Emeli Sande
Emeli Sande
Adele Emily Sandé, better known as Emeli Sandé, is a Scottish recording artist and songwriter. She first became prominent after she featured on the track "Diamond Rings" by the rapper Chipmunk. It was their first top 10 single on the UK Singles Chart. In 2010, she featured on "Never Be Your Woman" by the rapper Wiley, which was another top ten hit. In 2012, she received the Brit Awards Critics' Choice Award...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionR&B Singer
Date of Birth10 March 1987
CitySunderland, England
Because they're my stories, they're my version of events of the past three years. But I really hope people can hear their own stories within the songs and they can become our version of events.
I was inspired by people like Joni Mitchell and Carole King and Stevie and "Storytellers." People that could really change the world with their lyric, no matter who sung the song, they had still been the source of that message. So that's what I really aim for.
I don't know if I was as ambitious as to change the world, but I do feel like - the reason why I called the album "Our Version of Events" was that I feel a lot of people are not represented in pop music and popular culture.
I wanted to find a way to speak for people. It was important for me, because so many people spoke for me when I was a kid and made me feel less invisible, and I wanted kids or whoever is listening to my music not to feel so voiceless.
I always knew I wanted to be a musician, and I always knew I wanted to write, 'cause the people I was listening to all wrote. I never thought it was an option to sing anyone else's songs.
I was so shy and so quiet, and the only time I had my own voice and I could really connect with people was when I was singing or on stage.
I try to speak of a love that not necessarily romantic. I think there is so much love between people and so much love people want to give but it's harder and harder these days to show that, to celebrate that, you know?
I want to speak for people that may not feel like they're being spoken for at the moment. And I want to make a connection between the world around us and the charts.
I wanted to make an album that melodically people can connect to; something that reflects our times and the kinds of difficulties we face.
I was finding it very difficult to find a label that understood what I wanted to do and really believed that people wanted to hear something honest and a little bit different. So, I did feel a bit like a clown. You're knocking on everyone's door trying to get them to believe what you're doing.
If I was singing like somebody else, then it was almost like I was expressing myself like somebody else. So it was always a very original thing for me. It's my voice, it's my diary, it's the way I connect with people.
We started very slow in America. It was small acoustic shows. We played places like Los Angeles, New York and Chicago and everywhere there has been a great reaction. It has been really lovely. They listen to the lyrics and the melody over there and the reaction has been fantastic.
'Clown' was written when I couldn't find anyone who believed in me as an artist. Maybe those labels will think twice next time a young songwriter comes along.
Just thinking of all the things I'd done getting there and everything I've sacrificed to do so. But what's happening now makes it worth it.