Efe Mike-Ifeta - 00:02 When I listened to you, I think the frst. The frst stuff that came to mind was that there was. Of course you've been. You've been described as having R B fair and stuff like that, but I was like, okay, who has this lady listened to all her life? Like, how has she gotten here? So I'll tell you some of the. Some of the infuences I think that you may have, but you can rebut and say, okay, you know, but I. I hear Jill Scott. Scott in there. I'm like, okay, keep going. So there's a. There's a kind of like a neoclassic. I know you're. You're described as an R B artist, but there's a. There's a neo soul in there, I feel so. Flower Tree. I don't know if you know about Flower Tree, but Jim's got Flow Tree and those kind of groups. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 00:51 So I think the best place to begin this conversation, just because of how unique you sound and how a niche that kind of genre is, if you just want to expand on your. On your. On your. On your infuence, that'd be great. Sadé - 01:06 Yeah, no, that's exactly right. And I would say it's sort of a mix of Afrosoul and R and B. And so that's probably that soul element. Defnitely. I have a lot of infuences from jazz, from gospel, from contemporary R B, like the old school contemporary, like the eras of, you know, Whitney Houston and. And Tony Braxton, I guess they weren't quite the same era. Like, frst Whitney, then Tony Braxton. Defnitely a lot of. A lot of neo soul in there as well. And honestly, live instrumentation as well. I grew up listening to a lot of live instrumentation, like live jazz, live saxophone, on just. Just instrumental albums and things like that. So it's a blend of a lot of genres. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 02:01 Awesome. And. And you can hear that. But your execution of. Of it, I fnd is so well done. So again, beyond Intuition, which is the single that we're going to talk about in a bit. I've listened to a handful of your other song. I think it's elevating. Sadé - 02:19 Elevating. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 02:21 Elevating. And no, but the execution and your runs and like, when you're. When you're doing all of that stuff, they ft right in the pocket. Like, it's not overly done. Like, it feels like in this genre, like, you've studied it to the extent that you. Like, you're always on point when you do that. So now we've got the infuences out of the way, but how, over the years, have you kind of perfected the craft of what you now do to the extent that you do it so well? Sadé - 02:52 That is a good question. I love to listen to music. I love to study the greats. I study a lot of music, and I like to fow in the direction that feels good as well. Initially, when I. When I frst started songwriting, I was very particular about structure. I was like, okay, this is. I've got to fgure out the course here and the verse here and this here. And I found that it was very restricting. I still follow those structures. But now when I. When I songwrite, I usually just start off with, like, a loop pattern. Like a loop. It could be like a loop guitar. It could be a loop set of keys or chord progression, rather. And then I'm just listening to that on repeat and I'm just singing, like, whatever comes, whatever fows. Sadé - 03:38 So it's a mixture of improvisation, allowing myself to naturally get some elements as I just improvise and sing, and then from there move into structuring it a little bit better. Like, okay, this part makes sense for the chorus. This part makes sense for the verse. This part makes sense for the hook or whatever else. So I would say defnitely over the years, also, being around a lot of musicians has helped me. So I've been in different types of bands over the years. And so I think that a lot of times when I. When I songwrite, I also think about, what would this sound like live? What. What would this sound like if I had a band behind me backing me up? What would this sound like if I wanted a crowd to be able to sing along with me? Sadé - 04:21 What would this sound like if I wanted this to be on the radio? Like, all of those things I now think about, and then it infuences the way that I write. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 04:31 Interesting, because, okay, we're going to come to that point about intuition. We're going to get there, I promise. There's, you know, I fnd some of your stuff. There's a cadence to which you. You do the things you do. So it's kind of like melody driven, like intuition. Like, there's a. There's a. It's so melody kind of driven that, you know, I fnd that very, very fascinating, Effy. Sadé - 04:58 Thank you. That defnitely is infuence from the saxophone. So growing up, I used to listen to a lot of live instrumentation and shout out to my dad. This is really just my dad's infuence. Like, he was obsessed. Obsessed with jazz. And he'll just play it on repeat and everywhere, in the car, at home, wherever, and he'll be like, oh, can you hear the horns? Can you hear the bass on that? So he really was, like, the frst person to teach me how to listen to music and listen to different and. And listen critically, like, be able to focus one instrument at a time each time you listen to it. And I realized that I really love the saxophone and I really love the horn. So a lot of times my. My melodies actually replicate that. Sadé - 05:38 Like, if a horn player was to pick it up, they would. They would probably enjoy that melody as well. