"I try to remember the good parts about touring, and that's being onstage and performing. Working in a live setting allowed the artist to prepare a little for a touring stint, something she hasn't always relished. It was more about the song and less about the surface." "We didn't care about buzzes or noises," she says, further sharing that many of the vocals were cut live as the band played behind her. For Lover's Rock, though, Sade and her band just let things roll more casually. Not that they didn't mesh well in the past. "There was a real feeling of the four of us meshing together." They eventually adjourned to Spain for three months of work before settling into a studio along the countryside of England to finish the project. "We wrote the songs together this time," she explains, adding that much of the recording started at her home in London. That noted, Sade adds that she, the band, and co-producer Mike Pela did set out to build the tracks for Lover's Rock somewhat differently from past recordings.
![sade by your side single sade by your side single](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/37b311_0213b128b1af42ad87647d1bc8135c36~mv2_d_2520_3368_s_4_2.jpg)
"I think people respect the fact that we don't try and do anything but what we do," she says. Despite the subtle infusion of these styles, there's no danger of dramatic shift for the artist _ not now or ever. Odes of love like By Your Side and After All This Time are balanced by sharply drawn songs that run the gamut from astute reflections on racism (Immigrant and Slave Song) to warm meditations on motherhood (The Sweetest Gift).Įven the set's musical direction is broader, albeit in the most unobtrusive terms, as Sade reveals the unmistakable influence of hip-hop (Flow) and gospel (It's Only Love That Gets You Through) on her music. The project's overall vibe is reliably soulful and sweet, while Sade's voice remains an unquestionable tool of seduction, but her words are now more richly varied.
![sade by your side single sade by your side single](https://http2.mlstatic.com/D_NQ_NP_884365-MLV25871766620_082017-O.jpg)
Closer inspection, however, reveals the work of an artist who is now far more introspective and socially aware. On the surface, Lover's Rock shows the artist swimming in familiar waters, reveling in her signature blend of jazz-kissed pop/R&B romance. That said, the woman born Helen Folsade Adu, known simply as Sade to the masses, has seen quite a bit during her hiatus from the pop scene. "Maybe that's why such a huge amount of time elapses between albums." "When I write songs, I draw from my life, what I see and what I hear," she explains. When you come back together, you're bringing in whatever you've learned in that time, whether it's a musical thing or whether it's something you learned about life."įor the singer/tunesmith, the latter tends to come into play once they reconvene in the studio. "We've all gone off and done different things.
![sade by your side single sade by your side single](https://www.bizde.com/resim/593/tn408/sade-lovers-rock-mb32106_5935941_r1.jpg)
"When we come together to create an album, there is always some kind of progression," she says, her voice lowering to a pensive tone.