Prince’s birthday celebrated with sister Tyka Nelson’s tribute song

Along with a string of icons in the music industry that died in 2016, Prince left the world on April 21, 2016, at age 58. Prince would have celebrated his 59th birthday today, and his sister – American singer Tyka Nelson – has released a tribute song titled “End of the Road”.

Captioning her YouTube video, Nelson explains her song to followers. “In writing End of The Road, I share my belief that when the soul separates from the body we pass on from a temporary existence to an eternal one.” In short, Nelson believes she “will see all three of [her] beautiful family members some day again”.

Not all netizens appreciated the gesture, however, and argued that Nelson was using Prince’s fame to gain exposure for her work. “In my opinion, this is just a hike on his death and fame,” said one YouTube commenter.

Other commenters said they would have preferred to hear one of Prince’s unreleased tracks.

“This is a beautiful song and a wonderful tribute to Tyka’s dad, mom and big brother Prince,” said a YouTube commenter, “but another great PRINCEDAY gesture would have been to let the DELIVERANCE EP be released, legally.” [sic]

The video features rare, old photos of Prince in his younger years, which Nelson posted on Twitter as teasers for the song release:

The video is recorded at Paisley Park, once Prince’s private estate and production house, which – following Prince’s death – has become a museum open to the public.

Nelson claims that Prince had invited her to record at the venue, but she declined.

“After Prince passed I wanted to give him one final birthday present and I decided to fulfil his wish, and to record my new song at Paisley Park,” she said on YouTube.