Chaka Khan, I Feel for You | Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶

In the 10th edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “I Feel for You” by Grammy-winning R&B singer, Chaka Khan.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶! Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils 🦴! All genres of music are welcome. In the 10^th edition of Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 (2025), we recollect and reflect on “I Feel for You” performed by Chaka Khan.

“Chaka, Chaka, Chaka, Chaka Khan / Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan, Chaka Khan.” Word, Melle Mel! 10-time Grammy-winning R&B artist Chaka Khan scored a huge hit with “I Feel for You”. “I Feel for You” is the sixth track from Khan’s 1984, platinum-certified album, also titled, I Feel for You. A cover, the original was composed and performed by Prince (Prince, 1979). Arif Mardin produced it.  The biggest solo hit of her career, matching the chart success of “Tell Me Something Good” with Rufus, “I Feel for You” peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1984. The single was certified platinum by the RIAA in October 2024.  Adding to the accolades, “I Feel For You” won the Grammy for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.

“I Feel for You” thrives for many reasons.  First and foremost, Chaka Khan is one of the most gifted vocalists of all time.  Khan sings her face off, showing the dynamic, expressive, and powerful nature of her instrument.  Khan infuses ample personality, ‘bringing the heat.’ Before she ever sings a note, she is prefaced by rapper Melle Mel, the rare rap feature at the time.  After the stuttering intro where Melle Mel ‘gasses her up,’ he drops a brief, relatively clean verse.  “I’ll make you more than just a physical dream / I wanna rock you, Chaka,” the spits, continuing, “Baby, ‘cause you make me wanna scream / Let me rock you, rock you.” From there, Chaka is on autopilot, making the Prince original hers.  “There’s something about the things you do / That keeps me satisfied,” she asserts in the first verse, adding in the pre-chorus, “It’s mainly a physical thing.” Ooh-la-la.  It leads to the satisfying sing-along chorus, “I feel for you, I think I love you.” Beyond her continual desire for this man, Khan is supported by a marvelous backdrop.  The music is funky, amplified by exuberant, high-energy synths, an inescapable groove, and a lit harmonica solo by the one-and-only Stevie Wonder.  No deep analysis is necessary for “I Feel for You”, one of the most epic R&B joints of the 1980s.  Chaka Khan did that!

Chaka Khan // I Feel for You // Warner // 1984

Chaka Khan, I Feel For You: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 No. 10 (2025) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Warner; AcatXlo, OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]