I was speaking to some friends last night about the God Sade and her career, which has been so un pop star-like since the early ‘90s. She does her private citizen thing, drops an album every five/seven/ten years, then fades back into regular life. And seems to generate even more interest by taking long stretches of time between albums when conventional music industry wisdom says that if you’re out of the public eye for even a second, your fans wander off.

Of course, it helps to be aware that Sade built up a great deal of capital with her first four albums, which were released in relatively quick succession from 1984-1992. “Cherish The Day” comes from Love Deluxe, the last of those four. By that point, Sade (and her band, also called Sade) were a more dub-influenced, atmospheric sounding act than a neo-jazz act.

“Cherish” is absolutely hypnotic. “If you were mine…I wouldn’t want to go…to heaven”…I mean, how far in love do you have to be to feel that way? Or how good is the sex that something like that crosses your mind? Or both? This is some “drunk in love” shit.

As further evidence of how cool Sade and “Cherish The Day” are, how many other love songs can sample “The Humpty Dance” and still come off sexy?