Soldier of Love | ||||
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Studio album by Sade | ||||
Released | 5 February 2010 (see release history) |
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Recorded | 2009 Real World Studios (Box, Wiltshire, England) El Cortijo (Málaga, Málaga, Spain) |
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Genre | R&B, sophisti-pop, quiet storm | |||
Length | 41:58 | |||
Label | RCA, Epic (US) | |||
Producer | Sade | |||
Sade chronology | ||||
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Singles from Soldier of Love | ||||
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Soldier of Love is the sixth studio album by the English group Sade. It is their first album of original material since Lovers Rock (2000). The album was initially released on 5 February 2010 in Germany, and it was released worldwide on 8 February 2010 and in the United States on 9 February 2010. The first single "Soldier of Love" premiered on 8 December 2009 on the group's official website.
The album debuted at number four on the UK Albums Chart, becoming their highest debut since Stronger Than Pride (1988). It also debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 502,000 copies in the United States, making it Sade's first US number-one debut, and topped music charts in several other countries. Upon its release, Soldier of Love received generally positive reviews from most music critics and won a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The band promoted the album with their first concert tour in ten years, Sade Live.[5]
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In March 2009, American recording artist Maxwell, a fellow Sony Music recording artist and longtime friend and collaborator with Stuart Matthewman, sent a message to fans in March via his private Facebook page in which he indicated that he had heard some of Sade's new recordings, saying, "Trust me, it's so monolithic it'll shake you in your shoes!"[6]
According to Billboard, the band had been working on the album throughout June 2009. At that time, Sony Music had not set a release date but it hoped to put the record out by the end of 2009. "She is in the studio and the album will come when it is ready", a source at Sony Music told Billboard. "You don't wait for years for one and then rush it."[6]
Soldier of Love made its first chart appearance on the Irish Albums Chart where it debuted at #12, as well as in the Italy and Poland where it topped the charts, already becoming platinum. On the week of 14 February 2010, the album debuted at #4 on the official UK Albums Chart, becoming the groups' highest chart debut in their home country, since 1988's Stronger Than Pride. The album has had greater success in the United States than in their native country, where Soldier of Love became Sade's first number-one US debut,[7] and its best sales week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, selling 502,000 copies. Additionally, it's the best sales week for an album by a group since AC/DC's Black Ice made it into the chart at number one on the chart dated November 2008, with 784,000 copies sold.[8] In the weeks since its February release, the album has sold over 1.1 million copies in the United States making it a certified platinum album. After 14 weeks however, the album has fallen out of the top 40 on the billboard charts compared to their previous release Lovers Rock which sold 3.9 million copies and stayed in the top 20 for over 6 months.[9] By the end of 2010, the album had sold 2.3 million copies, making it the ninth best selling album internationally for 2010.[10]
Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [11] |
Entertainment Weekly | (A)[12] |
The Independent | [13] |
Los Angeles Times | [14] |
Pitchfork Media | (7.0/10)[15] |
PopMatters | (8/10)[16] |
Rolling Stone | [17] |
Slant Magazine | [18] |
USA Today | [19] |
The Village Voice | (favorable)[20] |
Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from most music critics, based on an aggregate score of 79/100 from Metacritic.[21] Chicago Tribune writer Greg Kot gave it 3 out of 4 stars and wrote favorably of Sade Adu's singing, stating "she remains alluring and subtly rewarding, while still keeping the listener at a safe distance, as if she had even deeper secrets to guard".[22] The Daily Telegraph's Tom Horan gave the album 5 out of 5 stars and wrote that its songs are "beautifully balanced between warmth and toughness, vulnerability and hauteur".[23] The Observer's Kitty Empire called it a "triumph for quality over quantity".[24] Jim DeRogatis of Chicago Sun-Times gave the album 3 out of 4 stars and wrote favorably of its "sophisticated and soulful grooves", stating "Sade may not be giving us anything radically new, but it's a pleasure just to have her back doing what she's always done so well".[25] BBC Online writer Paul Lester wrote that the album is "as mournfully one-paced as previous Sade albums, with the same attention to texture and surface lustre but, alas, not to melody or moving autobiography".[26] About.com's Mark Edward Nero gave the album 4½ out of 5 stars and perceived its tone as "darker" than Sade's previous work, while calling it "a fairly uplifting album that's filled with gorgeous melodies, sophisticated lyrics and themes, and of course, some of the most beautiful singing you'll ever hear".[27]
However, Allmusic's Andy Kellman gave it 3 out of 5 stars and viewed its lyrical themes as bleak, writing that "a fair portion of the album’s lyrical content comes off as drained-sounding, only echoed with vanilla arrangements that are merely functional".[11] Pete Paphides of The Times perceived a lack of "catchy tracks" as a weakness and called it "an album bordering upon ambient in its statuesque stillness".[28] The Guardian writer Caroline Sullivan expressed a mixed response to the group's "pop-soul" and "quiet storm" style on the album, but wrote that its "lushness and understatement" is balanced by "lyrics of surprising transparency".[29] Despite calling its mood "morose" and expressing a mixed response towards its "bleakness and melancholy", All About Jazz critic Jeff Winbush viewed Soldier of Love as an improvement over Sade's previous album, Lovers Rock.[30] Stephen M. Duesner of Paste gave it an 82/100 rating and called it Sade's "most musically adventurous collection to date, and also its most expansive and rewarding".[31] The Washington Post's Chris Richards called the band's "cool alto sound nobler than ever" and described Soldier of Love as its "most spare and haunting album yet -- one where Sade's grief is harrowing, elegant and undeniably magnetic".[32]
The song "Babyfather" was nominated for Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals[33][34] and the title track won Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.[35]
All lyrics written by Sade Adu.
