Top 10 Sade songs

Sade has produced six albums in four decades: Diamond Life, Promise, Stronger than Pride, Love Deluxe, Lovers Rock and Soldier of Love. The music has stood the test of time and showed the world that there’s more than one way to gain commercial success and maintain longevity. 

The English band changed the face of contemporary R&B, jazz and sophisti-pop. The band hasn’t released music in more than 10 years, yet the fan base has grown in recent years, especially in the US. 

The UK-based band was formed in London in 1982 and named after its lead singer, Helen Folasade Adu. Members of the Latin soul band Pride — Sade Adu, Stuart Matthewman, Paul Denman and Paul Cooke — came together and began to write their own material. In 1983, Andrew Hale joined the group and Cook left. 

In celebration of the lead singer’s birthday today, here are our favourite top 10 Sade songs. 

1. Smooth Operator. Released in 1984, the  song was part of their debut album Diamond Life and was originally recorded as a demo, along with Your Love is King. The song didn’t perform well in the UK but it launched the group’s career in the US. Record producer Robin Millar “produced and recorded the first tracks almost like a demo and then we took that to the record company and they released exactly what we had done as a demo. So those were our original kind of demos,” Matthewman said in a 2007 interview.

2. Your Love is King. Sade is masterful in creating timeless love songs. More than 30 years later their first album is still relevant. I thought this song was about the greatest love, but apparently it’s also about a woman experiencing an orgasm through oral sex. It’s a great lesson in writing songs about sex without being raunchy. 

3. Nothing Can Come Between Us. This is one of a few uptempo songs by the band. Adu did a little choreography; it makes you also want to vibe along and it’s beautiful to watch. The song’s lyrics about an unbreakable bond and the funky guitar are classic Sade. 

4. Cherish the Day. The song is from their fourth studio album, Love Deluxe (1992). The video for the original song by Sade was shot in New York City in July 1993. Sade Adu is filmed on top of a skyscraper wearing a white crop top and a white flowy skirt, swaying her hips in that sensual sexy way she’s known for. The video is in black and white and as the camera pans in and out you see the Twin Towers and the Empire State building. The video is a love letter to New York. R&B singer Alicia Keys sampled the song for her track, Best of Me, which is part of her 2021 album, Keys.

5. Soldier of Love. The group won a Grammy Award for this chart-topping hit. Michael Pela, who co-produced the song with the group, died recently. The band members released a tribute to Pela saying: “It’s hard to imagine a world without Mike, but he’s a vital force within everything we’ve done, and everything to come, and remains really, truly, in our hearts.” 

6. Sweetest Taboo. There is a theory that Sade was referring to a lesbian affair. Or it could be another song about an orgasm. The song’s lyrics include the verse: “You’ve got the biggest heart, sometimes I think you’re just too good for me. Every day is Christmas, and every night is New Years Eve.” Now who wouldn’t want a love like that. 

7. Love is Stronger Than Pride. Released in 1988, this song is as moving and powerful today as it was back then. Everyone can relate to a time when you had to choose between your ego and love. In 2020, Kaytranada, the Montreal-based producer, dropped a remix of Love Is Stronger Than Pride. He turned the smooth jazz and R&B song into a dance tune. Nothing beats the original but maybe a new audience who’s never heard the song before may appreciate it. 

8. Is It a Crime? The song was released as the second single from the album Promise on 11 January 1986. It was a commercial success, reaching number 33 on the UK Singles Chart and  number eight on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. The song is about wanting to get back together with a former lover who you know isn’t good for you. In the song she asks, “Is it a crime that I still want you, and I want you to want me too?” 

10. By Your Side. This is the lead single for Sade’s fifth album, Lovers Rock, released in January 2001. Prior to this the band hadn’t released new music since 1993’s Please Send Me Someone To Love, which appeared on the soundtrack of the Tom Hanks film, Philadelphia. The song “came about from a lovers rock moment, like a reggae moment in the studio. And it was very spontaneous, Paul was playing his bass, and we were just all in the studio jamming. A lot of the lyrics, even, in the moment, just came from my head. It wasn’t something that I was trying to root for, it just appeared,” said Sade Adu.