D'Angelo : Untitled (How Does It Feel)

This song made a small dent in the pop charts in 2000. I can't remember if I ever even heard it on the radio though, as the version I have clocks in at a hefty seven minutes plus. Maybe I heard it on MTV, cuz I think he had that video where he's naked from the waist up, and his pants are very, very low. He might have even had to shave. If you know what I mean.

But, regardless of Michael's predilections for public exhibitionism, it doesn't change the fact that this is the best Prince song Prince never recorded. It's a slow burn of a soul song, dripping with raw emotion, a little funk and plain old sex. The vocals are sublime, expertly building pent-up desire into pure screaming animal lust. The lyrics start off simple, like a love song, but verge into Prince-style nastiness by the end of the song.

Another interesting item of note is the dead-stop right at the climax of the song. Maybe they realized it just couldn't get any better and they didn't want to spoil the built-up tension by offering any sort of denouement, or maybe it's meant to be symbolic of ... something.
In any case, it's a superb song, worthy of any late night make out session. I'd throw it in right after Barry White and right before "Between the Sheets" by the Isleys or maybe even "When Doves Cry". Yeah...

You can find D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" on his 2000 release, Voodoo.

[You can listen to D'Angelo's "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" by navigating to the post "Song062" and clicking or right-clicking on the title or the link.]

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