Groove and grace
Some form of grace requires no ornamentation. Released in 1988 as the third single from Stronger Than Pride, Nothing Can Come Between Us arrives wrapped in that rare grace. With hushed authority, Sade Adu, already a form chiseled from silk and smoke, steers the song. Though it never strays, the groove is leisurely. Everything in the mix is used to create the sensation: the bassline swings patiently, the guitar flirts with funk, and the keys breathe like they’ve just woken up.
The song is founded in restraint. Not as a handicap but as a strength. Each component is little but packed with personality: Andrew Hale’s keyboards, Stuart Matthewman’s guitar phrasing, Paul Denman’s bass. The band does not overwhelm Sade’s vocals. They rotate about it. That voice doesn’t yell or whine. It says. confident, sure, close-knit. The words describe loyalty, a connection tested by events and circumstances but always whole. Metaphorless possibility Plainly spoken, carried on melody, the truth arrives.
Pop and RandB started to toward maximalism just as this song landed. Late 80s production frequently included layers, gated drums, and digital gloss. Sade had other directions. Their world was one of feeling and room; their seduction was a slow burn rather than a spectacle. Like a handwritten letter amid a room filled with neon signs, Nothing Can Come Between Us sank into that landscape. And somehow, it spoke louder.
Another brooding, percussion-oriented track in a velvety production. Just typical Sade.
(Music & Media magazine, 1988)
Sade was never a band looking to grab headlines. They traveled with intent, vanished without incident, then resurfaced with work that felt sculpted rather than constructed. Their refusal to flood the market gave each release a kind of gravity. It was not a fresh sound when Nothing Can Come Between Us debuted on the airwaves; it was a continuation of a chat they had begun years previously with Your Love Is King and Smooth Operator. And every time the language became crisper.
Today, the song is more than just a late-80s diamond. It resists falling totally into any box and keeps its place among pop, jazz, and soul. It gets covered, whispered about, but never quite duplicated. Over time, its calm strength does not lessen. It stays on. Like Sade’s whole discography, it provides an invitation to listen with care and remain with the moment a little longer, rather than to flee.
