1985 · Behind the Songs
Slow, quiet and mesmerising.
“The Sweetest Taboo” (1985), from Promise, is a slow, mesmerising song about a love that feels forbidden but sweet. The rhythm is gentle, the vocal is close and soft, and the song never hurries toward a climax. Instead, it stays in a mood — warm, private and a little secret — and lets that mood deepen with each verse. It is a song about a feeling that is not shouted, but whispered.
That whisper is the song’s power. In a decade of loud pop, Sade made a record that asked the listener to lean in. “The Sweetest Taboo” rewards that attention, with a melody that unfolds slowly and a vocal that sounds like it is singing only to one person. It is quiet storm music in the full sense: calm on the surface, intense underneath.