Sade

On this multi-platinum smash Sade mixes in even more of a dark emotional pallet with the band's deceptively glossy chill music. The celebratory "Kiss of Life" arrives like aural Prozac but the albums highlights include its bleakest moments: "Bullet Proof Soul" and "Pearls" which tackle the ravages of love and politics with the same clear-eyed stare.

I'm unable to find fault with her more memorable songs--keep falling asleep before I've finished the sentence. But I swear on a stack of Billboards that half these nine fail to qualify. That's nine, eight with words, in four years. Would you say she's honing her art to the bone? Or would you say she's a nice person with a million-dollar scam? And how come her Somalian woman "hurts like brand-new shoes"? Is that, er, "metaphorical distance"? Are we supposed to clap now? (Grade - B-)