Beyonce, Solange, Janelle Monáe & More Celebrate D’Angelo’s ‘Voodoo’ Album
Last week marked the 15th anniversary of Voodoo — D’Angelo‘s critically acclaimed sophomore album. The smooth, groovy and soulful record has inspired many of your favorite artists of today. So in honor of the artist, Beyonce, Solange, Janelle Monae, Ariel Rechtshaid, A-Trak and more have written tributes to the album on Solange’s Saint Heron website.
Read a few of the highlights below!
Beyonce: Voodoo is as relevant today as it was when it first came out. D’Angelo’s harmonies, instrumentation and arrangements are iconic and timeless. His song structure of mixing classic R&B with the true roots of gospel jam session still resonates today. It is an album you can listen to from start to finish. This is the DNA of black music; all the love, pain, social statements and rawness punctuated by his effortless vocal progression from his funky low register to his sexy falsetto. My favorite song on the album is “Africa” and “Untitled” definitely inspired my song “Rocket.”
Solange: Voodoo is the church in which we all come to worship the religion of soul music. It is the word. It is the temple. It is the law for all lovers of true rhythm and blues. At 15-years-old, Voodoo is the most self-assured, decisive, deep in its roots, and “grown as hell” album in recent musical history I’ve ever experienced. A true testament to the term, timeless. Since its birth, it has always gone hand and hand with reflections of various milestones in my life. I was 13, when I heard “Untitled” and got goosebumps at the first knock of the snare. I couldn’t have been farther from having the answers when he belted “How Does It Feel,” but the deep down gutters of my soul said “Daaaaammmn Goot!”
Janelle Monae: Voodoo was by far one of the best concept albums in music. From the start of the first interlude, I knew D’Angelo had created his own world and I wanted to be in it. Although I couldn’t understand a lot of the words –and still can’t — it made me fall deeper in love with his melody and his tone. The live musicianship through out was incredible and has definitely influenced me and my production team, Wondaland, to always bring in live instrumentation through our albums. For example the horns, guitar, bass and etc.
His harmonies and background vocals are still some of my favorites to listen to. I loved the way songs like “Devil’s Pie” right into “Left Right” seamless flowed. “Spanish Joint” opened my eyes to how elements and sounds from a different genre could work on the same album and still remain cohesive.
Click here to read the rest of the tributes!
[via Saint Heron]
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