Sade
Soldier Of Love

Here it is, another one who has turned music into a craft of good workmanship and little more.

The Anglo-Nigerian singer Sade Adu, after an almost 10-year exile, returns with her muffled and reassuring music like a hot soup before going to bed, to delight us with these relaxed songs and, if we may, refined (we can admit it, yes).

"Soldiers of Love", recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios (oh, what a coincidence!), contains simple songs, arranged in a linear manner (not to say predictable), that flow by without you even noticing. An album, essentially, that is a photocopy of the latest produced. As if nothing had changed in the last 10 years.

I talk about the latest because in the first 2 albums, Sade at least aimed for more unusual arrangements with a little more rhythm and originality... then, over the years, the syrup has overflowed, flattening any form of originality (beginning with the fourth album Love Deluxe from 1992, the start of the decline).

10 elegant and well-crafted songs (mind you, we won't argue about this), which might even be pleasant if, by the third listen, they didn't become almost a sort of overly cloying background music. A "lullaby for adults" before falling asleep, sung (or sometimes whispered) by the sensual, enchanting, and delicate voice of this lazy 50-year-old who in 25 years of career has made 5/6 albums without infamy or praise.

I wonder (and I ask you): does it make sense to produce records "like this" today? Does it make sense to buy a "mediocre" album just because it "relaxes" us and makes us feel the warmth of familiar (=comforting) things remixed thousands of times? The ultimate question to ask is: with an album like this, does my life improve or not? And if it doesn't improve, what's the point of buying it or, even worse, listening to it? Because, as we know: certain albums (like certain books) are bought for "fashion"...because it's cool to give them as gifts or receive them.

And up to this point, everything is fine, for heaven's sake, an individual's deviations know no bounds, but if you allow me, to listen to Music and Enjoy it (note the capital M and G), in my house, means something ELSE than this album that will end up forgotten in less than 15 days.

Sade writes: "You can grow as an Artist if you allow yourself the time to grow as a person" to justify her absence. All well and commendable but... I have to say that in her case, as an Artist she has grown ZE-RO... on the growth as a "person" I do not comment and do not dare to make judgments. Heaven forbid...