Sade’s First New Song in 6 Years Is a Tribute to Her Trans Son
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Everyone’s favorite smooth operator is back.
Nigerian-British singer Sade is set to release her first song in about six years, and it’s dedicated to her trans child, Izaak Theo Adu.
The song is part of Transa, a new compilation album from activist music organization Red Hot. The album will feature a bevy of trans and nonbinary artists, including Sam Smith, Hunter Schafer, Perfume Genius, Clairo, and more. The album, according to the organization, represents a “spiritual journey in eight chapters” and features 46 songs, running at over three-and-a-half hours.
Sade’s song, “Young Lion,” is dedicated to Adu, who is a trans man. Though Sade is known for keeping her personal life private, her son has posted about her support of him in the past. “Thank you for staying by my side these past 6 months Mumma,” Adu wrote in an Instagram caption in 2019, alongside a photo with his mother. “Thank you for fighting with me to complete the man I am. Thank you for your encouragement when things are hard, for the love you give me. The purest heart.”
Dust Reid, who put together the album alongside trans artist and activist Massima Bell, said Red Hot wanted a project “talking about all the gifts that trans artists have been giving to the world.”
“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,” Reid told Variety. “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.”
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Red Hot is a nonprofit production company that has been bringing together artists for creative projects that raise awareness and money for public health and diversity-related initiatives since 1989. Its first project, Red Hot + Blue, featured notable artists such as U2 and Sinead O’Connor reinterpreting the songs of composer Cole Porter to raise funds for ACT UP. In 1996, it also produced the album America Is Dying Slowly, an acronym for AIDS, that featured hip hop artists making music about the ongoing AIDS crisis. The album was a response to the death of Eazy-E, one of the founders of NWA, who died from an AIDS-related illness in 1995.
With the release of this song, Sade remains one of the many celebrities who is vocal in her support of their trans child, including Charlize Theron, Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, and Cynthia Nixon.
Transa will be released on November 22.
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