Voodoo (D'Angelo Album) - Release and Promotion

Release and Promotion

The album's release was preceded by several delays, which were primarily caused by the folding of D'Angelo's former label EMI Records and legal troubles with his management. Originally scheduled for release on November 23, 1999, Voodoo was released the following year on January 25 by the Virgin-imprint label Cheeba Sound in the United States, January 18 in Canada and February 14 in the United Kingdom on EMI, awaiting eager anticipation from fans and critics. The cassette edition features a twelve-song track listing, and excludes "Untitled (How Does It Feel)". Voodoo was issued with a parental advisory label, due to profanities and sexually explicit lyrics present on the tracks "Devil's Pie" and "Left & Right", and also as a "clean" edited version with an alternate cover. A double LP release was made available in the UK through EMI. When Voodoo was originally presented to Virgin Records executives prior to its release, mixed opinions formulated on whether or not it would be favored commercially, as the project had been heavily financed by the label. In return for the production budget, Virgin executives expected a record with potential for radio-oriented success. However, Voodoo's unconventional sound proved difficult to translate into singles suited for contemporary radio success, in contrast to the more accessible Brown Sugar.

By the album's release date, three singles had been released, "Devil's Pie", "Left & Right", and "Untitled (How Does It Feel)", with only the latter making a significant commercial impact. The limited success with singles and lukewarm opinions from label executives led to more promotional efforts and a public response made by D'Angelo's management through issuing a statement, which cited Voodoo as the R&B musical equivalent of art rock band Radiohead's acclaimed studio album OK Computer (1997). While both records feature an experimental edge, in terms of sound and lyrical themes, the English indie rock scene to which the latter had belonged was album-oriented, as opposed to the contemporary R&B scene in the United States, which was more single-oriented at the time. Prior to its release, Virgin launched an extensive, multi-layered campaign for the album, which setup several promotional performances by D'Angelo in 1999, including a guest performance on the season premiere of The Chris Rock Show on September 17, New York's Key Club, the National Black Programmers Coalition meeting in New Orleans on November 20, KMEL San Francisco's House of Soul show on December 10, and KKBT L.A.'s Holiday Cooldown on December 11. Following commitments made by the label for the album's distribution in the UK, continental Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, D'Angelo appeared at London's Music of Black Origin Awards on October 6. Other promotional events included signings and in-store appearances by D'Angelo at shopping venues such as Macy's, Virgin Megastore, and Fulton Mall in New York City, which attracted a considerable number of D'Angelo's female fans. A remix album, Voodoo DJ Soul Essentials (2000), was also issued by Virgin.

A press release for Voodoo was issued in January, discussing the album's experimental edge and the anticipation for its release. It called Voodoo "the CD that D'Angelo was put on this earth to create" and "quite literally the record that much of the universal soul nation has been feenin for." A video for "Send It On" included footage from Voodoo's supporting tour. A music video for "Left & Right", created by director Malik Hassan Sayeed and producer Rich Ford, Jr., was anticipated by fans and MTV network executives that had planned special promotions and a world premiere for the clip. However, Sayeed's concept of a concert video that paid tribute to funk shows of the past expended Virgin's budget and resulted in a missed deadline for the MTV premiere. As punishment, the network refused to put the final edit of music video in rotation. It was eventually world-premiered by BET on Thanksgiving Day.

The release of the controversial "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" music video prior to the album's release has often been cited as having the greatest promotional impact. Directed by Paul Hunter, the video features D'Angelo, filmed from the waist-up, lip-synching in the nude. According to writer Keith M. Harris, it portrayed D'Angelo's "discursive play with masculinity and blackness". The video gained a significant amount of airplay on the BET and MTV networks, and increased mainstream notice of D'Angelo upon Voodoo's release, while exposing him as a sex icon to a newer generation of fans. It also proved to contribute significantly to the album's commercial success. The music video for "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" was also viewed at a promotional party thrown in celebration of the album's release, which took place in January 2000 at the Centro-Fly nightclub in Chelsea, Manhattan. Douglas Century of The New York Times wrote of the club's appearance as "packed and sweaty, with decor and soul music out of a 1970's time warp: multiple video screens playing images of Curtis Mayfield and vintage Soul Train episodes, replete with dancers in Day-Glo bell-bottoms".