"Letitgo" is a song 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 ...

from his fifteenth studio album, ''

Come Come may refer to: *Comè, a city and commune in Benin *Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece Music *Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990 *Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979 **Come ...

'' (1994). Despite statements that the album consisted entirely of "old" material, "Letitgo" was actually newly composed for the album. The mid-

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...

song relies heavily on a drum machine pattern and

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with

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s in the

refrain A refrain (from Vulgar Latin ''refringere'', "to repeat", and later from Old French ''refraindre'') is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in poetry — the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the vi ...

. A keyboard and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

solo appear toward the end. The song is sung in

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 ...

in unison with another track layered in his regular, lower register. Kathleen Bradford provides backing vocals, while Eric Leeds provides flute accompaniment. The track was produced, arranged, composed and performed by Prince, with the additions of Kathleen Bradford on background vocals,

Eric Leeds Eric Leeds is an American saxophone player, mostly known for his work with Prince. He has recorded mostly music in the pop and funk genres, but is a studied jazz musician.Cole, George.Eric Leeds: Interviews: The Last Miles: The Music of Miles D ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

and additional keyboards by

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. The

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, a ...

speak of Prince's disappointment with

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

' decision not to release music as quickly as Prince created it. He chides them that they will be sorry when he leaves the company. The

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 ...

was the album track "Solo", a downbeat number with Prince's voice only accompanied by

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has a number of individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orche ...

, which was composed by

David Henry Hwang David Henry Hwang (born August 11, 1957) is an American playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and theater professor at Columbia University in New York City. He has won three Obie Awards for his plays '' FOB'', '' Golden Child'', and '' Yellow ...

. The title refers not to a musical solo, but actually that Prince's mood is "so low". It ties in with the slightly more upbeat "Letitgo". In addition, a

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 ...

was released in the UK containing an edit of "Letitgo", "Solo", the extended version of "Alexa de Paris" (originally the B-side to "

Mountains A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher th ...

" in 1986) and "Pope", which was originally on '' The Hits 2'' from 1993. 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 ...

on CD and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

included several

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

es of the track provided by Quincy "QD3" Jones III, Chronic Freeze., J-Sw!ft and Gerald "G Bomb" Baillergeau. A 7" vinyl

picture disc Picture discs are gramophone (phonograph) records that show images on their playing surface, rather than being of plain black or colored vinyl. Collectors traditionally reserve the term picture disc for records with graphics that extend at lea ...

was issued in the UK.

Critical reception

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

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 ...

'' wrote, "On what could be one of the final projects issued under the name Prince, punters are given a dark

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funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

ditty, pumped with a thick bassline and a wicked

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved or indented, such that it can be used to grab onto, connect, or otherwise attach itself onto another object. In a number of uses, one e ...

that is truly irresistible. Given the heat he is enjoying at radio under his alter-ego, the future of this superior effort looks mighty bright. One of many reasons to dive into the new "''

''" collection." In 2019,

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 ...

'' commented, "By

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, Prince was more interested in fighting with his record company than the quality of his releases. Come was evidently thrown together to fulfill his contract. But even when he didn't really care, he couldn't turn his talent off completely. Letitgo isn't a classic, but nor is it a disaster. Perhaps he made more of an effort because it's about his desire to leave the Warners label."

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

described it as "a fairly nondescript piece of Prince funk" in his weekly UK chart commentary. Pan-European magazine ''

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'' noted, "After the royalty in exile as Symbol, he now returns in his original identity with a mean swingbeat track of early

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proportions. Will he keep the ballet army under control?" Alan Jones from ''

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'' rated "Letitgo" four out of five, calling it "one of his seductive rolling funk numbers".

Chart performance

"Letitgo" was moderately successful on the charts, peaking at number 31 on the Hot 100, 10 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, 13 on the Rhythmic chart, 17 on the Mainstream/Pop chart and number 30 in the UK.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Letitgo" contains clips from the 3 Chains o Gold motion picture. It contains Prince signing a contract with an early version of his love symbol signature.

Track listing

* 7" single #"Letitgo" (edit) – 4:15 #"Solo" – 3:48 * UK 12" single and CD #"Letitgo" (edit) – 4:15 #"Solo" – 3:48 #"Alexa de Paris" (extended version) – 4:54 #"Pope" – 3:28 * US 12" and CD #"Letitgo" (Caviar radio edit) – 4:59 #"Letitgo" (Cavi' street edit) – 5:02 #"Letitgo" (Instrumental) – 5:02 #"Letitgo" (On the Cool-Out Tip radio edit) – 4:34 #"Letitgo" (Sherm Stick edit) – 5:42 #"Letitgo" ((-) Sherm Stick edit) – 5:42 #"Letitgo" (original radio edit) – 4:15 #"Letitgo" (original album version) – 5:33

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control Prince (musician) songs 1994 singles Songs written by Prince (musician) Warner Records singles Song recordings produced by Prince (musician) 1994 songs