No Ordinary Love – Sade

I remember the first time I heard Sade, with my dad showing me a live concert of theirs that he had on DVD. At the time, I think I was around 9 or 10 years old and wasn’t really into it. As I got older, and really began to fall in love with R&B and soul music, I also fell in love with Sade Adu and the group’s music.

There are a couple of different Sade songs I could have gone with, plenty from this particular album Love Deluxe, but I decided to go with “No Ordinary Love.” Probably the group’s best-known song and for good reason, “No Ordinary Love” is a true classic. Sade’s smoky vocals and sultry yet solemn tone are like being wrapped in a warm blanket. The bassline, played by Paul Denman, is one of my all-time favorites, and I really love how the rest of the instrumentation feels throughout the entirety of the song as it matches the vibe perfectly.

Written by Adu herself, “No Ordinary Love” features Sade singing about the love she has for someone, and even though she was told by others that their love wasn’t meant to survive, she gave everything she had to the person. Unfortunately for Sade, the others were right, and it seems this love that Sade possesses is one-sided and unrequited. This is such a beautifully haunting song, and one of my all-time favorites.

Fun fact, another one of my favorite bands, that I’ve written about, the Deftones, actually does a cover of this song, and the lead singer, Chino Moreno, has talked in the past about how much he loves Sade’s music.

P.S – HBD L.S

Link to song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1k6EUW0czc

Link to live performance – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=au8rHGvytn8

Link to Deftones cover – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azTzGHR7Rbc