It’s always cause for celebration when someone realizes and embraces their queer identity, especially when that someone is already a gay icon.
In an interview with the U.K. entertainment tabloid Metro, singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé revealed that she’s currently dating a woman, who she says is “the one for life.” Sandé declined to name her partner or define herself specifically as bisexual (“I just feel like I should fall in love with whoever I fall in love with,” she said), but did hint that her beloved is a classical pianist.
The two met at the beginning of COVID-19 lockdowns, she said, while Sandé was learning about classical music.
“We met through music,” Sandé told the paper simply. “And I definitely feel happier than ever. It feels great.”
Sandé rocketed to fame with her 2011 triphop hit “Heaven,” a staple in U.K. gay clubs, and the gospel-inspired R&B banger “Next to Me,” both from her debut album Our Version of Events. Her new album Let’s Say For Instance, set to release in May 2022, features the new single “There Isn’t Much,” a song Sandé says is about how material possessions are worthless without someone to share them with. “They’re trying to set me up with Mike or John/But I’d rather just get old,” Sandé sings in the song’s newly-released video, flanked by a group of LGBTQ+ backup dancers.
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“I remember how alone I felt and what comfort music was to me [as a child], and that was only through artists who were telling the truth and being so real,” Sandé said in 2016 interview with Gloss Magazine. “So, that’s how I wanted my career to be.”
It’s only fitting, then, that someone so dedicated to music’s power for truth and healing would find her own truth and a partner for life through music. Maybe someday in the future, we’ll be lucky enough to see the happy couple perform together — but for now, we just hope they’re staying safe and happy together.
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