(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMER")
EMELI SANDE: (Singing) Hi, I'm not really from nowhere. I follow if my heart...
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
We're coming up on the winter solstice, which means dark and cold. So let's think warm.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUMMER")
SANDE: (Singing) It's always summer, every time you come over.
RASCOE: "Summer" is the name of this track on Emeli Sande's latest album. She's a Scottish singer who's sold more than 19 million singles, making her one of the U.K.'s most successful living songwriters. And the album called "Let's Say For Instance" celebrates resilience, renewal and rebirth - all some good things to keep in mind this time of year. We talked about the record in May, and it turns out she needed a lot of resilience just to get it made.
SANDE: I feel like this album really began with a journey of freedom. It was January 2020, and I'd been waiting to hear if the record company I was with wanted to continue. I found myself, you know, without a major label, without management. I was without a publisher. And then a couple months after that, the whole world went into lockdown, and the pandemic hit. I made a decision - you know, let's use this as a time where I can be creative. I can embrace the freedom. And that's when I really began making the album.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "READY TO LOVE")
SANDE: (Singing) I kept myself to myself. I put my heart on the shelf. Didn't know I needed help until you came along.
RASCOE: You've also recently talked about finding true love with your partner. This album coming together, was that a part of it?
SANDE: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, falling in love is the best feeling in the world. I think falling in love came at a point where I was able to calm down and to stop and to reflect on life. And I think that feeling just gives you so much energy. And it definitely fulfilled me. And it makes you able to do things you just thought were impossible.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "READY TO LOVE")
SANDE: (Singing) You give me strength to be vulnerable, I want the whole world to know.
RASCOE: Recently, you came out officially to the public. When you open yourself up that way, you are letting people also have their thoughts, their - you know, their commentary, whatever, on something that's very personal to you, right?
SANDE: Yeah. I mean, for me, it just - you know, it's been a long process of definitely becoming comfortable with myself. I didn't necessarily feel like I need to make this huge announcement, and it wasn't planned that way. I was just asked, you know, who are you in love with? And for me...
RASCOE: (Laughter) Yeah.
SANDE: ...I want to share who I'm in love with, you know?
RASCOE: Yeah.
SANDE: And I was like, well, Yoana. She's right here.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "READY TO LOVE")
SANDE: (Singing) Yeah, I'm ready to love again. I'm ready to love again. You give me strength...
This is the best thing that's ever happened to me. I feel amazing. Now that I've made this album in such a positive mind frame, it's definitely how I want to continue. And it's made me fall in love with Barry White.
RASCOE: Oh, OK.
SANDE: He just embraces love, just feel-good music.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU'RE THE FIRST, THE LAST, MY EVERYTHING")
BARRY WHITE: Nobody but you and me.
SANDE: Especially in this pandemic, I was like, what can I give to people? Instead of being too introspective about my life, how can I actually offer something which helps and heals?
RASCOE: Barry White is about love and positivity, but he's also very sensual, right? And on this album, you were not afraid to embrace the sensual.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY PLEASURE")
SANDE: (Singing) It would be my pleasure.
RASCOE: People who have heard it so far - like, have you gotten response to you being more open in that way?
SANDE: Yeah. I mean, so far it's been super positive. People have been quite surprised, like, oh, Emeli, I didn't know you did that.
RASCOE: (Laughter) So you making some grown-up music for some grown-up things, right?
SANDE: Exactly. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY PLEASURE")
SANDE: (Singing) Honestly, you're a dream. Sweetest boy I think that I have ever seen. Can't believe you're here with me. Hold me closer tell me that you'll never leave. See, you came into my life and made it brand new.
You know, intimacy and sensuality isn't necessarily taboo. It's a beautiful thing in the world if it's made and done with love. So, for sure, this album - I feel like people will see new sides to me. But it just feels really liberating just to give a full picture of myself.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MY PLEASURE")
SANDE: (Singing) Give you what you need, give you what you need.
(SOUNDBITE OF EMELI SANDE SONG, "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE")
RASCOE: So, I mean, I was really impressed, especially in that song "Look What You've Done." There's so much texture in that percussion, also a little bit of, like, experimentalism. Like, what's the story behind the creation of a song like that?
SANDE: So with - "Look What You've Done" originally just started as a piano ballad. I wanted to really reflect the London kind of music scene and rave culture here. And so I love drum and bass. I love jungle. So I was trying to capture the energy in the production.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE")
SANDE: (Singing) Look what you've done, done, done. Look what you've done. Look what you've done, done, done. Look what you've done.
I've really fallen in love with production because usually I'll just focus on, OK, singing well, writing the song and the music. But I just started to realize, through production, you can create whole soundscapes and new worlds and new emotions and feelings just through what you put together.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANOTHER ONE")
SANDE: (Singing) Not another one, not another gun, not another son. That's a lot of blood. Ain't we proved enough, if you cut us once, we going to bleed the same? Same old losing game, yet you still in doubt.
RASCOE: "Another One" - this seemed to be more of, like, an expression of frustration about, like, the relentless nature of oppression.
SANDE: Yeah. I mean, for - during the summer, I mean, it was such a mad mix of emotions, everything that was going on.
RASCOE: Summer of 2020, like, all of that? Yeah.
SANDE: Yeah. I mean, you know, being a Black woman growing up in rural Scotland, it comes with its challenges. And I've always longed for that belonging in culture. And I was just trying to take that frustration and put it into something beautiful. And that's always what music has been for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ANOTHER ONE")
SANDE: (Singing) I can't take another one.
SANDE: Nina Simone and Lauryn Hill are two of your favorite artists. What do you hope your music adds to the global tradition of Black music?
SANDE: You know, I've always felt, you know, a bit of an outsider where I grew up. And my father's from Zambia. My mom's from England. I grew up in Scotland. So I've always felt like a bit of a mix-match of everything. As Black people, we get pressured to be - you know, well, this is the box you can be in. And this is the only type of music you can make.
RASCOE: Yeah.
SANDE: And I feel so lucky that I've had influences from around the world, and I've always just been able to be a kind of mosaic. So I hope that it opens up different options of what we can do and what's expected of us.
RASCOE: You have a song on the album called "Superhuman," where you sing about saying, you know, don't forget who you are. And the song is, you know, kind of telling the person who you're singing about, you're superhuman.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUPERHUMAN")
SANDE: (Singing) Don't forget who you are. You're made up of million kind of stars.
RASCOE: That really resonated with me. That's something I feel like I have to tell myself sometimes - remember who you are.
SANDE: Absolutely. And I think globally, we've all taken a bit of a confidence hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUPERHUMAN")
SANDE: (Singing) I know it's hard, baby, keeping it real when everybody seems to be faking.
You know, I was so lucky to be able to make the album around my family during lockdown. Being around children - I have a 3-year-old nephew, and I love seeing how confident children are. They know exactly who they are.
RASCOE: Oh, yes.
SANDE: They know exactly what they want. They don't care about offending anybody.
RASCOE: No.
SANDE: They're just like, this is who I am. Deal with it or don't deal with it. And, you know, I protect his confidence so much. Like, I think we're all - you know, we are all inner children, and we all need to return to that sense of, OK, remember who you are - like, just returning to your soul and reminding yourself that, you know, being human is amazing.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUPERHUMAN")
SANDE: (Singing) Don't forget that you're a superhuman.
RASCOE: Emeli Sande talking about her new album "Let's Say For Instance." Thank you so very much.
SANDE: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUPERHUMAN")
SANDE: (Singing) Raw emotion, raised endorphins, heart keeps thumping. Oh, you a superhuman, yeah. Oh, you a superhuman, yeah. Don't forget who you are. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
