November 18, 2008

Bedtime Music: Sade - Smooth Operator

Next up is Sade's Smooth Operator. The song comes off of her 1984 album Diamond Life, but the single wasn't released in the US until 1985, where it reached #5 on the US Hot 100 and #1 on the US Adult Contemporary charts.

This particular video is the full-length version, which gives a dramatic back story to the song. The first 30 seconds of the video show Sade being interrogated about the nameless "Smooth Operator" by the police. The song then begins and goes through the 5:53 mark; the remainder of the music is an instrumental jam on the melody while Sade's character is chased and nearly strangled to death by the Smooth Operator. He then becomes involved in a chase and shootout with the police before being shot and falling to his death. The video was nominated in 1985 for two MTV Video Music Awards,
Best Female Video and Best New Artist.

Interesting fact about Sade: Her first name is actually Helen.


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