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 05:45 Yeah. Okay. Okay. So we've been talking around. We've been talking. We've been talking about. Around intuition, but in your. In your. In your own words. What. What is intuition about? Sadé - 06:01 Oh, intuition. The song intuition, the video, or just all. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 06:06 Like every great video, we're gonna come to the video. But the song itself. What are we trying to say with that? Sadé - 06:14 Yeah, okay. So the song itself, honestly, is one of the most vulnerable songs that I've put out in recent time. About what it means to follow your heart, what it means to follow your intuition, and the doubts that come with that as well. The doubts that come with betting on yourself and just trusting that if you took this leap, that you'd be okay. And that leap could be, you know, pursuing your passion. That leap could be falling in love. That leap could be, you know, doing something you've never done, getting something off your bucket list that. That. Or it could even be something very simple, like just following your intuition day to day and allowing that to guide you. And. And I think it's just sort of that life experience that. Sadé - 07:00 That connected, united experience that we all have, and the doubts that come with that and the confdence that comes with that, and. And just sort of trusting in the end that, you know, what, if I do this, I'm gonna be fne. I'm gonna fnd the truth here, and I'm gonna discover who I'm meant to be in this. In this path. And. Yeah, that's. That's kind of. That's kind of what it's about. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 07:21 Okay. And there's. There's this asking in the video. Like, there's this exploring and asking and questioning. So I guess the question would be, have you made that leap in your own life? And has it. Has it turned out the way you expected it to be? Sadé - 07:40 Man, I guess it depends on. On the context. I guess in many ways, yes, I've defnitely made leaps and bounds. I think even being an artist in itself is such a. It's such a crazy avenue, and it Just comes with so many challenges. It has been. An artist has challenged my life in a way that I never thought would be possible, but it's also been very rewarding. And so I would say defnitely that has been. I, I would say that I've made different types of leaps in my life to get me to this point. Yeah. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 08:15 Awesome. No, I just, I'm interested to know where, like, how real music is for artists when they write them and if they, you know, because you ask somewhere in that song, you know, like, I forget the line that leads up to it, but you ask if you do a certain things, would you get to experience? Sadé - 08:35 Right. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 08:36 And I, I, you know, I was kind of like fascinated about that. Sadé - 08:42 I'm defnitely in the midst of it, I'll tell you that. Like, I think taking a leap, I think that each level of this journey comes with its own leaps and bounds. And you know, it's, sometimes it starts on a smaller scale and I feel like the leaps and bounds I took, like when I frst started of like, okay, I'm going to put on my frst song is like nothing compared to my leap now where it's like, okay, I'm going with my band to Europe. Like, you know, it's just every time, every stage has its own new adventures and questions and doubts and just like, is this gonna work out? I, I, I hope so. But it's like, it's still a risk, it's still taking a chance. Sadé - 09:24 And so, yeah, that's defnitely in the song, that quest, those questions that I'm asking, it applies it or it can apply to like all the different tiers as you, as I go along. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 09:37 Yeah, absolutely. That's interesting. Okay, so tell me about the process of writing, which I also fnd very interesting. So the process of writing and recording the song itself, how did that go and when was the time period you wrote and recorded? Sadé - 10:00 I would say like the full time period of, between writing the song and recording it and fne tuning it, mixing, mastering, all of that was probably around like six to eight months only. Mainly because when I frst and not all of my songs take this long. Some of them are a lot quicker, some of them take just as long. But I would say that this song was sort of like, I just sat on it for a while and then each time it developed a little more. So it frst started off with lyrics, no words, sorry, no melody. No instrumentation, just lyrics. Woke up one morning and had these lyrics just, like, downpoured, I always say. I just feel like sometimes, God, just, like, downpours these things. I'm like, all right, let me grab my phone. And then I started typing away, typing away. Sadé - 10:51 So I think I got the frst verse and the. And the chorus. Okay. Either the frst version, chorus, or pre ch. Some. Some. Some part of it, some huge chunk of it. And then I just kind of left it, like, okay, we'll see what we'll do with this. And then while that was another slide, I was already talking to one of my producer friends out in Europe, in Rome, and were already talking about, you know, collaborating together. And he was telling me, like, oh, I have, like, some instrumentation, you know, if you're interested in collaborating and all these different things. Sadé - 11:20 And usually if I ever work with or if I ever co produce with someone, I usually like to take the instrumental that they give me and