“Untitled” by D’Angelo: The iconic video had “Thirst Trap” charm and defined the MTV era.
D’Angelo was already a celebrated artist in the R&B and neo-soul cosmos before 2000. His 1995 debut album BROWN SUGAR had made him a critical darling. His warm grooves, soul feeling and a voice that was reminiscent of the great classics hit the audience straight away. Hits like “Lady” and the title track cracked the charts in the USA, but internationally D’Angelo remained more of an insider tip.
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That changed suddenly on January 9, 2000, when MTV put the music video for “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” into heavy rotation. Shot by Paul Hunter, the video consisted of a single, uncut tracking shot that slowly glides over the singer’s impeccably defined torso as he sings the song into the camera.
In times before social media created viral trends, this pure visual presence was enough to trigger a wave of attention. Without a doubt, the video was what today would be considered the ultimate Thirst Trap.
Breakthrough and doubt
Suddenly D’Angelo was no longer just the soul man for connoisseurs, but a global superstar. Women and men alike debated the video, pop culture magazines devoted pages to whether D’Angelo’s sex appeal was calculated or casual, and “Untitled” became inextricably linked to the aesthetic of early 2000s R&B.
But the song itself was in no way inferior to the visually charged clip. “Untitled” was musically a tribute to Prince, with a hypnotic groove, minimalist instrumentation and a vocal performance that oscillated between tenderness and eruptive passion. It comes from the album VOODOO, which was released in 2000 and was hailed as a masterpiece by critics. It won D’Angelo a Grammy and gave him international airplay.
However, the international breakthrough also brought its downsides: D’Angelo himself later spoke about how the physical focus of the video influenced his relationship to the stage and to himself. The constant expectation of showing off the “Untitled” body again and again led to a retreat from the public eye that would last nearly a decade and a half. His former music manager, Dominique Trenier, once said: “To this day, in the minds of the general public, he is the naked guy.”
D’Angelo died at the age of 51
It was announced on Tuesday (October 14th) that D’Angelo died at the age of 51. He was reportedly diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died as a result of the aggressive cancer. The musician did not share his health with his fans, which is why the musician’s death came as a surprise.