Unlike Sade's previous work, Lovers Rock did not contain saxophones or instrumentation, but instead spare, deceptively simple arrangement-sometimes no more than an acoustic guitar. With the songs intimately fixated on the themes of love, loss and rejection, her delicate phrasing, delivery and deft use of repetition often imbues a deeper meaning than the lyrics themselves suggest. Most of the compositions are founded on acoustic guitar with gently applied beats. Lovers Rock is ironically a collection of songs made up of relatively sparse arrangements. The album's recording and themes were inspired by Adu's experiences during the previous decade, particularly of how she had become preoccupied with the complexity of other people's lives and extremely unhappy. Andy Nice provided the cello on "Every Word" and Janusz Podrazik provided keyboards on two of the album's songs "Immigrant" and "It's Only Love That Gets You Through", additional vocals for the album came from vocalist Leroy Osbourne. Karl Van Den Bossche supplied the album's percussion, while Nick Ingman supplied the string arrangements on the song "King of Sorrow". Īdditional help came from a variety of people. Mike Pela helped with the co-production of the album and its recording, Andy "Nipper" Davies served as the assistant engineer and Tom Coyne mastered Lovers Rock. The band produced and arranged the album Hale served as the album's keyboards and programmer, Matthewman served as the album's guitarist, programmer, woodwind player whilst Denman provided the album's bass. The album's recording took place between September 1999 and August 2000 at three locations- Sarm Hook End and Deliverance Studios, both in London, and El Cortijo Studios in San Pedro de Alcántara, Spain. Lovers Rock was recorded in only a year, and was influenced by Adu's experiences during the eight-year hiatus. The album was partly recorded in London and San Pedro de Alcántara, Spain ( pictured) Matthewman also played a major role in the development of Maxwell's career, providing instrumentation and production work for the R&B singer's first two albums. Denman, and Andrew Hale-worked on side projects, including the band Sweetback, which released a self-titled album in 1996. During this time, the other members of the band- Stuart Matthewman, Paul S. Following the release of Love Deluxe, the band took an eight-year hiatus, during which Adu came under media scrutiny with rumours of depression and addiction, and later went on to give birth to her first child. The album was also commercially successful elsewhere, reaching number one in France and the top 10 in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It was later certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of four million copies.
The album peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200 and has sold 3.4 million copies in the United States. The band's fourth studio album, Love Deluxe, was released on 26 October 1992. Following the release of Love Deluxe (1992), the band began an eight-year hiatus, during which Adu would experience media scrutiny and give birth to her first child.
The album spawned two singles-" By Your Side" and " King of Sorrow"-and was further promoted by the band's Lovers Rock Tour. It has since been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having sold 3.9 million copies in the United States by February 2010. Commercially, the album reached number 18 on the UK Albums Chart and number three on the US Billboard 200. The album earned Sade the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2002. Upon release, Lovers Rock was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the band's musical direction.
A concept album, the lyrics focus on both the positive and the negative sides of love the album's lyrical content also touches upon political themes. The album's production has been characterised as spare, with simple arrangements and reggae flourishes. Lovers Rock was seen as a departure from the band's previous use of jazz elements, opting instead for a wider use of musical elements from soul music, R&B, soft rock, folk music, dub, reggae, neo soul and lovers rock. The album was titled after a style of reggae music known as lovers rock, noted for its romantic sound and content, which frontwoman Sade Adu listened to in her youth. Lovers Rock is the fifth studio album by English band Sade, released on 13 November 2000 by Epic Records.