Shadowing Practice: 1984 Sade Interview Before She EXPLODED - Learn English Speaking with Video

Shardé, I know overnight sensations don't really happen in the music business, but you did seem to kind of arrive almost out of nowhere.

What did you do before?

Well, the band's been together for about two and a half years, and it wasn't really overnight at all.

I mean, we've actually been playing concerts around the country in small clubs for literally for at least two

and a half years.

So for us, it didn't seem like that.

When you're waiting for something to happen and it suddenly happens, you're just pleased it happens, you're not sort of shocked.

That's a cable to share.

What's the whole of your name again?

I'm not going to bring it up.

Well then, it's Helen the first one.

What is it?

Helen is my first name and then Folashade.

Folashade.

Yeah.

I never knew that until I saw it in 'Smash It's Letters' column or something, wherever it was.

Is it true she's Spanish in that one?

Yes, that's the one.

Hang on a minute, sorry, Peter, I want to rephrase that question.

Okay.

Here we go.

Five.

three Can we start with a bit of history, Sade?

Well, it's not that long ago.

What did you do before you were a singer?

I made clothes, men's clothes.

And for three years I went to an art college and did fashion, a college called St Martin's in London.

And then for a year I made actually soul clothes and that's when I started singing.

So I had to make a choice between doing the two because I didn't have enough time to run both things.

So how did the singing thing start then?

I was just asked to do some backing vocals in a band called Pride, which is a funk band, and that's how I started.

And then from within that band, we carried on doing a smaller set, which was softer, it's more soul and jazz.

I mean, basically the set we're doing now, the Sade set.

You took over.

No, it wasn't like that at all.

We were running the two things at the same time.

There were two female vocalists, myself and another girl who was...

intending to make a set up of her own as well

and we were going to run three groups at once as

if so that everybody had a chance to sort of so the many facets of pride could come out basically

and that's what we were doing i mean we intended still pride should get signed

but the record companies weren't really and generally people weren't as interested in

that they didn't pick up they didn't understand what we were trying to do

so we held on as long as we could and eventually

strong image that obviously record people would go after

because you're very you're very striking looking and you wore all black

and it was very slinky and everything i mean how blue on i know i'm marching out how calculated was that

I mean, the image wasn't calculated simply because that's the way I dressed, basically.

I mean when I'm paying attention to the way I dress, that's the way I dress for instance, if I go out that is how I look.

But, um, So it wasn't sort of like a big master plan.

We didn't all sit down and think.

Somebody asked me actually a little while ago who thought of putting my hair back and putting in like Spanish look and...

I couldn't understand why anybody should think even that I have an image because that is the way I look, you know, it's the way I have been for some time.

So you write your own material don't you as well as performing or do you co -write with...

I co -write them with the saxophone player.

I write all the lyrics and the tunes that I sing and then arranged by myself and Stuart Mattyman, a sax player.

Is that something you just started doing?

Because I can understand how if you were maybe doing one thing before, like designing clothes, and you could sort of sing a bit and then you went into singing.

And stuck at that, yeah.

It was out of...

I suppose we just started taking what we're doing more seriously.

I mean when we first started the small set, I mean nobody really cared too much.

It was just an exercise really.

It was just sort of fairly self -indulgent I suppose

and we didn't take it at all seriously and we were just doing cover songs.

But because people were actually coming to see us and people actually were interested in what we were doing, we started taking, paying more attention to ourselves and writing our own material.

It was all, so it was almost out of necessity that we started doing the material, our own material. So.

Sorry.

Well, it just wasn't that hard.

I think that there wasn't too much pressure on us because we had pride.

So it wasn't as if it was the only thing in the world that we had.

Pride was at that time the most important thing.

So I think because there wasn't too much pressure on us, it made it easier for us to do it.

So until you have an LP out, I mean all that most people will have heard of you is a single or two singles.

How much variety? Is there?

I mean, do you do a wide range of stuff?

Or is it...

Oh no, that sounds awful.

But you know what I mean.

All people know is...

Some heavy metal covers.

Yes, yes.

No, all most people know is Your Love is King.

Yeah, true.

