Next to Me by Emeli Sandé
Yasha Jain
Adele Emeli Sandé, more commonly known as Emeli Sandéis a highly successful Scottish singer and songwriter having received 21 awards from 56 nominations including four BRIT Awards and three MOBO Awards. In 2017, Emeli was also appointed Member of the Orderof the British Empire(MBE) for her contributions and services to music.
Adele Emeli Sandé was born in Sunderland in 1987 and raised in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Her mother was English and her father was Zambian. From a young age, Emeli had a passion for music and songwriting. “I always knew I wanted to be a musician and I knew I wanted to write because the people I was listening to all wrote. I never thought it was an option to sing anyone else's songs.”, she said at the BRIT awards.
Her career first began when she struck fame because of her sister making a video of Emeli singing and sent the clip to Trevor Nelson’s BBC Urban music competition where she won.
This is the cover art for Next to Me by the artist Emeli Sandé.
However, besides music, Emeli also had a love for learning. She said,"I hated to be ill and to miss a day because I was so hungry to learn. I was very shy, nerdy and extremely well-behaved.” This was reflected later in her life when she had a record deal with Telstar at 16, but turned it down to go to university instead. She then studied medicine and graduated in 2009 with a degree in neuroscience.
One of Sandé’s greatest inspirations was the iconic painter Frida Kahlo who she even has a tattoo of on her forearm. She was inspired by Frida as an artist especially because of her own battle with polio at a young age and Frida’s illness that had set her on that creative path.Her musical influences, however, are Aretha Franklin,Alicia Keys, Anita Baker. She also says that she wants her music to be remembered like that of Nina Simone, one of her musical idols and was inspired by Simone’s poetic song writing and excellent piano playing skills.
Emeli’s artistic creations led to a lot of self discoveryfor her. Music had always been a passion of hers but writing lyrics and composing songs and eventually taking music up as her career became a huge part of her identity. Through her artistic creations one can see and learn much about her from the stories she tells through her songs to the various elements of gospel music she often includes in her choruses that indicate her cultural identity. For example, in her hit song ‘Next to Me," one can tell that she greatly values loyalty, commitment, healthy habits in and support from a partner.
Sandé’s musical genres consist of R&B, soul, gospel, and pop. Sande had classical training as a teenager and learnt to play piano at a young age. She has a soprano range but doesn't just sing her music, she composes and also writes her own music. It was important to Emeli that she wrote her own lyrics and made her own music because she wanted people to see every side of her as an artist
Citations:
Artist-related information:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/news/review-emeli-sande-stuns-her-debut-194735265.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/music/what-to-listen-to/emeli-sande-long-live-the-angels-review/
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/nov/13/emeli-sande-long-live-the-angels-review
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-47567903
https://web.archive.org/web/20120423121508/http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/what-s-on/music/emeli_sande_going_it_alone_to_success_1_1338326-https://www.songfacts.com/facts/emeli-sande
Song-related information:
https://www.songfacts.com/facts/emeli-sande/next-to-me-https
://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-40-biggest-selling-singles-of-2012-revealed-1784/-https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/emelisand/nexttome.html
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