lion of Judah"4:10
10."Resolution"3:40

Charts
Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[28] 38
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[29] 11
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[30] 5
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[31] 20
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[32] 5
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[33] 3
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[34] 14
French Albums (SNEP)[35] 16
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[36] 7
Italian Albums (FIMI)[37] 16
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[38] 9
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[39] 15
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[40] 35
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[41] 1
US Billboard 200[42] 3

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[43] Gold 15,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history
Country Date
United Kingdom July 15, 2007
Germany July 20, 2007
United States July 24, 2007

References
  1. "Album: Planet Earth - Prince Vault".
  2. "Columbia Snaps Up Prince's 'Planet Earth'". Billboard.com. June 12, 2007.
  3. "Prince Reunites With Wendy & Lisa!". Pitchfork Media. Archived from the original on July 14, 2007.
  4. "Prince Album Drama". Yahoo! Music. June 28, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
  5. "Prince Free Album Causes BMG U.K. to Pull Distribution". singersroom.com. June 30, 2007. Archived from the original on July 2, 2007.
  6. Brook, Stephen (July 9, 2007). "HMV defends about-face over Prince giveaway". The Guardian. London. Retrieved May 22, 2010.
  7. "Planet Earth". Prince Vault. June 22, 2011. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
  8. O'Reilly, Terry (April 20, 2013). "Loss Leaders: How Companies Profit By Losing Money". CBC Radio: Under the Influence. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
  9. Prince: Guitar (Video 2007), retrieved September 8, 2017
  10. "Expo40p14-15Prince" (PDF). fuji.co.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 21, 2008.
  11. Prince: Somewhere Here on Earth (Video 2007), retrieved September 7, 2017
  12. "Planet Earth Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  13. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Prince: Planet Earth > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  14. Hyden, Steven (July 31, 2007). "Prince: Planet Earth". The A.V. Club. Chicago: The Onion. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  15. Willman, Chris (July 23, 2007). "Planet Earth (2007): Prince". Entertainment Weekly. Time (#945). ISSN 1049-0434. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  16. Powers, Ann (July 24, 2007). "It's worth a visit to Prince's 'Planet'". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. ISSN 0458-3035. OCLC 3638237. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  17. Martin, Dan (August 6, 2007). "Prince: Planet Earth". NME. IPC Media. ISSN 0028-6362. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  18. Wolk, Douglas (July 23, 2007). "Prince: Planet Earth". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  19. Sheffield, Rob (August 1, 2007). "Planet Earth". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media. ISSN 0035-791X. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  20. Henderson, Eric (July 24, 2007). "Prince: Planet Earth". Slant Magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  21. Light, Alan (September 2007). "The Ruler's Back". Spin: 121. ISSN 0886-3032. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  22. Lewis, Miles Marshall (July 17, 2007). "Purple Drizzle". The Village Voice. New York. ISSN 0042-6180. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  23. Hasty, Katy (August 1, 2007). "'NOW 25' Fends Off 'Hairspray,' Prince To Remain No. 1". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved August 1, 2007.
  24. Christgau, Robert. "CG: Prince". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  25. Christgau, Robert. "CG 90s: Key to Icons". Robert Christgau. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  26. Christgau, Robert (October 2007). "Consumer Guide". MSN Music. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  27. "Australiancharts.com – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  28. "Austriancharts.at – Prince – Planet Earth" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  29. "Ultratop.be – Prince – Planet Earth" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  30. "Ultratop.be – Prince – Planet Earth" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  31. "Danishcharts.dk – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  32. "Dutchcharts.nl – Prince – Planet Earth" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  33. "Prince: Planet Earth" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  34. "Lescharts.com – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  35. "Offiziellecharts.de – Prince – Planet Earth" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  36. "Italiancharts.com – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  37. "Norwegiancharts.com – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  38. "Spanishcharts.com – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  39. "Swedishcharts.com – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  40. "Swisscharts.com – Prince – Planet Earth". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  41. "Prince Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  42. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Prince; 'Plaent Earth')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
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