Art Official Age debuted at number five on theBillboard 200 and sold 51,000 copies in its first week.[5] In its second week of sales, the album dropped to number 22 on the chart, selling 15,000 copies, bringing the total to 66,000 copies.[6]
Art Official Age received generally positive reviews frommusic critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received anaverage score of 70, based on 24 reviews.[17] In his review for theChicago Tribune,Greg Kot said that it is "a more substantial and stranger album" thanPlectrumelectrum.[9] Randall Roberts of theLos Angeles Times called it "an exquisite Prince R&B album",[11] whileThe Daily Telegraph's Neil McCormick said it is "a slick, seductive electro funk sci-fi concept album".[10]Kitty Empire was favorable toward Prince's use of digital production in her review forThe Observer and called it "a far better album than you'd dare hope from the latterday Prince".[12]Billboard magazine's Kenneth Partridge said Prince is "funnier, sexier, and more self-aware than he's been in ages" and that the album is his most creative since the 1990s.[18]
In a less enthusiastic review forAllMusic,Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote thatArt Official Age is a "full-fledged R&B album" in the vein of Prince's work with theNew Power Generation, but some of his "modernization feels a bit ham-fisted".[7]Q magazine was more critical and dismissed it as "an overlong, pan-generic concept album",[14] whileJon Pareles ofThe New York Times said its songs lack memorable melodies despite the "musicianly ingenuity" of their production. Pareles added that it abandons the concept established by the album's first few songs andinterludes, which have Prince "waking up from suspended animation 45 years from now".[19]Robert Christgau cited "Breakfast Can Wait" and "FunknRoll" as highlights in his review forCuepoint, facetiously remarking, "our greatest composer-performer of romantic nu-funk erotica wakes up 40 years later wishing he wasJanelle Monáe".[20]
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