Life Lessons from Sade

Sade photographed by Matthew Rolston for Interview, November 1988

Welcome to Life Lessons. This week, we’re throwing it back to the enigmatic icon Sade Adu’s November 1988 cover story. No ordinary popstar, the Nigerian-born, UK-raised fashion student-turned-model-turned-sentimental songstress sat down with Vince Aletti to talk money, street style, and melodramatic rumors. Her confessions are as timeless and relatable as her ballads, so hit play and enjoy the ride. 

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“You can actually find yourself with your hand down the back of the settee, trying to find enough money for ten cigarettes. But spending a long time fairly penniless is the only compromise I feel that I’ve made… It’s impossible to spend a lot of time on your work and also have a daytime job. And you can’t do certain things that other people do; you do have to miss out, I suppose.” 

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“I don’t know what I’ve been missing, because I’ve never stopped working. “

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“I don’t really like the fashion industry, to be honest with you. I don’t like the way it works, the way the buyers have so much power over everything—who’s their darling this week and so forth… I don’t like fashion, but I do like clothes. “

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“I’ve always liked the idea of trying to be as individual as possible. People probably think I dress in a quite conservative way, but it’s very much me. Besides, I hate the idea of walking down the street and seeing someone else in the same Armani jacket that I’m wearing. “

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“It may not seem that way, but when I go onstage–and I know this sounds really corny–it’s like the most important concert every time… Sometimes I think, ‘How can I possibly be touring for another two months? I’ll be dead!'”

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“That’s the one special thing about this band: we do things the way we feel we should. I suppose pride and ego have something to do with it as well, because you don’t want to make yourself look like a fool in front of 7,000 people… But we’re trying to express what we would appreciate rather than do what we feel is going to be fashionable… We would have made the same music even if we had been totally unsuccessful.”

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“[Prince] is very, very talented, but the most important thing about [him] is that he’s braver than a lot of other people. I don’t think I’m as brave as that. I may be too proud and scared of losing face. “

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“I don’t really like to talk about my love life, because it’s like I have the power to talk about somebody I’m involved with or have been involved with or will be involved with and they have no power to defend themselves or be part of it.”

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“Sometimes I think not being represented is better than being misrepresented. “

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“Every time the press talked about me, the headlines were Lovesick Sade, Sad, Sad, Sade, things like that. They would say, ‘Lovesick Sade is shut away in her penthouse flat,’ as if I were Marie Antoinette. Anyone would think I had a moat around my house. Then they said, ‘Lovesick Sade is having a glass window put above her bed so she can gaze at the stars on her lonely nights,’ or something like that… And they said that I was having a dance floor put in my living room. They think I’m Barry Manilow! … I suppose some people would do a TV interview or something and say that this was all nonsense, but I didn’t do any of that.”

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Sade photographed by Matthew Rolston for Interview, November 1988