And because I don't know, because I don't know how many people have actually heard the 12 -inch, but there are three tracks on the 12 -inch of the first single.

And the same as the second.

So if people have bought both 12 -inches, they've heard six tracks of ours.

So that's a fair few, really.

it goes between, I mean it's all pretty much soul

and it all has a fairly sort of gentle sort of jazz feel, it's not jazz by any means, I mean I could only sort of describe it really as soul,

the jazz feel, but we don't do any really hard up -tempo dance numbers particularly, although some numbers are faster than Your Love is King,

some numbers are much more ballady and jazzy I Well adjusted.

You don't live with me.

This is true, but you don't seem too distant and terrifying a love goddess or whatever.

So when you come to sing something like Your Love Is King, which has got a fairly sort of sexual lyric, do you feel any embarrassment about it?

Do you have to become another person?

So I don't turn around and feel embarrassed about what I mean.

I don't, there's no reason to, you know.

But I don't really have to act too much.

100

In fact, I try, I don't like to, because I find it embarrassing watching people who overact.

101

So if anything, I understate, and maybe that's...

102

sort of a shortcoming in a way, maybe I should put a little bit more, but through fear of not wanting to overstate myself.

103

I think sometimes I understate, you know, when I'm presenting a song, but, you know, it's a safer way for me anyway.

104

It works.

105

I remember hearing somebody talk about Marilyn Monroe and saying

106

that she was like Norma Jean and she would put on Marilyn to go out.

107

What does it take to put on Sade?

108

A lot of hair gel.

109

A lot of mohair.

110

No, well I mean, Norma Jean's different.

111

I mean, she was an actress and I'm a singer and that was, I don't know how many years ago,

112

it's now 1984 and you don't have to be like that and you don't have to play the game and play.

113

be that sort of stereotype girl.

114

Oh, I suspect that you don't do the washing up looking like that though.

115

I know, but I take, I take care over my appearance, over my appearance, obviously, you know,

116

I mean, there are times when I suppose I look pretty gruesome at home

117

and I probably wouldn't want to be seen like that.

118

But I don't think I, because I'm a singer,

119

I don't make any more effort than I do as a person who cares about what I look like, basically. So...

120

But you do put the plait in and everything.

121

I just, I just, out of sheer interest, you know, like what do you do?

122

Yeah, but this has been going on, I mean, this plait's been going on for about three years.

123

I mean, that was, you know, I started wearing the plait long before I became a singer.

124

So, I mean, like I said earlier, it's fairly, it's fairly irrelevant, you know, that nothing's really changed an awful lot as far as my appearance is concerned.

125

Okay, let's talk about work.

126

You're going to be playing in front of Royalty before long.

127

Yeah, well at Albert Hall we're doing a charity festival.

128

We're just doing a short set and Charles and Dyer are coming along which is very nice of them.

129

We appreciate that.

130

Would it make you nervous?

131

No, I don't think, no. I mean, two people don't make any difference.

132

We're playing in front of a lot of people.

133

It focuses more attention on the event, though, doesn't it?

134

Yeah, yeah, but not their physical presence.

135

I mean, their physical presence won't frighten me.

136

I mean, maybe the physical presence of however many thousand people the Albert Hall holds will be a bit daunting, but, I mean, Charles and Dye, you know, they're all right.

137

Like I said, it's nicer than to come along.

138

Imagination. of course.

139

Is that what you have to do?

140

Do you have to curtsy?

141

I don't know yet.

142

Perhaps you find out before you meet them.

143

So very quickly, when is there going to be an LP and things like that?

144

There's an album coming out in July.

145

We finished it there, just at the beginning of July.

146

And the new single's out now in London, well in England.

147

I hope it's going outside London anyway.

148

So, will that feel like the start of something?

149

I mean, like, "Help, please?" I think so, yeah.

150

Far more.

151

I think far more so because people, a lot of people have said to me, you know, Have you celebrated?

152

Well, we haven't got anything to celebrate yet because we're only just starting and, you know, I feel that we've got a long way to go and we can get better.

153

So this is just the start.

154

What a great line to finish on.

155

Mm -hmm uh

156

It's beautiful, thank you.

157

It's great.

158

You care.

159

You're good.

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What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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