Sade — The Sweetest Taboo - Official - 1985

JUL 01 1985 · 12:00

Sade — The Sweetest Taboo - Official - 1985 (1985) Director: Brian Ward Era: Mid-80s Sophisti-Pop / Quiet Storm Era (1985) - Peak MTV rotation period for cinematic, mood-driven adult contemporary soul; Sade's second album cycle establishing a new standard for understated visual elegance in pop music video. High-tier preservation priority. This video is a confirmed, officially released artifact from a pivotal album cycle by one of the defining acts of 1980s sophisti-pop, directed by a formally trained NFTS graduate. It represents a sophisticated fusion of cinematic narrative, dual-location production, and warm analogue aesthetics that distinguished Sade's visual brand. Its role as the first chapter in a documented three-video narrative trilogy across Promise elevates its archival significance beyond standalone viewing. The video's restrained visual language offers a significant counterpoint to the period's dominant MTV aesthetic and remains a primary research document for the intersection of Quiet Storm culture, cosmopolitan British pop identity, and mid-80s music video craft. Context: Released in October 1985 as the lead single from Sade's second album Promise, 'The Sweetest Taboo' arrived at the height of the Quiet Storm radio format's cultural influence and MTV's expansion into adult contemporary programming. The song reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and became Sade's second consecutive number-one on the Adult Contemporary chart, following 'Smooth Operator.' The video's dual-geography construction — New York City jazz-loft versus Andalusian sun-bleached landscapes — visually encoded the band's cosmopolitan, pan-cultural identity, reinforcing Sade Adu's status as a singular figure who defied easy genre categorisation. The video's restrained sophistication stood in deliberate aesthetic opposition to the maximalist excess dominant in mainstream MTV programming of the period. Director notes: Ward directed this video, which features the band performing in a loft space in New York City, intercut with desert scenes filmed in Andalusia, Spain. The video contains a narrative thread in which the protagonist writes 'Temor' (Spanish for 'fear') on a window at its conclusion — a detail that directly connects to and is continued in Ward's video for the follow-up single 'Is It a Crime?' (1986), forming part of a documented three-video narrative trilogy also including 'Never as Good as the First Time.' Ward also directed that third video, similarly shot in Andalusia. The NYC loft setting features matador-themed art that recurs in 'Is It a Crime,' cementing a consistent visual world across the Promise album's video campaign.