Prince Releases Surprise Single ‘The Breakdown’

First the announcement of a surprise reconciliation and surprise studio album, now the release of a surprise single.

Prince dropped a new soulful tune, “The Breakdown,” on iTunes shortly before midnight on Friday. It could be “the saddest story ever been told.”

This is the first release through his new and improved partnership with Warner Bros. Records. Prince has returned to his “slave” label, as he once called it, after an almost two-decade-long dispute. The new global licensing partnership allows Warners to digitally remaster and reissue Prince’s albums from 1978 through the 1990s. “Purple Rain” will be the first record to get the deluxe reissue as it nears its 30th anniversary.

Prince will also be working on a new studio album.

At its height, his disputes with the label he signed with in 1992 were so intense that he changed his name to a symbol.

Listen to the funk ballad here:

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