sade - stronger than pride [poll]

Write-in vote for “all of them”

I'm not voting for "Paradise," but "Give It Up," "Siempre...," or "Turn My Back on You" are calling.

my husband quotes "keep looking" all the time to me. this is "his" sade album more than mine. sade is a common love for us and one of several early "things" that came up where it was like, this relationship is going to work.

"haunt me" and "give it up" are very difficult to pass over but it has to be "love is stronger than pride" for me.

"i never thought i'd see the day" is still kind of an enigma for me... not sure what that one's about but it's powerful nonetheless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAQct-ItZoU

oh god "paradise" is the ultimate car windows down warm weather jam

make you feel cool as hell no matter what car you're driving

I'm youuurs

wrong to say that this is the alhbum where the sade rhythm section just really shows off? this feels like *the* stuart matthewman album to me

i think i'm voting for "nothing can come between us" ... i could listen to that groove for an infinite amount of time. i love how the propulsion of the song really mirrors its emotional state, but you still have this radiant layer of lushness enveloping everything. it feels like the most luxurious armor

but "haunt me" might just be the best song ever so idk

yeah this album is one of their grooviest for sure.

I'd argue the grooves are stronger than pride -- er, the songs. Not a criticism, but it's the one album of their classic run where I have to glance at the tracklist and sometimes forget how the tunes go.

the stopped crashes and congas on "give it up," that's the groove i could listen to forever on this one. insane bassline. and what is the metallic clinking sound throughout, someone dropping change into a cowbell or something? it's a brilliant touch. and sade herself with those lyrics, peak goddess. song seems slight on first exposure but it's just divine imo.

xp yeah alf i agree somewhat, some of the grooves stretch out but on the other hand i can't name a weak song here.

I worked in a mall record store during high school when this came out, and we could only play a handful of manager-approved CDs. The best ones were this, INXS's Kick, and oldies-heavy More Dirty Dancing.

I'd vote for the 12" of Paradise if it was here (it possibly was on the CD and cassette).

ha, yeah, I associate More Dirty Dancing and Stronger Than Pride with the early summer of '88. I saw videos for the singles on VH-1 and MTV constantly on my family's annual late June trip to Sanibel.

"Give It Up" was a personal revelation when I listened to Charlie Bones' Do!!You!!! Breakfast Show on NTS pre-COVID and he would often cane it in his radio show sets, so that's become my sentimental fave.

foundation album; impossible.

here's the mad professor remix of the title track, which was a b-side from their following album, and which i have definitely posted before. it's p good:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcDUYWeFppM

i mean... look: blind pick any song from side one of the album and it's among their best. def agree re:stuart's increased faux arranger role. can hear the roots of some of his later inputs to maxwell. the swooniest of sighs. i don't think of things like 'desert island discs' but i have kept an old ipod this whole time with what i consider foundation music loaded on it. the complete catalogues of people like david axelrod, curtis mayfield, selected cannonball adderley+miles+bill evans, outkast, and of course sade.

so i mean... i may end up voting for the title track just... idk, because it's the first song so i've probably heard it the most? there's simply no discrepancies with any of this music and i would be grateful to hear any of these songs on infinite repeat until i die.

anyway.

also i'm tempted to post the hiphop song that samples the title track, but it's memorable for the wrong reasons, not appropriate whatsoever, and very disrespectful to this music.

cru - "everloving" (1997); chorus is literally 'my bitch my everloving bitch' over the stronger than pride bassline. oof. nice sample flip tho!

'nothing can come between us'

pretty easily for me. jordan is right.

about halfway through when they come through with the "its about faith, it's about trust, yeaah yeaaaaaaaah" harmonies with the little bass riff man thats a perfect moment in music right there.

This is so difficult.

Paradise is absolutely perfect, the bassline so fire, heard it a million times and would listen a million more.

I Never Thought I'd See The Day - I love these deeper ballads of hers.

I wouldn't be able to say anything bad about any of the other cchoices though.

