After Adele came Emeli Sandé. This is not to say Adele’s dominance was undermined in any way, but Sandé provided an alternative to ears seeking new material. She brought with her a raw and almost old-school sound which many felt was beyond her age.
Many people may not know her, as she is not as famous as Rihanna, but unlike the Barbadian, Sandé writes her own material and plays the piano. She’s had established artists like Alicia Keys commend her before her amazing debut album, Our Version of Events, was even released.
While the CD has been available locally for a while, it is amazing how the project hasn’t quite been picked up by South Africans.
Perhaps the answer lies in the singles we have been exposed to, which include Next to Me and Daddy. They are not necessarily bad, but they’re not the best tracks off the album.
The British singer-songwriter has some incredible material that will change the R&B game from the noisy path it’s on to a calmer, more intelligent place. Her lyrics are not obvious, but are easy to decipher if you care to think a little bit.
If her four Brit Award nominations and two subsequent wins, are anything to go by, Sandé is someone we should be watching closely. As you will learn in her exclusive interview with Tonight, the word “humble” does not even begin to describe this singer.
We started with how she felt about her achievements in last year’s Brit Awards.
“Finding out I was nominated for the Brit Awards was a big highlight, because winning the Critics’ Choice Award last year was cool but I hadn’t really achieved much at that point. So it was exciting to have it, but I still felt I had so much to prove,” she said.
“So winning this year was incredible because it summed up a lot of hard work for the previous year and it was great to get that acknowledgement from the Brits again.”
But she was far from done with 2012. In fact, the award ceremony may have been a highlight in her new career, but that wasn’t all that made Sandé feel she was moving in the right direction.
“Performing at the Olympics, especially the opening ceremony, was another big highlight. I’m a brand-new artist and to be selected by someone like Danny Boyle to represent your country like that, and to be part of such a massive occasion, was a true honour,” she said.
“And the album going No 1 in the UK was another massive highlight because it had been years of work up until the release of the album.”
Indeed, Our Version of Events exudes a lot of class, maturity and finesse, so much so that it must have taken quite a few months to produce.
After achieving so much in such a short time, Sandé got the gig many British musicians would kill for – playing at the Royal Albert Hall. She chose to record a live DVD, Emeli Sandé: Live at the Royal Albert Hall, and played the bulk of the content from Our Version of Events and a few new songs.
“I’ve always wanted to play the Royal Albert Hall, especially as legends such as Nina Simone and Jaqueline Du Pré had played there,” she revealed.
“I’d actually opened for Alicia Keys there about two years ago and I remember stepping out as I was supporting and thinking that one day, maybe I’d be able to do that. But I was thinking in five or six years, so to play my own show so quickly was amazing. It was a very special night.”
Sandé is touring Europe, and we quizzed her about any entertaining stories she could share on things that have happened to her while on the road during this or other tours.
“Well, our bus caught fire. Not once, but twice, on our recent US tour. It didn’t catch fire completely. I guess it was a budget bus and we had the air-conditioning running all night,” she exclaimed.
“The first time was just before we got to Boston and Darren, our sound engineer, was like: ‘Everybody off the bus. It’s on fire,’ and the smoke filled up the whole place and we all had to get off in our pyjamas in the freezing cold.
“What had happened was that the air-conditioning had blown a fuse. It was fixed, but then it happened again when we got into San Francisco.
“It was very funny, but other than that it is just the standard drinking and partying,” she laughed.
While her bucket list includes visiting Japan and Australia, where she has never been, she let us in on which artists she would like to work with before her time is up.
“Lauryn Hill, she’s amazing. The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill is such a great album,” she said.
“And Stevie Wonder. I would just love to be able to sit in a room with him.”
Like any artist, after conquering her home town the next place to go is the US, and Sandé is also attempting to make that her next big step.
“To establish myself in America is a big goal for this year. Also, to write a second album I’m really proud of, and that is an improvement on the first album, so I feel like I’ve progressed,” she said.
Emeli Sandé
Live At The Royal Albert Hall DVD
****
If you haven’t heard the entire Our Version of Events CD, do yourself a favour and get it; it will sound just as good two years from now as it does today.