Lotusflow3r Not Quite Full Bloom for Prince

Prince’s new album, Lotusflow3r, is actually three separate discs: two by the Purple One and one by his protégé, Bria Valente, all for sale exclusively at Target for $11.98. And depending on who you ask, that’s a good deal—or not.

• Jody Rosen is thrilled by the "messy and bewildering (and, frequently, thrilling) mix of sensuality and theology, stitched together with some staggeringly virtuoso musicianship," he writes on Slate. "In other words, it's a Prince project par excellence."

• Not so fast, writes longtime fan Rob Brunner in Entertainment Weekly. The Valente disc is a "total waste," and Prince's songs "sound dreary and tossed off. It pains me to say this, but Lotusflow3r just isn't isn't worth your cash—even at a mere $3.99 a disc."
• Sure, Prince flopped with Valente, Serena Kim adds in Vibe. She "doesn’t offer anything besides sex; no dimensions, no humanity, no angst." But Prince wins with a "solid offering of tightly conceptualized tunes," "nimble guitar," "crystal meth-fueled drum patterns" and a return to his trademark funky Minneapolis Sound.

(More Prince stories.)