then expand on that to sort of make it my own, so to add in my own elements. Live instrumentation, different types of things like that. So he gave me this instrumental, and I was like, this and this might go together. And then I just started, like, I had the lyrics. I started playing around with it, like, getting ideas of melodies. I was like, oh, I really like this. And then I just sort of did, like, a little draft thing. I didn't think too much of it. And then later on, I gave it some time, and I do that sometimes where some songs. Sadé - 11:56 Because I've learned over the years that it's not every song that you write that you have to release. Some of it just ends up being part of an experience, you know, part of learning, and you just sort of move on from there, or you do it live and you realize it's not really working out. But this one, I was like. There was something special about it that I was like, I want to develop this more. So then I reached out to another producer, and I was like, hey, can we work together? I want to get, you know, live instrumentation on this. And then. So we did that. We got bass, We. We got. What's it called? We got bass. We got keys. Sadé - 12:30 We had, like, a whole rehearsal scheduled to work it out, and then met in the studio and then worked it out there. Recorded, like, a demo. I sat on it for a little bit. I was like, okay, I'll record my vocals. I did my vocals. And then that was. That was a whole thing. Like, the. The vocal element of it was very challenging, but it was. I was I was really happy about the turnout. And then after that I was like, I want strings. I was like, this doesn't feel complete. I want strings and I want horns. And I just kept feeling like the song deserved to have that. Like, for whatever reason, like, it just felt complete with those elements. Sadé - 13:04 So then I got in a string player and I got in a horn player and then they all of those musicians are part of what made the song what it is now. But it was defnitely a combination of. Of me just listening and. And adding in more elements and people being willing to be a part of. Of that. So it's such a. I think that's part of what makes the song special with all the different people who played a part in helping me produce this and bring it to life. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 13:33 Gotcha. Gotcha. Yes. So the song continued to expand and the production continued to be bigger. Right. Because yeah, it needed that. That level of expansion to execute the song. Which is a very good question kind of question I'm going to ask you at the end of the stuff, but I have two questions in between before we get to the video. So you described yourself like an Afro soul type stuff earlier. Now there's a lot of talk about genres and melding genres and all of that. As a. As a Canadian of Nigerian origin and especially with how big Afrobeat has become. I guess this is just a personal question, though. Do you, do you feel the. Do you. Do you feel pulled to that genre or wanting to dabble in it because of where we're at this time? Or are you a purist? Efe Mike-Ifeta - 14:31 Are you saying, you know, I'm gonna hold. I'm gonna hold strong to my, you know, soul and R B type roots? Sadé - 14:38 Yeah. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 14:38 Is that pool because of all that's happening in the world? Sadé - 14:41 Oh, absolutely. And I've. I've dived into it in the past as well. Like, I have a song called Dreams that's sort of. It's got some Afrobeats infuence in there. Another one? Yeah, another one called Understand Me that I did in collaboration with my brother that also has some Afrobeats infuence in there. But with this upcoming ep, defnitely, yes, there you'll be expecting some of that from me. And, and I don't want to say too much, but I don't say too much, but. But defnitely it's. It's in the works. And I think that defnitely I have been. These past few years have allowed me to develop my sound to the point of feeling more confdent that If I was to dive into this, I'm not just doing it for the hype, but it's more of adding in my. My spin on it. Sadé - 15:36 I think that was just one of the parts that I was trying to fgure out. Like, okay, if I'm going to go into, you know, the Afrobeats, tap into that more, like, how do It in a way that still brings in a bit of my soul element, that someone can listen to this and be like, oh, yeah, this. This sounds like the way she would do an Afrobeat song. Oh, this sounds like the way she would do an Afrosoul song. So that's defnitely what I'm now planning to do with this ep. So. Yeah. Short answer. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 16:09 Yes. Okay. I've been looking out for that. I'm interested to see how you. Because there's a ton of fusion in Afrobeat right now, so I'm interested to see how you get to execute your version of it. Sadé - 16:28 Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited to put it to the world. Like, I think. I mean, without saying too much, I think for me, I'm. I think with the tracks I was able to sort of combine the soulful element or the R and B element or the cadences of my voice, but then putting that into, like more of an afrobeats spin that people can. Can, you know, vibe to and everything. So we'll see what the people say. