The critics come and go, talking of D’Angelo…

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[7.60]

Daniel Montesinos-Donaghy: 2006: ?uestlove had just broken D’Angelo’s code of privacy. The world was awaiting the reclusive soulman’s third album, the glory days of his Voodoo period overcome by reports of drug and label problems. Then during a set on Australian radio station Triple J, ?uesto plays a rough version of “Really Love,” laden with audio drops of The Roots drummer well aware of his actions, jostling “You didn’t get this from me!” The perfectionist D’Angelo was not pleased, and a strain was placed on his and ?uesto’s relationship, three years after they had reopened lines of communication. The mythical third album, then called James River, continued through different stages of production; meanwhile the drummer doubled-down on, well, lending his hand to every musical project in the world. 2011: the two artists, brought together by Amy Winehouse’s death, got it all out. ?uesto was terrified of losing D the way of Winehouse and their soul idols, to premature death and legendary status. D wanted his drummer back — the one he confessed about always wanting to Dream Hampton — but he needed his friend back too. 2015: “Really Love,” from that mythical third album, is with us. Tidied up from the 2006 leak and spruced up with strings, it is a song strong enough to use Spanish guitars in the intro and overcome cliché, a dimmed-lights romantic crawl. Its history means more than just romance, though: its eventual release (with those ?uesto drums present) is a peek into a friendship and professional relationship between two of our finest modern musicians, troubled by a song but ultimately made stronger by finishing it together.
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Thomas Inskeep: Black Messiah is a sneak attack 14 years in the coming that takes weeks and weeks (and probably months) to chew through. D’Angelo sounds like plenty of his influences, but no one sounds like him. Interesting, then, and sadly not entirely surprising that his record company cherrypicked the most conventionally D’Angelo-sounding track as the album’s first single. “Really Love” could’ve come from not just Voodoo but maybe even Brown Sugar: it’s got a smoldering groove straight outta “Shit, Damn, Motherfucker,” for one, once you get past the (rather lengthy) French kissing and finger-picked guitar of its intro. As opposed to the bulk of its parent album, which looks backward while facing forward, “Really Love” is D’Angelo in stasis. Which is still awesome, just not as awesome as it could be, or as awesome as the rest of Black Messiah. 
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Rebecca A. Gowns: A caressing love song that swells and swoons in all the right places. Heartfelt and tender; a balm.
[8]

Katherine St Asaph: Dramatic yet gossamer, cozy yet unsettled, the guitar and strings are entire albums’ worth of contradictions in just two arrangements — and that’s well before D’Angelo starts to sing.
[8]

Alex Ostroff: Some tracks on Black Messiah feel like new D’Angelo songs, songs which make me want to carefully listen to them for years before even trying to absorb all their layers. “Really Love” is the opposite, and that’s its secret — it feels like I’ve known it forever. The song emerges from a fog of whispered Spanish and strings before settling into a soothing and comfortable groove, as if D’Angelo is pulling it out of my memory, teasing the parts forth one at a time, reminding me what it sounds like, what the words are, how it feels.
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Megan Harrington: I don’t believe I’ve ever experienced anything as gorgeous, as luxurious, as consummated as “Really Love” sounds. Its nearly six minutes feel a third as long; I could listen to D’Angelo muse about love for hours on end. Part of that insatiability is a component of waiting a decade and a half for new music from a mercurial genius, but it’s also the quality that defines perfection. “Really Love” is almost painfully ephemeral, notes float into the ether as soon as they’re played, and it’s impossible to overplay the song. As an audience, we’re conditioned to need years to process D’Angelo songs. Like Black Messiah this century, my thoughts on “Really Love” are unfinished and subject to constant revision, but its beauty is undeniable.  
[10]

Alfred Soto: Three weeks after leaking, Black Messiah already sounds as if D’Angelo released it in 2013 and endured several cycles of thinkpieces, even though I know Beyoncé inspired more. The loping rhythm and let’s-get-comfortable start mirror the strategy. Thumbs up for the guitarist and string arrangement. But he’s thrifty as ever about melodies. Who would’ve have thought he’d edge closer to Bête Noire-era Bryan Ferry?
[7]

Jonathan Bogart: The album title and cover art look like a reference to Mary Lou Williams’ Black Christ of the Andes, which is a hell of a lineage to insert yourself into. On the strength of this single, he’s got the orchestration down, but if there’s melodic development past the one groove, it’s too subtle for me to detect.
[7]

Will Adams: A pretty, if languorous, arrangement of down soft strings and guitar, but I’m not sure I’m hearing much of a song.
[5]

Edward Okulicz: Kind of pointless and nothingy, but I won’t deny that it’s also kind of exquisite.
[7]

Ramzi Awn: From the first second of “Really Love,” D’Angelo gets downright romantic. The beat ticks like a music box, and his voice sounds angelic. The details are what make this song a masterpiece: with clicks and beeps all over the place, it’s still as clean as a whistle. And the bass is perfectly balanced for repeat listens.   
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Jonathan Bradley: Not to bring back bad memories of 2014, but this is all about that bass. D’Angelo is color on his own track.
[6]

Brad Shoup: These years, when Prince drops a track like this, he remains the focus; all the musical elements are so many foreign dignitaries invited to amuse his lover. D’Angelo is forever ensconced in arrangements, the low voice that doesn’t demand to be heard. That approach can be a drawback, though, especially when he’s up against a (admittedly, one of the better) cafè jazz soundtrack. Pino Palladino’s bass is applied in pointillist daubs: loving plucks that meld with D’Angelo’s cute “I’m in really love” goop. 
[6]

Tara Hillegeist: Drowning in murmured, meaningfully meaningless words, strummed licks washing in and out like waves, a collection of fingersnaps and burbling, multitracked analog pop and hiss for a crest; plucked bass undertow; experimental like nothing else even remotely in the same category. I feel touched. It makes me want to touch someone. How gentle.
[8]

Micha Cavaseno: Me: Can I just give it a [9] and get away with it? Conscience: No, describe some stuff. Me: I don’t wanna, it’s just good. Conscience: Well, what about the flamenco intro, or the way he still lives in this world that floats between gospel and R&B with relative ease? Me: Yeah, but… Conscience: Or what about the tenderness that he can display without ever seeming inauthentic? A certain softness that manages to fulfill a broader spectrum of emotions than any of his peers ever could, even if you secretly know Bilal is a much better singer? Me: That’s true too but… Conscience: WHAT?!?!? Me: Can’t I just say this is great? Conscience: …Dammit, Max…
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