Honestly, it’s hard to think of a song that ruined a man’s life while simultaneously making him a god. That is the legacy of D’Angelo. When you pull up the d angelo lyrics how does it feel, you aren’t just looking at a tracklist from the year 2000. You are looking at a frantic, sweaty, and deeply sincere plea for intimacy that accidentally turned a shy church kid from Richmond into a global sex object.
It’s actually called "Untitled." The "How Does It Feel" part was just a label stuck on for the radio. D’Angelo and Raphael Saadiq wrote it as a literal tribute to Prince. Specifically, they were trying to bottle the vibe of Controversy-era Prince. You can hear it in that high, almost feminine falsetto and the way the guitar just kind of hangs there, dripping with reverb.
The Lyrics Aren't Just About What You Think
People think this song is a "baby-making" anthem. Sure, it’s sexy. But if you actually sit with the d angelo lyrics how does it feel, there is a level of desperation there that’s kind of uncomfortable. He’s asking for permission.
- "I’d love to make you wet"
- "I want to take the walls down with you"
- "Tell me how does it feel"
He isn't bragging. He is pleading. The song is a seven-minute slow burn that builds into a literal scream. Most modern R&B is too clean for this. D'Angelo wanted the "swamp." He wanted the hiss of the tape. Working at Electric Lady Studios—Jimi Hendrix’s old haunt—he and the Soulquarians (Questlove, Pino Palladino, etc.) decided to record everything onto old-school analog tape. That’s why the bass feels like a heartbeat in your throat.
The Video That Changed Everything (And Not in a Good Way)
We have to talk about the video. Directed by Paul Hunter, it’s just one shot. D’Angelo, shirtless, glistening, and seemingly naked from the hips down. It was meant to show vulnerability. Instead, it became a cage.
When he went on the Voodoo tour, women weren't listening to the complex time signatures or the jazz-fusion chords. They were screaming for him to take his clothes off. Questlove has talked about this extensively; D’Angelo would be trying to play a deep cut, and the crowd would just be chanting for "Untitled." It broke him. He felt like his musicianship didn't matter anymore. After the tour, he basically vanished for fourteen years.
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What the Experts Say
Music critic Greg Levine once pointed out that the lyrics feel like they were "lifted" from Marvin Gaye or Curtis Mayfield. That was the point. D'Angelo wasn't trying to reinvent the wheel; he was trying to be the wheel. He wanted to connect the 70s soul era to the hip-hop era.
Raphael Saadiq’s guitar work on the track is legendary. It’s a mix of Hendrix-style psychedelia and standard R&B. The song is also technically "unfinished." The way it just cuts off at the end? That wasn't a mistake. It’s meant to represent the suddenness of an ending, or maybe just the fact that the feeling never actually stops.
Why the Lyrics Still Matter in 2026
In an era where everything is quantized to death and tuned by a computer, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" sounds like a ghost. It’s messy. The vocals are layered so thick you can barely hear what he’s saying in the background whispers.
Key Elements of the Sound
- The "Pocket": Questlove’s drumming is intentionally "behind the beat." It feels like the song is constantly about to trip over itself.
- The Vocal Stack: D’Angelo did all his own harmonies. It’s essentially a choir of one man.
- The Dynamic Shift: It starts as a whisper and ends as a shout. Most songs today stay at one volume the whole time.
If you’re trying to learn the song, pay attention to the bridge. The chords shift from a standard R&B progression into something much darker and more jazz-influenced. It’s where the "Voodoo" of the album title really comes out.
Actionable Insights for R&B Fans
If you want to truly appreciate the d angelo lyrics how does it feel, do these three things:
- Listen to "Do Me, Baby" by Prince first. You’ll hear exactly where D'Angelo got the DNA for his vocal delivery.
- Use high-quality headphones. The bass frequency on Voodoo was mixed specifically to be "sub-heavy." If you're listening through phone speakers, you're missing 40% of the song.
- Read the liner notes for the Black Messiah album. To understand why he wrote "Untitled," you have to see what he did when he came back. He moved away from the "sex symbol" image entirely and leaned into political, gritty rock-soul.
The tragedy of D'Angelo is that he gave us the most perfect R&B song of the 2000s and it cost him his peace of mind. He was a baritone who lived in a falsetto world. He wanted to be a musician, but the world wanted a poster. When you sing those lyrics today, remember that you’re singing a tribute to the masters who came before him—and a warning about what happens when the image eclipses the art.
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Check out the live version from the Voodoo tour if you can find a bootleg. The "How Does It Feel" outro usually lasts ten minutes and features some of the most insane vocal runs ever recorded. It's the sound of a man trying to find a way out of his own shadow.