It's not the best track on here but I do have a soft spot for Clean Heart, it should be cheesy like one of those poor little Johnny got a gun type songs but her vocal performance is so pure and beautiful it still manages to land imo.

lg you may have heard this? tim f posted it years ago - maybe you'd like it

i never thought i'd see the day (kiko navarro remix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohxu-vqC48U

there's an 11 minute kenny larkin remix of "give it up" too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxfnBhwc9xg

Love Is Stronger Than Pride because it breaks your heart in the sweetest way possible

Sitting here waiting for you
Would be like waiting for winter
It's gonna be cold, there may even be snow

there is so much packed in few words, and it's like it's shared almost reluctantly. love it so much <3

for me it's the feeling of getting over a break-up and becoming best friends with your ex in song form

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1W4Jn9nlUU

nice longer edit of paradise also

This (from Test Pressing's Paul Byrne) is one of my all time favourite edits

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1W4Jn9nlUU

lol, snap!

it's the one album of their classic run where I have to glance at the tracklist and sometimes forget how the tunes go.

Agree. Had to call it up on Tidal and listen to remember it, and there's nothing bad on it but the songs do all kind of blend together, except for "Paradise" and "Nothing Can Come Between Us," which are battling for my vote. (The one exception to the sameness is a negative one. I don't really like "Love Is Stronger Than Pride"; it feels much more constructed, like an Art Of Noise track, than the rest of the album, which is clearly music played by humans.)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i'm excited for these results lol

map i wanna shoutout your husband for having this as his sade album

haha i'll let him know :)

i do sometimes gravitate towards vibey type music but i've still been struggling w/ the notion that the songs here don't stick w/ people, especially in the second half. the interplay between her vocals and the woodwinds when she sings "finger on the trigger on the years to come" on "clean heart" is one of my fav parts of the album and "give it up" is a flat out incredible song imo, the way it feels meditative and propulsive at the same time

the first 4 songs are so strong that i do understand the notion that its a top heavy album but there's some gems in the second half

i still don't know what to vote for lol.

anyway this is a loose fit, but of interest to appreciators of this album: here's a then-current cover of "paradise" by karen smith in showcase dub-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Xwm85qRlg

I never realised that this was a Sade song! I won't pretend that it's as good as the original, but it's an interesting take on it anyway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOe6xJVFIXs

i always like hearing mayer do his thing. probably fresher than a lot of other sade remixes tbh.

bassline on ‘turn my back on you’ is one of the greatest of all time

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

ah fuck missed this, would’ve gone for “nothing can come between us”

map i wanna shoutout your husband for having this as his sade album

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Tuesday, February 25, 2025 4:34 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

he says "shout out back" lol

I know it’s kind of interlude-y but I think “give it up” is the most underrated by vote totals here … amazing song

I’m sad that “Haunt Me” didn’t get any votes. The way it sits there like a coiled dark thing nestled between its surrounding tracks really captures the effortless range the group had, and maybe a newfound enhanced awareness of it (though maybe this is an optical illusion - it’s not like the preceding albums feel like they lack this).

Weird winner. Not even in the top five for me.

Also glad Jordan mentioned Clean Heart, it's cheesy for sure and oh Johnny don't get shot trying to be a big man etc is a well worn cliche but it gets me every time because the music and her voice are so amazing.

I’m sad that “Haunt Me” didn’t get any votes.

yeah me too.

nice to see the love for "give it up".

whenever i listen to this album i am just baffled that it is considered a minor work in their discography, and not one of the best albums ever recorded by anyone ever

Like Wally Pipp, who took a day off from the Yankee lineup and was permanently replaced by Lou Gehrig, Sade has risked usurpation by more talented players during her long weekend away from recording. In that three-year break, the soft-female-soul market, which the remarkable success of her 1984 debut stimulated, has been filled by a rush of other artists, some far superior (Anita Baker, Regina Belle), some nearly inept (Swing Out Sister). But Sade needn't worry about being eclipsed by more talented singers – the key to her appeal is not the pure prowess of her voice but its poise and presence. In lieu of Baker's gospel-based emotions, Sade offers cool composure. She has designed a distinctive sound and established herself as a diva simply by assuming the image of one.

If it's possible, Stronger Than Pride is even wispier than Sade's two previous albums; it's so thin and understated that it leaves a mist hanging over the turntable (or, more likely, the CD player). Her lyrics are mostly brief pillow notes, with their hooks chanted over and over.

