With his 1995 debut album, “Brown Sugar,” D’Angelo had already proven himself as an R&B force to be reckoned with. But his 2000 follow-up “Voodoo,” fueled by the hit single, “Untitled (How Does It Feel?),” launched him into the stratosphere with a music video that showed fans a side of the Neo-soul artist they had never seen before – literally.
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The video features a chiseled and nearly-naked D’Angelo singing directly into the camera. While it got lots of play on MTV and BET, we’re pretty sure more people were looking at his abs than listening to the music. But those closest to D’Angelo knew that he was all about his music and never truly embraced his sex symbol status. In fact, the whole thing became overwhelming for him and sent him down a dangerous path of drug and alcohol abuse.
This is the story of “Untitled” and the music video that made D’Angelo a sex symbol — and ultimately, a recluse.
Looking For Sophomore Success
D’Angelo kept fans waiting five long years after the release of his debut album “Brown Sugar” for new music. But “Voodoo” was definitely worth the wait. The album was recorded at Jimmy Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York City, and the track list was loaded with bangers, including “Untitled (How Does It Feel?),” a sexy slow jam written and produced by D’Angelo and Raphael Saadiq.
Just a Regular Dude Who Loved Music
Before the “Untitled” video, D’Angelo was known for his music. A natural introvert, he used his artistry to connect with his audience, letting his music do the talking.
“D’Angelo was just a shy, humble guy when we met,” Tribe Called Quest member and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad told Wax Poetics. “He was just a regular dude who loved music.”
The Concept
The concept for the “Untitled” video, came from D’Angelo’s manager, Dominique Trenier, who wanted to appeal to a wider fan base by showcasing his sexuality. To achieve his goal, Trenier proposed using the video to show every inch of D’Angelo they could get away with on cable television.
“We didn’t want an onscreen love interest,” Trenier told The New York Times in a 2000 interview. “We wanted him to be able to make contact with whoever was watching it one-on-one.”
The Shoot
The video was shot over six hours at a New York City soundstage. But there wasn’t much to the set – just a chiseled D’Angelo, standing on a motion-controlled platform wearing nothing but a smile, a gold crucifix around his neck and a pair of very low-slung pajama bottoms.
Think About Your Grandma’s Greens?
Although it’s almost impossible not to think about sex when watching D’Angelo lick his lips and stare straight through your soul, Paul Hunter, the video’s director says he had another vision in mind.
“Most people think the ‘Untitled’ video was about sex,” Hunter told GQ in a 2012 interview. “But my direction was completely opposite of that. It was about his grandmother’s cooking. Think of your grandmother’s greens, how it smelled in the kitchen. What did the yams and fried chicken taste like? That’s what I want you to express.”
D’Angelo agreed, telling GQ that most of the talk on the set was about church.
“It’s so true: We talked about the Holy Ghost and the church before that take. The veil is the nudity and the sexuality. But what they’re really getting is the spirit,” he said.
Overnight Success
In an era when scantily clad hip-hop video vixens were almost as popular as the artists whose videos featured them, “Untitled” was a nice surprise for ladies looking for a little eye candy for themselves. The video, which opens with a shot of D’Angelo’s cornrows and zooms in on his lips and abs, left little to the imagination and made the Neo-soul star the object of plenty of people’s affection.
“I used to be trying look down the screen 😩😩😩😩 So sad,” wrote someone on TikTok.
“Take It Off!”
After the video dropped, D’Angelo and his band hit the road for the “Voodoo” tour, and it quickly became apparent that fans were hoping to get a little more from D’Angelo than his music.
“We thought, okay, we’re going to build the perfect art machine, and people are going to love and appreciate it,” tour bandleader Questlove told GQ. “And then by mid-tour it just became, what can we do to stop the ‘Take it off’ stuff?”
Quest went on to tell GQ that the pressure to give the audience what they wanted took its toll on D’Angelo, who often took time to bust out a few crunches before his shows to make sure his abs were in perfect shape before hitting the stage.
Reluctant Sex Symbol
As his “Voodoo” tour continued, D’Angelo grew increasingly uncomfortable with his new sexy image, feeling that it was taking the focus off of his talent as a singer and musician. He worked hard on his craft, and he wanted the music to be the focus.
“One time I got mad when a female threw money at me onstage, and that made me feel f*d up, and I threw the money back at her,” he told GQ in an interview. “I was like, ‘I’m not a stripper.’”
Just Michael
By the end of the tour, D’Angelo was more than ready to drop his sexy alter-ego and go back to being himself, something that proved to be a lot harder than he thought it would be.
“When I got back home, yeah, it wasn’t that easy to just be,” he told GQ. “I think that’s the thing that got me in a lot of trouble: me trying to just be Michael, the regular old me from back in the day, and me fighting that whole sex-symbol thing.”
Painful Losses
Back in his native Richmond, Virginia, D’Angelo was slowly sinking after losing his grandmother and his Uncle CC, who helped inspire his love of music. The losses hit him hard, and he masked his pain with cocaine and alcohol.
“I was in the studio,” he told GQ. “But I was also partying a lot. A little too much.”
As he struggled with addiction, the buff dude who had everyone drooling was slipping away. D’Angelo’s weight, at one point, reached over 300 pounds.
From Rock Star to Recluse
D’Angelo’s issues with addiction led to a series of legal issues, including a 2005 arrest in Richmond for possession of cocaine and marijuana and driving while intoxicated and a 2010 arrest in New York City for solicitation.
He sank further into depression after the death of friend and frequent collaborator J.Dilla in 2006, and wouldn’t release new music again until 2014, when he dropped his third studio album, “Black Messiah.”
Industry Recognition
Although D’Angelo’s relationship with “Untitled” is complicated, his peers in the music industry considered it a masterpiece. The song won D’Angelo a GRAMMY for Best Male R&B Vocal performance, and the video earned him MTV Video Music Award nominations, including “Video of the Year,” “Best Male Video,” and “Best R&B Video.”
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