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 16:58 Okay, so, incredible video. I, I have noticed that as well. So how much of that process are you involved in when it comes to. Are you. Are you like a. Like a story, visual storytelling person? And you say, okay, this is my idea. Hey, director, come take a look. Let's. Let's work on this. But brilliant video for, for the song. Just tell me how that process came about and how you guys executed. Where was it shot? Sadé - 17:30 Thank you. Was shot in Vancouver. Well, I guess outskirts of Vancouver. Yeah. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 17:34 Because that house is quite interesting. Okay, go ahead. Sadé - 17:37 No, it's such an interesting house. I think it was built in the 70s and they've used it in the past to flm different. I think it was used to flm Sabrina at one point or something. And they. Yeah, and the. I don't know if it's the horror show, the horror movie or one of those. That's what I was told. And I guess it's a house that hasn't really been used since then. Like now they just use it for flm. And things like that. So it was a very interesting one because, yes, I, I like to be involved in the visual aspect because I used to do a lot of photography. Sure, yeah, I used to do a lot of. I used to dabble in that. But now music has sort of taken priority, at least right now. Sadé - 18:20 So I fnd that the photograph photography has sort of, it's now become like an indirect infuence in my music videos or in my visuals, things like that. So I met up with this amazing director named Bruna Arbex, who's based in Vancouver. Told her this idea. At the time we were trying to fnd commonality between ourselves of like, what does it mean to like follow our intuition? And you know, we wanted to portray this love story of these two people that sort of evolve as they follow their intuition. And I'm sort of acting like Cupid in the music video kind of thing. And we both like, you know, she, with her background in flm, she loves cinematic interpretations of things and I love anything cinematic as well. So with that, it gave us the opportunity to also put the music video forward for flm festivals. Sadé - 19:13 And you know, it got into Toronto Short Film Festival and it's going to be shown at the Atlanta Film Festival in a couple of weeks. And then also, Marginal Factory production helped also as well with the production side of things to bring this to life. So. And then of course, can't forget the styling component. So there was. It usually starts off with just like a mood board of, okay, these are the things I like. These are the things I'm inspired by. These are the things that know I absolutely would love to see in the video kind of thing. And then working with them helped to just bring it to life in a way that I would not have been able to do by myself. So it defnitely was a team effort on this one. Yeah. And it was a two day shoot. Sadé - 19:55 Two day shoot. And it was just like in the middle of July, but for whatever reason it was cold when were flming in July. I was like, what was going on? But it all worked out. Yeah. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 20:06 Awesome. Awesome. So we're gonna come to the characters themselves and I, I'd love for you to just paint me a story. You, you talked about how their story evolved over the course of the video. But before we talk about those two characters, talk to me about your red dress, man. Iconic. Like, it's just, it's like, okay, talk to me. Sadé - 20:28 I know. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, man, that dress, that was a beautiful dress. And in that old house, a spider got caught, like, in between, and I was like, I'm gonna have a panic attack if this spider doesn't die because it was so long and pretty. But I digress. Cassandra Phillips Grande was the stylist for this music video, and I showed her this. I just had this, like, idea of having something very luscious, famboyant, fowy, because it just sort of, like, goes with the mood of the song. And, you know, this has this, like, endless feel to it. And she took that mood board and just made a life out of it in a way that I never would have thought was possible. So she got in touch with this local designer in Vancouver whose name is Sarah Armstrong. Sadé - 21:15 And, you know, this was, like, at the 12th hour, literally while were still fguring out what are we. What is Shady gonna wear? Like, what's the costume gonna be? And this lady just comes through last minute. She's like, I got you. You can wear this. Like, I've got it ready. It's in this s. Fit her. Blah, blah. And that was, like, the best thing ever. There's. There's other elements that people. I mean, I'm giving a little bit of a spoiler here, but there's. There's some other outfts and some other elements that we haven't released yet that. That I'm just. I won't say more. I'm just gonna leave it at that. But just every single piece that she contributed towards this visual was just, like, just amazing, amazing. So, yeah, local. Local Vancouver designer. Yeah. