Sade, how do I love thee ..let me count the ways. The recent article, “Sade’s whims haven’t failed her yet“ byNelson George for the LA Times was a brilliant look into the life of the new Sade. I say new Sade in terms of the fact that she has obviously evolved as a human being, a woman, a mother, a daughter, a Nigerian, a Briton and an artist; all of which are reflected on her new album & in the LA Times interview.

I have become very fascinated with reading as much as possible about my Black female musical sheroes who exude a certain sense of inner power balanced with a sex symbol mystique that is wrapped in regal adoration instead of simplistic lust; something that seems to elude artists of today. The type of women that many women want to be, but very few can be. The type of women that men adore yet they are almost afraid to lose themselves in loving them too much or not being able to measure up to being worthy of their love!  The type of women who have obtained a certain centered sense of self that is unapologetic & non-negotiable in the way they live their life & find their happiness. Women like Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone, Grace Jones & ofcourse Sade!

“I hate to say this,” she intones in the warm, husky voice beloved by her fans for the last 25 years, “but when I saw these lambs gamboling through the field and I started to salivate and I thought I should get to the tandoori shop quick before I pull a leg off one of the lambs. It’s weird. I just thought the natural thing to do right now was to eat meat. I went through the whole veggie period thinking that was a good thing, and maybe it was for that time.”

Watching video interviews & reading articles where these women bare their souls by giving great insights on who they really are outside of the flashing lights without fear or apology, represents a great sense of power & the type of self reflection that is such a breath of fresh air & a treat for a fan like myself because it brings you to that Aha! moment when your questions are answered before you ask them while giving you that feeling like you can see & feel exactly what they are thinking without any words. I wouldn’t say that I got that from Sade in her interview with Nelson George, but I did get a sense of a reflective person who does represent a woman very much empowered & in control of her life & how she wants to see it orchestrated in the public. She refused to play the role of anyone’s “tragic mulatto” by fully embracing  & identifying with her Nigerian heritage over the English heritage  that she was born & raised in without any sense of confusion or apology, after spending time with her father immersed in her Nigerian culture. Sade is clearly a woman who invests in staying true to herself by setting her own rules & doing things in her own time without the struggle or need to chase money, popular culture or fame.

“As her sudden renewed desire for meat suggests, this lady trusts, and is guided by, her impulses, and has a sense of life’s priorities for which commerce is but one consideration. A prime example of her philosophy is the recently announced American tour, which begins in June and arrives at the Staples Center on Aug. 19, a good year and a half after the February release of “Soldier of Love.”..When it is suggested that the more logical time to tour in support of that album would have been this summer when the album was still hot, she smiles and acknowledges “that would have been the more sensible thing to do promotion-wise. But I just wasn’t ready to do that…. Sometimes I think you have to go with what you think is right as opposed to being a promotional tool for the album.”

Kudos to Nelson George for getting to the bottom of a question that only a son of hip-hop would think to ask & report to the many inquiring minds cut from hip-hop’s cloth. Now we all know that Sade will not be doing any hip-hop collaborations anytime soon with our favorite rapper or our favorite rapper’s favorite rapper because she has already said No to Jay Z & many others. I find it difficult to believe that she said no because she is afraid of them, rather than believing that she was just being a cheeky English Nigerian who is respectfully snubbing these rappers from tainting her living legend iconic status, which she has worked so hard to cultivate in a way that she remains in demand & relevant as the hip-hop industry moves on to the next one every time there is a lag in record releases or hits from the flavor of the moment. Sade will not be taking any hits to her career by betting on a rapper to keep her fresh & relevant to the times-Oprah take notes..just sayin’ !

“In an age of artists who blog and tweet opinions, heartaches and promotional messages on an hourly basis, Sade, predictably, demurs. She is not on Twitter or Facebook, though the band has an official Facebook page. She does, however, search the Web “looking for bricks and railing” for her farm…One 21st century music business convention she does acknowledge enjoying is sampling. “When it comes to sample clearances, I’m probably the cheapest chick in the west,” she says, quite amused by that idea. She has, however, turned down many prominent MCs, including Jay –Z, who have wanted to rhyme over her beats or do “collabos” with her singing a hook on a hip-hop track…”I’m too scared,” she says. “They’ll find me out. It’s like ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ They’ll find out there’s nothing there. As for collaborations, I’m collaborating with the band and do what we do. I see myself as a member of this band who does these songs that we write…”READ FULL ARTICLE HERE

Helen Folasade Adu was born in Ibadan, Nigeria. Her father was Nigerian, a university teacher of economics; her mother Anne was an English nurse. The couple met in London while he was studying at the LSE and moved to Nigeria shortly after getting married. When their daughter was born, nobody locally was prepared to call her by her English name, and a shortened version of Folasade stuck. Then, when she was four, her parents separated, and her mother brought Sade and her elder brother Banji back to England, where they initially lived with their grandparents just outside Colchester, Essex.

When Anne Hayes announced in 1955 that she was marrying a Nigerian, her parents “found it difficult, but fortunately my granddad was a big fan of the black-American singer and human-rights activist Paul Robeson, which made it easier”. In recognition of this, Anne gave her firstborn son, Banji, the middle name of Paul.“There’s a lot of me in them, probably more than I realise.“My mother left my father because she found it impossible to live with him, although they loved each other very much. It was hard for my mother because he was the man of her life. On her wedding day my father gave her a red rose and when he died she threw it in his grave. She’d kept it for 30 years. That was the moment I realised how deeply she cared for him.”

“People always used to say, ‘What’s it like to see your face on the cover of a magazine?’ But it doesn’t mean anything to me at all. I don’t really see it. I’m not trying to promote an image….. England. Not just to me, to everybody. England’s like a sour old auntie. You go and stay with her although she criticises you all the time and doesn’t treat you right, even when you’re doing your best. But you keep on loving her, in a certain way. And then you die.” She laughs. “Those bitches always outlive you!”

Ian was a Royal Marine, then a fireman, then a Cambridge graduate in chemistry. I always said that if I could just find a guy who could chop wood and had a nice smile it didn’t bother me if he was an aristocrat or a thug as long as he was a good guy. I’ve ended up with an educated thug!”“Ian is Ila’s dad, really. He does all the things a dad would do, and she really looks up to him… I feel like I’ve won the lottery, finally. ( SOURCE )