Singer strips off at JFK assassination site

R&B singer Erykah Badu has struck a raw nerve in the United States, not just for stripping off in her new video but for being completely comfortable in her own skin precisely where John F Kennedy was slain.

In her new video Window Seat, which lasts a longer-than-average five minutes and 35 seconds, Badu - once known for her towering turbans - progressively loses her clothes, keeps walking in black lingerie and then peacefully strips.

She told the Dallas Morning News that the grassy knoll, where President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 was "the most monumental place in Dallas I could think of".

"The song Window Seat is about liberating yourself from layers and layers of skin or demons that are a hindrance to your growth or freedom, or evolution," she told reporter Hunter Hauk.

"I wanted to do something that said just that, so I started to think about shedding, nudity, taking things off in a very artful way."

Badu, who was born in Dallas in February 1971, has just released a new CD New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh.

Some of her fans were surprised at the public undress but she posted a message on Twitter saying: "the people caught in the shot were trying hard to ignore me. LOL cept one guy grabbing clothes... it was the peeps off camera yelling."

One appalled onlooker told her "THIS IS A PUBLIC PLACE : YOU OUGHTA BE ASHAMED : PUT YOUR CLOTHES ON : DAMN GIRL! etc," Badu added on the site, saying she has always shared her own vulnerable, naked truth.

A Dallas Morning News report cited police as saying Badu could face a charge for indecent exposure.

- AAP, NZ HERALD STAFF