Thirty-five years after Prince recorded it at Paisley Park and gave it away, the world is finally hearing his original version.
The Prince estate released “With This Tear” on Monday (April 21) via NPG Records and Legacy Recordings, one day ahead of the 10th anniversary of Prince’s death and timed to coincide with the annual A Day 2 Reflect / A Night 2 Remember event at Paisley Park. The recording dates to November 1991, when Prince wrote, produced, and performed the piano-led ballad himself before offering it to Celine Dion, whose version appeared on her 1992 self-titled album as its closing track. Prince’s original had remained in the vault ever since.
The newly released version has been updated with a fresh mix by Grammy-nominated producer Chris James, who has previously worked on multiple Prince-related projects. Where Dion’s recording leaned into sweeping adult-contemporary production, Prince’s original trades that grandeur for a sparse, piano-led arrangement with soft synth textures and subtle orchestration, offering a direct window into his early-1990s creative period when he was particularly unfiltered and self-contained. SPIN An accompanying video pairs the track with a montage of archival photos and performance footage spanning his life and career.
The release carries additional significance beyond the anniversary. The estate has framed “With This Tear” as the first in a series of previously unreleased recordings leading up to a new vault album expected later in 2026. Consequence That makes the track a genuine opening move in what could be a substantial archival campaign, rather than a one-off anniversary release. Details about the full album project have not yet been confirmed, but the structured rollout framing suggests the estate is approaching the vault with a longer-term commercial and curatorial strategy.
“With This Tear” also reflects a dimension of Prince’s legacy that often gets overshadowed by his output as a performer: his prolific work as a songwriter for other artists. Over the course of his career, Prince wrote and produced for a wide range of performers, frequently delivering compositions that took on entirely new forms outside his own catalog. Giving away a ballad of this caliber while keeping the original in the vault was entirely consistent with how he operated, which is why the depth of unreleased material he left behind continues to surprise even committed fans.
The timing of the release comes just weeks after the Prince estate settled its eight-year trademark dispute with Apolloniaover the Purple Rain name, a resolution that allows both parties to continue honoring Prince’s legacy without further legal friction. In 2024, a previously unheard demo collaboration between Prince and Kylie Minogue titled “Baby Doll” surfaced, underscoring how much material the vault still contains. In June, the estate is also staging a concert celebration of Prince’s legacy, with participants including Chaka Khan, Morris Day, Tevin Campbell, Sounds of Blackness, and Bobby Z. Consequence
Ten years on, the vault is still opening.
