The Rainbow Children

The Rainbow Children is the twenty-fourth studio album by Prince.

This concept album illustrates common Prince themes of spirituality and human sexuality, as well as love and racism, through the fictitious story of a social movement toward a Martin Luther King Jr.-inspired utopian society. The album seems to allude to his recent conversion to the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination, but Egyptian monotheism and New Age concepts such as the Akashic records are used as metaphors as well. Jazzier than any of his previous efforts, it was met with mixed reactions. Some fans saw the album as a musical and spiritual evolution for Prince.

The Rainbow Children was released through the independent distributor Redline Entertainment, and was released with minimal promotion per Prince’s wishes, as he wanted to focus more on the music and less on the sales factor of the release. It has sold 158,000 copies in US stores as of summer 2007, and an estimated 560,000 copies worldwide.