In the days since her father’s passing, Imani Archer, D’Angelo’s only daughter, has allowed herself the space to grieve out loud. The 26-year-old singer/songwriter now carries a deep, public sorrow. She’s been generous enough to share pieces of her mourning, inviting others to see D’Angelo not just as an icon, but as a devoted, gentle man that she called dad.
“It’s just really hard… I just wish he was still here,” Imani admitted through a soft sob. Her aching words echo the heartbreak felt by millions with good taste in music, but Imani’s cut is the deepest. This loss is as personal and life-changing as it gets.
Imani had to pause several times during our camera-off Zoom chat to breathe, cry, and even though she didn’t need to, apologize for being what she called “scatterbrained.”
In a candid, emotional, and healing chat with BET.com, Imani reminisced over fun memories from her childhood, delighted in how she and her father bonded over music, and shared how his genius continues to fuel and comfort her.
Imani’s voice shook with grief when she said, “This last week has been really, really hard.”
Imani grew up surrounded by melody. Her dad’s side of the family boasts many talented musicians, and both of her parents’ love of music filled her ears and her heart. She recalls hearing a Keyshia Cole song on the radio one day when she was six or seven, and from there, she fell in love with singing.
Imani absorbed musical influences right at home. She remembers her dad introducing her to soul and funk, and her mom giving her pop music lessons, featuring songs by Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston.
D’Angelo’s career popped off when Imani was younger, so she spent most of her time with her mom. But whenever the daddy-daughter duo was together, music was their shared language. Imani recalled how they would harmonize when singing songs together.
“We would play and sing together all the time,” Imani laughed. “I remember I was in the car, and I was singing something. Me and him both do this thing where we won’t sing the song as it is. We’ll sing it in the harmony. I remember that was one of the first times he was like, ‘What? You know how to do that? I didn’t know you could do that! That’s what I do!’ and I was like, ‘Really? I didn’t know you did that too!” The shared laugh she had with D’Angelo in that memory shifted Imani’s grief for a split second.
“It definitely runs in the Archer genes… my brothers, they’re both gifted as well. It’s for sure an Archer thing,” she said with a smile in her voice. “He was obviously the king of it. He was just so effortlessly talented. He didn’t even have to try.”
“It was like his hands were made for instruments.”
D’Angelo loved connecting with Imani over music. “He would always try to give me pointers with this thing called bar chords because I struggle. He would always try to hold my hand and be like, ‘You gotta do it like this.’ He would try to teach me how to do riffs and all these really cool guitar tricks. He inspired me in so many ways.”
And even though Imani couldn’t shred on her ukulele like her old man did on his guitar, these jam sessions built her up as an artist and held her close as a daughter. The piano was D’Angelo’s first musical instrument as he’d learn to play as a toddler, and even though he claimed he wasn’t as good on the guitar, Imani knew he was.
She said, “Sometimes, I would show him my songs on the piano, and he would jump in on guitar and improvise. He was such a dope musician.” So dope, in fact, Imani said D’Angelo could hear five seconds of a song and then play it by ear.
D’Angelo helped define neo-soul with albums like Brown Sugar, Voodoo, and Black Messiah. And even though his influence inspired everything in soul and R&B that came after him, to Imani, he was just dad — the man who had to have every pizza the restaurant made, the hero to explain the Marvel sequel when Imani hadn’t seen the first installment, the comedian ready to crack a joke, and the protector who put everyone before himself.
“He really cared about the people he loved and was a protector,” Imani said.
“Even if his world was crumbling beneath him, he’d make sure to ask us if we were okay.”
She said that D’Angelo cared deeply about those he loved. “He was the kindest, most selfless man.”
When asked if they had ever created any music together, Imani immediately got choked up. “There were plans to,” she started before composing herself. “He had this song he wanted me to hop on, we just didn’t get the chance to, unfortunately.” D’Angelo wanted his daughter’s beautiful high notes to grace their collaboration. Through her tears, Iman said, “He was really proud of that [her high notes], and he was always like, I want you to sing those kinds of vocals on this song!”
D’Angelo’s legacy will forever be tied to his groundbreaking music, and while Imani is clear that she can’t replicate this legacy, she is setting herself up to create her own. “I’ve been doing music and finding my own voice and stuff for the last year. It’s hard…like people keep saying, ‘Oh, you know, you’re carrying on the legacy,” Imani said.
Her own artistry has been blossoming over the last year, in the midst of what is possibly her toughest season yet.
“God can be very funny sometimes,” Imani shared. “I wrote this song in July and I submitted it over a month ago and it was supposed to come out…it still is. I was thinking of not doing it, but I know he [D’Angelo] wouldn’t want me to do that. He would be pissed actually, if I did something like that,” Imani let out a nervous giggle.
The song in question is called “Surreal,” and it is scheduled for release on Friday, October 24th. “It’s just so funny though. What I’m singing about is something completely unrelated. It’s about losing someone ironically and it feels very crazy,” Imani said in reflection. When Imani played it for her mom, they were both left speechless by the song’s divine serendipity.
May the sweet, soulful spirit of her father hum through every melody she creates. As an extension of D’Angelo’s undying light, Imani hopes to inspire people even half as much as her father did.
“He just really loved music, the songs, and art. He put his everything into it. He really, really, really cared about it deeply and I feel like that is a way that I can honor him through my songs, having that same love, care, and attention to the music,” Imani said. Shine on, little light, shine on.
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