Daiana Feuer on December 9th, 2015

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They say if you stare into someone’s eyes for a particular length of time, you will fall in love with them. So, probably, this 6-minute video for “Changes” — in which Charles Bradley reaches for the depths of your soul with no more than a meaningful glance — could be dangerous. Having interviewed him once, there is something about this guy that leaves you trembling, like he’s magic or a fallen angel. Watch the documentary “Charles Bradley: Soul of America” to gain insight into his life, coming from nothing, being homeless, and starting his music career in his 60s when he was discovered by Daptone Records’ Gabriel Roth. When Charles Bradley delivers the sad, it hurts so good.

In this cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes” (Yes, that is amazing in itself), Bradley turns a song about watching love slip from your fingers into something much deeper about loss, regret, mourning, and the changes that chip away at a person’s heart. Better grab a tissue. “I think about the lyrics very closely when I sing ‘Changes’ and get emotional,” says Bradley. “It makes me think of my mother and the changes in my life since she passed away.” Death seems to be everywhere right now. The world feels like it’s imploding. Friends and family are dying, strangers are killing each other. All of us can connect in some way to the emotion he conveys. There was supposed to be more to the video, but when he got in the editing room, director Eric Feigenbaum says he “kept coming back to the take of Charles looking straight at the camera, telling the story with his eyes and reacting in the moment to the song. We only did that once. By the end of the take, everybody in the room was holding back tears.”

“Changes” is the first single from Bradley’s upcoming album of the same name, following 2011’s “No Time For Dreaming” and 2013’s “Victim of Love.” “Changes” drops April 1 on Daptone Records imprint Dunham Records.

||| Watch: “Changes”