The New Power Generation (or NPG for short) is the backing group of Prince. They debuted on the 1991 album Diamonds and Pearls. The name comes from a song on his 1990 album Graffiti Bridge, however the phrase "Welcome to the New Power Generation" was mentioned on the opening track of 1988's Lovesexy. When Prince began his formal dispute with record company Warner Bros. and changed his stage name to o(+> in 1993, the NPG became a side-project for Prince, allowing him to release music outside of his contract.