No. | Title | Music | Length |
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1. | "The Moon and the Sky" | Adu/Hale/Matthewman | 4:28 |
2. | "Soldier of Love" | Adu/Hale/Matthewman/Denman | 5:59 |
3. | "Morning Bird" | Adu/Hale/Matthewman | 3:55 |
4. | "Babyfather" | Adu/Matthewman/Janes/Nicholls | 4:40 |
5. | "Long Hard Road" | Adu/Janes/Nicholls | 3:03 |
6. | "Be That Easy" | Adu/Matthewman | 3:41 |
7. | "Bring Me Home" | Adu/Hale/Matthewman | 4:09 |
8. | "In Another Time" | Adu/Hale/Matthewman | 5:06 |
9. | "Skin" | Adu/Hale/Matthewman/Denman | 4:13 |
10. | "The Safest Place" | Adu/Hale | 2:46 |
Total length:
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41:58 |
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Preceded by Tracks 2 (inediti & rarità) by Vasco Rossi |
Italian Albums Chart number-one album 5 February 2010 – 12 February 2010 |
Succeeded by Re matto by Marco Mengoni |
Preceded by The E.N.D. by The Black Eyed Peas |
French Albums Chart number-one album 14 February 2010 – 7 March 2010 |
Succeeded by La crise de nerfs ! by Les Enfoirés |
Preceded by X Anniversarivm by Estopa |
Spanish Albums Chart number-one album 14 February 2010 |
Succeeded by Las consecuencias by Bunbury |
Preceded by A királyok hegedűse by Mága Zoltán |
Hungarian Albums Chart number-one album 14 February 2010 – 8 March 2010 |
Succeeded by A királyok hegedűse by Maga Zoltan |
Preceded by Magia del Tango by Marcin Wyrostek |
Polish Albums Chart number-one album 15 February 2010 – 1 March 2010 |
Succeeded by Dodekafonia by Strachy na Lachy |
Preceded by The E.N.D. by Black Eyed Peas |
Portuguese Albums Chart number-one album 18 February 2010 |
Succeeded by Luar by Rita Guerra |
Preceded by Rock'n Roll Dance Party by The Playtones |
Swedish Albums Chart number-one album 19 February 2010 |
Succeeded by Rock'n Roll Dance Party by The Playtones |
Preceded by Mozart l'Opéra Rock by musical theatre |
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) number-one album (first run) 20 February 2010 |
Succeeded by Scratch My Back by Peter Gabriel |
Preceded by The Fame by Lady Gaga |
Swiss Albums Chart number-one album 21 February 2010 |
Succeeded by Small Lights in the Dark by Lunik |
Preceded by Grammy Nominees 2010 by various artists |
Canadian Albums Chart number-one album 27 February 2010 – 13 March 2010 |
Succeeded by Need You Now by Lady Antebellum |
Preceded by Need You Now by Lady Antebellum |
U.S. Billboard 200 number-one album 27 February 2010 – 13 March 2010 |
Succeeded by Need You Now by Lady Antebellum |
Preceded by Rebirth by Lil Wayne |
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums number-one album 27 February 2010 – 27 March 2010 |
Succeeded by Battle of the Sexes by Ludacris |
Preceded by The Fame by Lady GaGa |
European Top 100 Albums number-one album 27 February 2010 – 20 March 2010 |
Succeeded by Plastic Beach by Gorillaz |
Preceded by Scratch My Back by Peter Gabriel |
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) number-one album (second run) 6 March 2010 – 13 March 2010 |
Succeeded by Under The Cold Street Lights by Arid |
Country | Date | Label | Format |
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Germany | 5 February 2010[74] | Sony Music | CD, digital download |
United Kingdom | 8 February 2010[75] | RCA Label Group | |
Worldwide | Sony Music | ||
United States | 9 February 2010[75] | Epic Records | |
Canada | Sony Music | ||
Taiwan | 10 February 2010[76] |
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