Sade is releasing her first new music for years as part of a new compilation project.
The musician is set to release ‘Young Lion’ as part of the ‘Transa’ benefit album, which will arrive on November 22. It’s the first new music from the musician since a soundtrack offering in 2018.
The project has been assembled by non-profit Red Hot, on what aims to support transgender awareness and spotlight both trans and non-binary artists. As per Variety, ‘Young Lion’ is dedicated to Sade’s son Izaak, who identifies as a transgender man.
Dust Reid, who put the compilation project together alongside artists Massima Bell, said: “We started talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world, and wanted to create a Red Hot project that centered and celebrated those gifts.
“We hoped to create a narrative that positions trans and non-binary people as leaders in our society insofar as the deep inner work they do to affirm who they are in our current climate. We felt this is something everybody should do. Whether you identify as trans or non-binary or otherwise, if you took the time to explore your gender, get in touch with the feeling side of yourself, maybe we would have a future oriented around values of community, collaboration, care, and healing.”
‘Transa’ features over three-and-a-half-hours of music and includes a mix of covers and exclusive tracks from artists including Sam Smith, André 3000 and Jeff Tweedy. Moses Sumney also appears on the album covering SOPHIE.
The project has over 100 contributing artists in total, and is structured across eight chapters and 46 songs in reference to the eight-stripe rainbow pride flag.
The first single shared from the project arrived today from longtime Prince collaborators Wendy & Lisa alongside Lauren Auder. They have covered ‘I Would Die 4 U,’ which you can listen to below:
‘Transa’ which has been stylized as ‘TRAИƧA’ has eight chapters: “Womb of the Soul,” “Survival,” “Dark Night,” “Awakening, Grief,” “Acceptance,” “Liberation,” and “Reinvention.”
Check out the full list of songs here:
Chapter I: ‘Womb of the Soul’
01 Mary Lattimore / Laraaji / Mizu / Jamal Shakeri: ‘Midnight Moon Pool’
02 Devendra Banhart / Blake Mills / Beverly Glenn-Copeland: ‘You Don’t Know Me’
03 Jeff Tweedy / Claire Rousay: ‘How Sweet I Roamed’
04 Heart Shaped / Christian Lee Hutson: ‘Same Train’
Chapter II: ‘Survival’
05 Ana Roxanne / Nsámbu Za Suékama: ‘Star’
06 Lightning Bug: ‘Please Tell Me’
07 Benét / Faye Webster: ‘Make ’Em Laugh’
08 Julien Baker / Calvin Lauber: ‘Get Me Away From Here, I’m Dying’ [ft. SOAK and Quinn Christopherson]
09 Soft Rōnin: ‘Rumblin’’ [ft. Frankie Cosmos]
10 Hand Habits: ‘Deeper Understanding’ [ft. Bill Callahan]
Chapter III: Dark Night
11 Hunter Schafer / Cole Pulice: ‘Under the Shadow of Another Moon’
12 Grouper / Lucy Liyou: ‘Blush’
13 Moses Sumney: ‘Is It Cold in the Water?’
14 Anajah / Gary Gunn: ‘Know Who You Are at Every Age’
15 Niecy Blues: ‘Is It Over Now?’ [ft. Joy Guidry]
Chapter IV: Awakening
16 André 3000: ‘Something Is Happening And I May Not Fully Understand but I’m Happy to Stand for the Understanding’
17 Nina Keith: ‘Come Back Different’ [ft. Julie Byrne and Taryn Blake Miller]
18 Rachika Nayar: ‘Song to the Siren’ [ft. Julianna Barwick and Cassandra Croft]
19 Arthur Baker: ‘Love Hymn’ [ft. Pharoah Sanders]
20 L’Rain / Voices From the NYC Trans Oral History Project: ‘People Are Small / Rapture’
Chapter V: Grief
21 Jlin / Moor Mother: ‘We’ve Been Through So Much’
22 Kara Jackson / Ahya Simone / Dave Longstreth: ‘My Name’
23 Perfume Genius / Alan Sparhawk: ‘Point of Disgust’
24 Lomelda / More Eaze: ‘In Another Life’
25 Teddy Geiger / Yaeji: ‘Pink Ponies’
26 Yaya Bey: ‘A Survivor’s Guilt’
Chapter VI: Acceptance
27 Helado Negro / Eileen Myles: ‘Just Last Night’
28 Ezra Furman / Sharon Van Etten: ‘Feel So Different’
29 Gia Margaret: ‘Mourning Dove’
30 Adrianne Lenker: ‘Feel Better’
31 Allison Russell / Ahya Simone: ‘Any Other Way’
32 Asher White / Eli Winter / Caroline Rose: ‘Down Where The Valleys Are Low’
33 Fleet Foxes / Cole Pulice / Lynn Avery: ‘TM’
34 AV María / Sky / Belina Rose: ‘Querube’
Chapter VII: Liberation
35 Green-House / Kelela: ‘Within Without’
36 Cassandra Jenkins / Bloomsday / Babehoven: ‘Aaron’
36 Sade Adu: ‘Young Lion’
38 Moses Sumney / Lyra Pramuk / Sam Smith: ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’
39 Clarity: ‘Many Ways’ [ft. Clairo]
40 Sparkle Division: ‘I Feel Free’ [ft. Pepper MaShay]
Chapter VIII: Reinvention
41 Nico Georis / KB Brookins: ‘Get Free’
42 Bartees Strange / Anjimile / Kara Jackson: ‘Wolf Like Me’
43 Laura Jane Grace: ‘Surrender Your Gender’ [ft. Lee Ranaldo, Jayne County, Kathi Wilcox, Jay Dee Daugherty and Am Taylor]
44 Lauren Auder / Wendy & Lisa: ‘I Would Die 4 U’
45 Time Wharp / Elizabeth / Beverly Glenn-Copeland: ‘Always’
46 Sam Smith / Beverly Glenn-Copeland: ‘Ever New’
Last year, it was revealed that Sade had been recording new music at Miraval Studios in France, which have been freshly renovated and reopened by Brad Pitt and producer Damien Quintard.
The news was revealed in a Billboard cover story in which both Pitt and Quintard were interviewed, with the pair sharing that Sade have visited Miraval Studios in the time since its renovation.
Quintard spoke of Sade frontwoman and solo artist Sade Adu, saying that “you could feel the love that she and the band had for [Miraval Studios]”. Quintard went on to explain that the band – who previously recorded at the studio during its active years in the 2000s – are one of the acts with a “special connection [to] Miraval that can’t really be explained.”
“It’s a dream come true to see this place activate again,” Quintard said. The pair’s comments – which also included Pitt referring to Sade as “royalty” – were echoed in a separate interview with Spin, where Quintard called Sade “very special [for] the legacy of the studio”.
Sade was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame earlier this year.