"Untitled (How Does It Feel)" is a song recorded by American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist D'Angelo for his second studio album Voodoo (2000). Written and produced by D'Angelo and Raphael Saadiq, the song was originally composed as a tribute to musician Prince, incorporating a vintage style and sound similar to that of Prince's early musical work. The song's lyrics concern a man's plea to his lover for sex. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" was released as the third single from Voodoo on January 10, 2000, by Virgin Records.

The song received generally favorable reviews from music critics and it earned D'Angelo a number of awards. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" also earned notice for its controversial music video. Directed by Paul Hunter and Dominique Trenier, the video appears as one shot of a muscular D'Angelo in the nude and lip-synching to the track. While initial reaction from viewers was divided with praise for its sexuality and accusations of sexual objectification, the video received considerable airplay on music video networks such as MTV and BET, and it helped increase mainstream notice of D'Angelo and Voodoo.

The music video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" had a considerable impact on D'Angelo's recording career, as it helped engender an image of him as a sex icon to a younger generation of fans. However, his discontent with this image led to his period of absence from the music scene following the conclusion of the supporting tour for Voodoo. The song won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001. Rolling Stone magazine named "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" the fourth best single of 2000. The magazine later named it the fifty-first best song of the 2000s. The song's music video inspired later videos by Panic! at the Disco and Jason Derulo.

Background and recording

"Untitled (How Does It Feel)" was originally intended as a tribute to influential musician Prince. The song evokes Prince's earlier work, in particular his balladry, from his Controversy period, as well as his musical style and falsetto vocal technique.Thompson, Ahmir 'Questlove'. "Review: Voodoo". ?uestcorner/Okayplayer: 1999. Archived from the original on August 9, 2008.Columnist. Review: Voodoo. Rocky Mountain Collegian. Retrieved on June 4, 2009. As an homage to the musician, Voodoo producer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson described the song as "finding the line between parody and honesty ... In an era of 'the cover song', redoing a Prince song was taboo. This is the second best thing". Production of the song was handled by D'Angelo and fellow neo soul musician Raphael Saadiq, who also contributed with bass and musical arrangements during recording in 1999.Track listing and credits as per liner notes for Voodoo album The session took place at Electric Lady Studios, the recording studio originally built by influential rock musician Jimi Hendrix.Columnist. RS500: 488) Voodoo. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on August 9, 2008.

Composition

Musical structure "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" follows a six eight signature, while drum pattern, bass line, guitar and melodic phrasing feature traditional arrangements.Levine, Greg. Philament Issue 4: Wagner, D'Angelo and a Song I Wrote . University of Sydney. Retrieved on December 21, 2008. Raphael Saadiq's electric guitar interplay throughout the song is reminiscent of the guitar style of Jimi Hendrix, as well as the "Maggot Brain" sound featured on the early work of Funkadelic. The song features a drum pattern with a uniform dynamic, which gives the impression of a live drummer playing in accordance to the sound of a drum machine. Overdubbing of D'Angelo's vocals, a contemporary R&B recording technique prominently used on the rest of Voodoo, was implemented a number of times during production to provide the sound of a choir singing harmonies during the choruses, all of which are sung by D'Angelo.

The song begins with D'Angelo playing off-beat, cross-snare clicks on the two and four beat with a messy kick.McPherson, Steve. Warp + Weft: Voodoo. Reveille Magazine. Retrieved on September 2, 2009. Music critic Steve McPherson noted that its first two measures sound "like a disaster", contrasting its solid groove. While most musical compositions rely on tension and release, which can be produced by factors such as soft verses and loud choruses, gradual buildup, subtle tension within verses or over the course of the bridge, or harmonic tension in chords that provides space for improvisation, D'Angelo's arrangements subdivide the tension into each moment of the song. According to McPherson, this results in "no linear way to measure how far off things slide before they pull themselves back ... can't be measured in beats or fractions of beats in a meaningful way. For lack of a less clichéd word, it's entirely 'feel'". Similar to most of the song's album, Voodoo, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" has this syncopation style as its center. D'Angelo's casual vocal style follows the same concept, applying it to melody, harmony, and phrasing, and is accompanied by falsetto climbs and skittery phrasing similar to Prince's singing.

Prior to the final chorus section, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" features a song-spanning dynamic after the bridge and guitar break that is accompanied by minor Rhodes piano and guitar chords, while the multi-tracked vocals are implemented as background whispers. Arrangements for the song are stripped back for an emphasis on vocals, leading to an enormous choral climax accompanied by overdriven electric guitar. On the song's final chorus section, critic Steve McPherson wrote "after it hits a peak, it keeps rising, the chorus of voices fizzing into overdrive and the whole track gradually succumbing to a wash of reverb". The song is cut off in the middle of its culmination, ending with the line "How does it fee-".Jeffers, Brendan. The Anticipation of D: Eagerly Awaiting the Return of D'Angelo . HHNLive. Retrieved on November 1, 2008.

