D'Angelo's longtime friend and collaborator Raphael Saadiq revealed that the Virginia singer and songwriter is focused on recording his upcoming album.

During a recent appearance on the “Rolling Stone Music Now” podcast, Saadiq said that the D’Angelo is in a good space. “He’s excited. He’s like, ‘You gotta play bass. I’ve got this track. I’m telling you, you got to get on it. It got your name all over it.’ … He’s working on six pieces right now, and he seems super excited,” he told the host Brian Hiatt. “I think it’s going to be a record on D’Angelo’s new album when it comes out, a record that we all did together. Linwood Rose lives. I’m playing bass, D’s playing, me and D is singing backgrounds. It’s funky as hell, too. It’s like, D is a bad boy… It’s aged well. Good music ages well.”

D’Angelo and Saadiq have collaborated since D’Angelo’s debut single, “Lady.” Saadiq also played a crucial role in producing and co-writing D’Angelo’s renowned hit "Untitled (How Does It Feel)" from the 2000 album Voodoo.

Also, during the interview, Saadiq admitted that the pair bonded over their shared gospel influences. “I think more of his soul came from his gospel roots, not Prince,” he said. “But Prince had a huge gospel background, too. He was able to camouflage it a lot in his songwriting. And I think D’Angelo is the same way, too.” 

After the release of his long-delayed third studio album, Black Messiah, in 2014, D’Angelo told Rolling Stone that he did “not want to put a lot of music out there.” He added, “I feel like, in a lot of respects, that I’m just getting started.”