Sade Returns After 6 Years With New Song On ‘Transa’ Album For Transgender Awareness, Dedicates It To Her Trans Son
Sade is returning to music with a new track on the Transa benefit album for transgender awareness. This release marks her first in over six years and will be part of a 46-track compilation debuting this fall.
According to Variety, the legendary singer-songwriter will release “Young Lion” on Nov. 22 as part of the extensive project spearheaded by the nonprofit Red Hot to support members of the LGBTQ+ community, including non-binary, genderqueer, cisgender and other individuals.
“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,” Red Hot Executive Director Dustin Reid said in a news release obtained by Variety. “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.”
“Young Lion” is dedicated to Sade’s son, Izaak, who identifies as a transgender man. The New York Times reported that the song features soft piano notes paired with Sade’s soulful vocals, with lyrics “steeped in empathy and regret.” In the track, Sade sings, ‘Young man, it’s been so heavy for you/ You must have felt so alone… I should have known/ Shine like a sun/ You have everything you need.”
Transgender musician, model and activist Massima Bell expressed excitement about Sade’s involvement in the project, which started in collaboration with Reid in 2021.
“It’s amazing to hear a legendary musician like Sade sing about her heartfelt experience as the parent of a trans child,” Bell told the Times.
Blavity reported that Sade’s last album was 2010’s Soldier of Love, debuting atop the Billboard’s 200 albums chart. However, she has released several singles since the iconic project.
Sade joins more than 100 artists on the new album, with a mix of covers and exclusive tracks from “Sam Smith, Laura Jane Grace, Devendra Banhart, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, Bartees Strange, Faye Webster, Julien Baker, Moses Sumney, Hunter Schafer, André 3000, Arthur Baker, Fleet Foxes, Teddy Geiger and many more,” per Billboard.
Here is the complete track list for the Transa album.
Chapter 1 — Womb of the Soul
1. “Midnight Moon Pool” – Mary Lattimore, Laraaji, MIZU and Jamal Shakeri
2. “You Don’t Know Me” – Devendra Banhart, Blake Mills and Beverly Glenn-Copeland
3. “How Sweet I Roamed” – Jeff Tweedy, claire rousay
4. “Same Train” – Heart Shaped and Christian Lee Hutson
Chapter 2 – Survival
5. “STAR” – Ana Roxanne and Nsámbu Za Suékama
6. “Please Tell Me” – Lightning Bug
7. “Make ’em Laugh” – Benét, Faye Webster
8. “Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying” – Julien Baker and Calvin Lauber feat. SOAK and Quinn Christopherson
9. “Rumblin'” – Soft Rōnin feat. Frankie Cosmos
10. “Deeper Understanding” – Hand Habits feat. Bill Callahan
Chapter 3 – Dark Night
11. “Under the Shadow of Another Moon” – Hunter Schafer and Cole Pulice
12. “Blush” – Grouper and Lucy Liyou
13. “Is It Cold in the Water?” – Moses Sumney
14. “Know Who You Are At Every Age” – Anajah and Gary Gunn
15. “Is It Over Now?” – Niecy Blues feat. Joy Guidry)
Chapter 4 – Awakening
16. “Something Is Happening and I May Not Fully Understand but I’m Happy to Stand for the Understanding” – André 3000
17. “Come Back Different” – Nina Keith feat. Julie Byrne and Taryn Blake Miller
18. “Song to the Siren” – Rachika Nayar feat. Julianna Barwick and Cassandra Croft
19. “Love Hymn” – Arthur Baker feat. Pharoah Sanders
20. “People Are Small / Rapture” – L’Rain feat. Voices from the NYC Trans Oral History Project
Chapter 5- Grief
21. “We’ve Been Through So Much” – Jlin and Moor Mother
22. “My Name” – Kara Jackson, Ahya Simone and Dave Longstreth
23. “Point of Disgust” – Perfume Genius and Low’s Alan Sparhawk
24. “In Another Life” – Lomelda and More Eaze
25. “Pink Ponies” – Teddy Geiger and Yaeji
26. “A Survivor’s Guilt” – Yaya Bey
Chapter 6 – Acceptance
27. “Just Last Night” – Helado Negro and Eileen Myle
28. “Feel So Different” – Ezra Furman and Sharon Van Etten
29. “Mourning Dove” – Gia Margaret
30. “Feel Better” – Adrianne Lenker
31. “Any Other Way” – Allison Russell and Ahya Simone
32. “Down Where the Valleys Are Low” – Asher White, Eli Winter and Caroline Rose
33. “TM” – Fleet Foxes, Cole Pulice and Lynn Avery
34. “Querube” – AV María, SKY and Belina Rose
Chapter 7 – Liberation
35. “Within Without” – Green-House and Kelela
36. “Aaron” – Cassandra Jenkins, Bloomsday and Babehoven
37. “Young Lion” – Sade Adu
38. “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” – Moses Sumney, Lyra Pramuk and Sam Smith
39. “Many Ways” – CLARITY feat. Clairo
Chapter 8 – Reinvention
40. “I Feel Free” – Sparkle Division feat. Pepper MaShay
41. “Get Free” – Nico Georis, KB Brookins
42. “Wolf Like Me” – Bartees Strange, Anjimile, Kara Jackson
43. “Surrender Your Gender” – Laura Jane Grace feat. Lee Ranaldo, Jayne County, Kathi Wilcox, Jay Dee Daugherty and Am Taylor
44. “I Would Die 4 U” – Lauren Auder and Wendy & Lisa of the Revolution
45. “Always” – Time Wharp, Elizabeth and Beverly Glenn-Copeland
46. “Ever New” – Sam Smith and Beverly Glenn-Copeland