Lyrics and theme Co-written by D'Angelo and producer Raphael Saadiq, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" features sexually-explicit lyrics that follow and narrate a man's plea to his love interest for sex, as demonstrated in the song's second verse: "Love to make you wet / In between your thighs, cause / I love when it comes inside of you / I get so excited when I'm around you, baby". Music critic Andy Peterson described the lyrics as "not–so–subtle", citing the line "Baby close the door / Listen girl, I have something I wanna show you / I wish you’d open up cause I wanna take the walls down with you" as an example.Peterson, Andy. Review: Voodoo . GW Hatchet. Retrieved on April 2, 2009. Music journalist Greg Levine cited its lyrics as "the generic pop lyrics", while also noting the similarity the lyrics have to those of other classic soul ballads, stating "Each line seems to be directly lifted from Marvin Gaye, Prince, or Curtis Mayfield." Levine elaborated on the lyrical theme of the song:

Release and reception As the fourth single issued in promotion of D'Angelo's second studio album Voodoo, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" featured release in the United Kingdom in 1999 through the EMI record label and in the United States on January 1, 2000, through Virgin Records.Untitled (How Does It Feel) (CD Maxi, Promo) . Discogs. Retrieved on December 27, 2008.Untitled (How Does It Feel) . VH1. Retrieved on December 27, 2008. In 2000, a 12-inch vinyl release of the single was issued in the U.K. with distribution through EMI.Untitled (How Does It Feel) (12", United Kingdom) . Discogs. Retrieved on 2008-12-27. The 12-inch single was released with cover artwork featuring an illustration of musician Jimi Hendrix and an upper caption reading "Electric Lady Studios", serving as an homage to the musician and the recording studio, which were both influential to D'Angelo during the production of Voodoo.Peisner, David. "Body & Soul". Spin: 64–72. August 2008. "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" proved to be the greatest chart success of the album's five radio singles, as it peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.0 Billboard Music Charts: Untitled (How Does It Feel). Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-08-09. The single entered the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks on January 8, 2000, at number 65 and spent 22 consecutive weeks on the chart.Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs: Untitled (How Does It Feel) . Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-12-26. On January 22, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" entered the Hot 100 Singles at number 77 and spent 17 weeks on the chart.The Billboard Hot 100: Untitled (How Does It Feel) . Billboard. Retrieved on December 26, 2008.

The song was well received by music critics. Miles Marshall Lewis of The Village Voice commented on its Prince influence, stating "D's falsetto plays the "Do Me Baby"-era chocolate-seduction Prince role",Lewis, Miles Marshall. Review: Voodoo . The Village Voice. Retrieved on December 25, 2008. while Mark Anthony Neal of PopMatters described the song as "simply the best Prince song since his Diamonds and Pearls days".Neal, Mark Anthony. Review: Voodoo . PopMatters. Retrieved on August 9, 2008. Neal cited "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" as the best track featured on Voodoo, and praised D'Angelo's style, stating "arguably Prince has never sounded better channeled through D'Angelo." On the song, Andy Peterson of The GW Hatchet wrote that "D’Angelo does a great impression of old-school Prince, full of kinky keyboards, grinding guitars and not-so-subtle lyrics." In citing it one of the Greatest Make-Out Songs of All Time, Blender magazine wrote that D'Angelo "set the pace for bump 'n' grind in the Aughts. A high point for dippin' it low".Columnist. The Greatest Make-Out Songs of All Time . Blender. Retrieved on April 5, 2009. Reveille Magazine's Steve McPherson called it "the best Prince song Prince never wrote" and cited the song's climb to its final chorus section as "the finest musical approximation of sexual climax since Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je T'Aime, Moi Non Plus'".

Accolades In 2001, "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" won a Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and was also nominated for Best R&B Song at the 43rd Grammy Awards ceremony.Product Page: Voodoo . Muze. Retrieved on August 8, 2008. It was ranked number 12 on The Village Voices 2000 Pazz & Jop critics' poll and number 4 on Rolling Stones "End of Year Critics & Readers Poll" of the top singles of 2000.Staff. "". Rolling Stone: December 2000.Staff. "The 2000 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll ". The Village Voice: February 20, 2001. Blender ranked "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" number 454 on its list of the Top 500 Songs of the 80s–00s (2005), and Q included it on its list of the 1010 Songs You Must Own (2004). About.com writer Mark Edward Nero ranked it number 9 on his list of 20 Best R&B and Soul Songs of the 2000s decade.Nero, Mark Edward. Best R&B and Soul Songs of the 2000s . About.com. Retrieved on December 26, 2009. In its December 2009 issue, Rolling Stone ranked it number 51 on its list of the 100 Best Songs of the Decade.Staff. 100 Best Songs of the Decade . Rolling Stone. Retrieved on December 27, 2009. In September 2011, VH1 ranked "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" number 83 on its list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the '00s. In 2021, it was listed at No. 379 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Music video

Production