"The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" is a song recorded 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. Th ...

, under his unpronounceable stage name called the "Love Symbol". It was released as the only single from his twenty-third studio album ''

Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic ''Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic'' is the twenty-third studio album by American recording artist Prince, who was at the time going by the unpronounceable "Love Symbol" (as shown on the album cover). Released on November 9, 1999 by NPG Records and A ...

'' (1999). It was issued on October 5, 1999, in several different formats, including a

12-inch single The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surfac ...

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

, and a

maxi single A maxi single or maxi-single (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. The first maxi singles Mungo Jerry's first single, "In the Summertime" was the ...

. Prince solely wrote and produced it, while Mike Scott provided guitar strings for the track. Several

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

found the single reminiscent to the works on his previous studio album, ''

Diamonds and Pearls ''Diamonds and Pearls'' is the thirteenth studio album by American recording artist Prince, and the first with his new backing band The New Power Generation. It was released on October 1, 1991, by Paisley Park Records and Warner Bros. Records. ...

'' (1991). The track is a smooth hip hop and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

, featuring Prince's multi-layered vocals in the chorus. A

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

remix of the single entitled "Adam and Eve", featured a guest rap from

Eve Eve (; ; ar, حَوَّاء, Ḥawwāʾ; el, Εὕα, Heúa; la, Eva, Heva; Syriac: romanized: ) is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the ...

, while

the Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos, ...

remix featured a guest rap from Q-Tip. The former version was included on Prince's first remix album, ''

Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic ''Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic'' is a remix album by American recording artist Prince (musician), Prince, under the unpronounceable "Love Symbol", as shown on the album cover. It was released on April 29, 2001 by NPG Records and contains remixes ...

'' (2001). The single became a minor hit, peaking at number 63 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. An accompanying music video was created shortly after ''Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic'' became available for purchase.

Composition and release

Musically, "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" is a smooth hip hop and

, unlike his previous

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

efforts. It was solely written and produced by Prince himself. The singer uses multi-layered vocals, a deep

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; 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 ligamentous ed ...

, and a

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

melody throughout its chorus. The album version of the single has a duration of five minutes and twenty-nine seconds, while the radio edit lasts for four minutes and thirty seconds. Several different physical releases of the single occurred shortly after its release on October 5, 1999, as it was marketed as Prince's "comeback" song. A 12" included eight different versions of the song, including the radio edit, the album version, the "Adam & Eve" remix, plus five additional remixes. The US

included the radio edit and Jason Nevins Remix of the track, plus a ten-second "Call Out Research Hook". Also, the Spanish CD single only contained the radio edit of the song.

Reception

Critical reception

The track was generally well received by

. Nathan Rabin of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' said " tis more ''Diamonds and Pearls'' good than ''

Sign O' the Times ''Sign o' the Times'' (often stylized as ''Sign "☮︎" the Times'') is the ninth studio album by American singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Prince. It was first released on March 30, 1987 as a double album by Paisley Park ...

'' great." Chuck Taylor, a columnist for ''

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 advertise ...

'', called the single "entirely satisfying" and appreciated it for being unlike other songs on the radio. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

''s Chris Willman enjoyed the recording's seductiveness and its overall production.

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis ( el, Αλέξης Πετρίδης; born 13 September 1971) is a British journalist, head rock and pop critic for the UK newspaper ''The Guardian'', as well as a regular contributor to the magazine '' GQ''. In addition to his mus ...

from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' wrote in his retrospective review, "By the end of the 90s, Prince obviously wanted commercial success again. The album ''

'' came packed with guest appearances; the smooth hip-hop-

balladry of The Greatest Romance Ever Sold was a good indication of its musical style. It wasn't a bad song, but the sense Prince was following trends rather than going his own way was hard to avoid." Toure from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' was mixed in his review, stating that it "sound dlike refugee from ''

'', the least-great of Prince's great records".

Commercial reception

After its release, "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" was moderately successful. The single peaked at number sixty-three on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming Prince's highest peaking song on the chart since " I Hate U" (1995). The song also fared well on the

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

component chart, where it peaked at number twenty-three and lasting a total of twenty weeks on the chart. Elsewhere, the track peaked in the lower regions of several charts. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at position sixty-five, during February 2000. It also charted in Germany and the Netherlands, peaking at numbers seventy-nine and seventy-one, respectively.

Promotion

An accompanying music video for the song was produced and created in late 1999. The visual features the singer performing in a dark room with several other female dancers; for the final segment of the video, Prince stands in front of a bullseye backdrop and a waterfall. In terms of live performances, the singer sang "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" for his

direct to video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

VHS film ''

Rave Un2 the Year 2000 ''Rave Un2 the Year 2000'' is a 1999 Prince concert film. Filmed in December 1999 at Paisley Park Studios, and premiering as a pay-per-view special via In Demand on December 31, 1999, the film was produced as a companion to his recently release ...

''. The aforementioned rendition was recorded live on December 18, 1999 from Paisley Park Studios and aired on PPV on the 31st.

Track listings and formats

;US CD single # "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Jason Nevins Remix Edit) – 3:36 # "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Original Radio Edit) – 4:19 # "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Call Out Research Hook) – 0:10 ;US vinyl single *A1 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Album Version) – 5:30 *A2 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Radio Edit) – 4:30 *B1 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Adam & Eve Remix, featuring

) – 4:28 *B2 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Radio Edit, featuring Eve) – 4:32 ;Spanish CD single # "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" – 4:26 ;European CD single # "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Radio Edit) – 4:30 # "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (The Adam & Eve Remix, featuring Eve) – 4:28 ;US and European 12" single *A1 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Radio Edit) – 4:32 *A2 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Jason Nevins Romance Beats) – 6:03 *B1 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Neptunes Extended Edit, featuring Q-Tip) – 5:08 *B2 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Jason Nevins Remix Edit) – 3:36 *C1 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Adam & Eve Mix, featuring Eve) – 4:30 *C2 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Album Version) – 5:29 *D1 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Jason Nevins Extended Mix) – 6:41 *D2 "The Greatest Romance Ever Sold" (Neptunes Remix Edit, featuring Q-Tip) – 3:42

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from ''Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic'' liner notes *

– vocals, instruments, lyrics, production *

– guest vocals * Q-Tip – guest vocals * Mike Scott – guitar

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greatest Romance Ever Sold, The Prince (musician) songs 1999 singles 1990s ballads Songs written by Prince (musician) Soul ballads NPG Records singles Arista Records singles Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) 1999 songs