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NCCU Year
in Pictures

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Over the course of their 14 year career, the group’s brand of jazzy soul has become synonymous with feelings of both happiness and depression.   And with good reason.  Lead singer Sade Adu’s vocals can either stimulate a session of intimate love making, or provoke a night of self-induced crying for no apparent reason. 

Sade’s tried and true formula of melancholy soul is used to maximum effect on Lovers Rock, the group’s last album since 1992’s Love Deluxe. 

Eight years is a long time for anyone to be absent from the music business.  In an industry where disposable boy bands and fly-by-night R&B groups sell platinum numbers, trendsetting artists are often forgotten.  It truly is a testament to Sade’s music that they can stay out of the spotlight for so long and still be appreciated. 

As with the band’s previous albums, Lovers Rock’s strength is in its brevity.  At a slim 44 minutes, Rock plays like a gentle, acoustic kiss from an old friend.  With no room for filler, every song has its place and doesn’t hinder the flow of the album.  Sade’s voice is alternately soothing (“By Your Side”) and haunting (“Immigrant”), but the album’s soft melodies are ultimately what hold it together.

“Every Word” is a sweetly rolling, guitar laden tale of heartbreak.  In the song she laments: “I was loving you like a child/ I really trusted you.”  The album’s title track finds the singer praising a lover’s devotion to her.  “You are the lovers rock/ The one I swim to in a storm,” she sings in a faint, whispery alto.

Rock’s only glaring omission is the trademark instrumental track that graces the group’s previous albums. Other than that, the moody and plaintive rhythms of Lovers Rock are sure to please and displease.  Don’t be afraid to put on this record and wallow in a little self-pity. 

Depression never sounded this beautiful.

—Phonte Coleman
A & E Editor