Brow Beat

D’Angelo Announces His First Album in Nearly 15 Years

Looks like Dave Chappelle was right. In a recent interview with GQ, the comedian told a rather funny anecdote about D’Angelo’s “militant” answering machine message. More importantly, he speculated that the long-reclusive R&B icon was likely still making music and that “it’s just a matter of whether or not he wants to share that with us or not.”

It now looks like after nearly 15 years—and several teases—D’Angelo’s finally ready to share what he’s been up to. On Friday he officially announced in a short video his third album, Black Messiah, credited to both D’Angelo and his band the Vanguard. It’ll be his first since 2000’s Voodoo.

As Pitchfork notes, the new album will be played live at a private listening party on Sunday in New York City. And while the authenticity of the image does not appear to be confirmed, there’s a photo of what looks like a physical copy of the album floating around on Twitter, with some suggesting the album could see a Beyoncé-style surprise release as early as next week. If true, I couldn’t think of a better last-minute Christmas present.