(November 23, 2024) Sade’s career is a testament to the virtue of choosing words carefully and speaking sparingly. That virtue is certainly validated when if the speaker has something profound to say and the words are stated with beauty. Sade always has something profound words and the voice singing those lyrics is always poignant, insightful and sensual. This is why Sade must be considered a musical E.F. Hutton. We listen when Sade blesses us with song.
It’s amazing. Sade has released six studio albums in a career than has spanned four decades, and her most recent studio album, Soldier of Love, dropped in 2010. Sade is immune to the forces that compel most artists to push out music to keep the public’s attention or pursue trends to remain relevant.
Sade does what she does. Her music is rarely trendy -unless you consider topflight musicianship and production values and lyricism trendy – and she is always topical. That is the case for her latest single, “Young Lion,” that is featured in this first listen. Musically, the tune is sparse and the melody haunting. Sade’s vocals are deeply personal on a cut that finds a mother having a conversation with a child.
The song and the project from which “Young Lion” is featured are both topical. “Young Lion” is a song of support and an appeal for forgiveness and understanding written by a mother to a son. In this case, Sade dedicates the song to her son Izaak, a trans man. The track is one of the songs from TRANSA, a massive project featuring the contributions of over 100 artists. Check out Sade’s “Young Lion” here.
By Howard Dukes