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 22:04 Awesome, awesome. Okay, so now to the characters. They are, I believe, love interests. And they go into this house again. I don't want to spoil the video, but what's, you know, like, what. What's driving that plot in your storyline? Sadé - 22:23 Yeah. So the. The thought behind it is literally these two love interests following their intuition. And as they. As the day progresses and as they move from one space to the next, their love sort of gets stronger and stronger in each space. So in the beginning, it's just more of like, let's go on an adventure. And then they, you know, ride on their bike, and they're just, like, exploring. And then they come across this house, and it's like, oh, what is this house? And then, you know, they get into it. I guess I shouldn't be giving too much information. Information, but, you know, they get into it, and then in each space, you see how they sort of, you know, it goes from. Especially the guy. Like, the guy is hesitant. He's like, okay, I don't know if I should be doing this. Sadé - 23:06 Like, should we actually be going to this place? But then she's just like, let's just go. Let's just, let's just follow. Let's just follow along. And then I'm sort of like the cupid slash intuition in the space that's following them along and is just sort of leading them along and. And then their love starts to blossom, and then I just, I'm in that space and then they, you know, wander off into the sunset. But essentially it's supposed to be describing how their love gets stronger and stronger as they continue to follow their intuition throughout the video. Yeah, I'm trying not to give too much. No. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 23:41 Awesome. I, I love how you are seemingly not there and the video in the house, you know, I, I think that was very well choreographed and directed how you're present, but you're not. So. So for people who don't understand this, go watch the video and see what I'm talking about. So. Sadé - 24:03 Yes. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 24:06 Yeah. But very well executed. Congratulations on the song and the video. I, I know this is going to be part of an ep, right? As an AP is coming, at what point is that going to be released? Sadé - 24:19 It's part of an EP right now. We're hoping for the fall if everything falls into place. No pun intended. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 24:30 Do we have a name yet? Sadé - 24:32 I might, I might. But we'll see. We'll see. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 24:38 Okay. Okay. You're holding that one close to your chest. Okay. Sadé - 24:41 Exactly. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 24:42 It's all good. But, yeah, I, I, yeah, I just wanted touch base, celebrate the song and the video. I have watched a few times and I, I think I was just talking with another artist. When I talk about visual storytelling and how it doesn't necessarily have to be as literal as the lyrics in the. In, in the song. And, you know, as artists, you're free to break those boxes and, you know, just go beyond those pills and, you know, try and come up with something original. And I think you guys have done that on this track. So congratulations on a fantastic song and a fantastic visual storytelling piece to match. Congratulations, Shadi. Sadé - 25:30 Thank you. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 25:31 Okay, so just before I let you run, you talked about, before we start recording what's going to be happening in the near future. Just want to give us a, A glimpse into what's going to be happening in the future shortly. Sadé - 25:45 Yeah, for sure. So in the future, which is pretty soon heading over to Europe for Talon Music Week. Very excited about that in Estonia. We're hoping to do a few shows out in Europe as well while we're out there. And then from there we're going to be. And it's. These are showcases as well, so it should be. It should be great getting to network with other artists, delegates, music industry experts and so on in those spaces and just general fans and people. And then later on in the year, I think in June, I'm also going to be in Toronto for Canadian Music Week. I'll be performing for Canadian Music Week and I'll also be performing for north by Northeast. So very excited about those two festivals. There's also some other local festivals that I have coming up in Vancouver. Sadé - 26:41 The Jazz festival, I think Fort Langley Jazz Festival and a few other festivals that will be coming up as the summer evolves. So, yeah, there's going to be lots of places that people could catch me and catch the band. Just have to follow through on my website. We try our best to keep that updated with all of the news. And of course, social media is a perfectly still follow along too. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 27:07 Awesome, awesome. Thank you so much. One last question before you go, which I typically. I try and ask all. All of the guests I speak to. You talked about that process of. Of. Of intuition blossoming from just the lyrics itself into, you know, you wanted more instruments and all of that. If you want were to look back to. To the point where the song began from those lyrics and to look back and look forward to now that you have it released and published. How close would you say you came to that thing you envisioned when you guys were working on the song? Sadé - 27:45 How close would I say I came to sort of how I imagined the song would be? Efe Mike-Ifeta - 27:50 Yes. Sadé - 27:50 Oh, I exceeded it. I would say I exceeded it. I don't think. I don't think I. I knew was gonna. Whether it's like being shared at flm festivals or the, or the love that it's received or, you know, all of that or the way that it sounds like just. I. I did not know that it was gonna end up this way at all. It's just as a surprise to me. Maybe not as a surprise as everyone else, but it defnitely left me pleasantly surprised. Yeah. Efe Mike-Ifeta - 28:20 Okay. Awesome. Congratulations. Keep doing those jazzy runs in your song. They're fred. So thank you. Thank you so much for your time. Okay. Sadé - 28:30 Thank you.