Serving as producer for the first time, Sade curbs Stuart Matthewman's dramatic sax lines, the crucial ingredient of "Smooth Operator," in favor of an ensemble grace centered on the deft bump of Paul Denman's bass. Brisk urban tracks like the hit "Paradise" alternate with acoustic material inspired by Brazilian bossa nova, but the sensual ambiance is soon spoiled by the dearth of melodies; the album is so tasteful and restrained it's dull. (RS 532)

ROB TANNENBAUM

it leaves a mist hanging over the turntable

this is actually wonderful and accurate imagery, except it's unambiguously a positive quality to me

yeah i mean that sounds incredible to me

tell me
the secrets of your soul
give it up and let go

ngl i'm not sure i knew who regina belle was

this is definitely my favorite sade album

Belle is most notable for three hit duets, all with Peabo Bryson: "Without You", the love theme from the comedy film Leonard Part 6, recorded in 1987; "A Whole New World", the main theme of the Disney's animated feature film Aladdin recorded in 1992, with which Belle and Bryson won a Grammy Award; and "I Just Can't Imagine".

this is definitely my favorite sade album

― brains, washed (The Brainwasher), Thursday, May 7, 2026 1:01 PM (one minute ago)

taste

sorry guys tangent but some googling revealed this peabo bryson song i didn't know about and it felt right to share at this time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjfJXPKpakM

The mist you see is over my brain as I ponder how Regina Belle is superior to Swing Out Sister.

My lite jazz fanatic dad listened to a station that played (alongside Sade and Swing Out Sister) this Belle track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQflBV1UgVY

never heard that! it's a jam but i don't know how you could listen to that mannered vocal style which feels a little unfocused and grating to me personally and rank it above anything sade adu sang on.

following on from "this album is my husband's favorite sade album":

the song i've noticed that he sings along to the most insistently and enthusiastically is "keep looking"

sometimes great artists have to wait out and completely outlast critical contemporaneous reviews of low quality

music critics smell bad

regina belle is amazing, surprised brainwasher just stepped past that post cuz hes the one who put me onto 'baby come to me' ages ago...its basically a perfect song

mannered vocal style which feels a little unfocused and grating to me personally

michael jordan "stop it. get help" gif

I think this is my fav sade album-as-an-album but the best songs on 'love deluxe' are my fav sade songs

Regina Belle was never amazing -- Narada Michael Walden was mostly giving her his second-tier stuff -- but I like "Baby...:

"never" ??

She was sometimes good, she's not Angela Winbush, Stephanie Mills, or Anita Baker (or Sade). As much as I like his material from a few years earlier, NMW's productions and songs from this era don't serve her well and she doesn't have the verve to own the material, exceptions noted.

this is a banger too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amjazxKvA3U

I think this is my fav sade album-as-an-album but the best songs on 'love deluxe' are my fav sade songs

― ok (D-40), Thursday, 7 May 2026 17:47 (five hours ago)

This is correct

the “it’s about faith” bit in “nothing can come between us” is one of my fav moments in all of music

fistbump*

'nothing can come between us'

pretty easily for me. jordan is right.

about halfway through when they come through with the "its about faith, it's about trust, yeaah yeaaaaaaaah" harmonies with the little bass riff man thats a perfect moment in music right there.

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Tuesday, February 4, 2025 4:55 PM (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

yeaah yeaaaaaaaah

the little cymbal pattern that starts the song is also so good

the “it’s about faith” bit in “nothing can come between us” is one of my fav moments in all of music

― the manda-whore-ian and hoe-gu (voodoo chili),

and the guitar

The only reason I can imagine anyone underrating this awesome album at the time is that instead of recognizing that Sade is still laying the foundation for an impeccable career whose zigs and zags are so brilliant but subtle that they could be confused for, yeah, "a mist hanging over the turntable," they're a bit perplexed, perhaps projecting a perceived slump where there's not one. But what a mist! It's a mist you want to envelope you and get lost in. I feel like it was around "Lovers Rock" that I started encountering people talking about Sade in terms of ambient music.

Well, Christgau wrote some fucking obtuse Sade blurbs in the '80s because their songwriting tended towards the ambient.

lol you're right, he even mentions Eno and Steve Reich!

Sade are an interesting case in that they both continually switched up their sound to suit the times while also always sounding like themselves, and it feels to me like the tension between those two impulses resulted in them always feeling slightly ahead of the moment - in particular I feel like Stronger Than Pride sounds like a 1991 record and Love Deluxe like a 1994 record.

very true

maxwell has a similar quality I think

Yes very much so - and in a way that doesn’t apply for D’Angelo or Erykah, where their singular qualities are always unignorable.

Like obv Maxwell is a crazy genius but even with Embrya you can cosplay a counterfactual world where that’s just what R&B sounded like