• Record Label: Epic
  • Release Date: Nov 14, 2000
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. Entertainment Weekly
    75
    One pretty song melts into the next; the result is an undifferentiated dreaminess. [11/17/2000, p.126]
  2. Never before has the singer infused more mainstream rock elements (prominent strummed guitars) into her music.
  3. The lushness of 1992's "Love Deluxe" has given way to an understatement so pronounced it's almost jarring; this LP sounds like it was recorded in zero gravity.
  4. Revolution
    60
    Lovers Rock isn't a gigantic creative leap forward by any stretch.... An acceptable soul album for the adoring Sade fan, or equally, someone who's torn and in the mood to wallow contemplatively in their overstuffed pillow. [Feb 2001, p.92]
  5. While Lovers Rock is not any sort of departure from the quiet ballads that marked the group's first three albums, there is an element of freshness that aligns Sade with the current electronic music insurgence while still maintaining a distinctly analog outlook on love's foibles.
  6. The sterling set is signature Sade.
  7. Lovers' Rock ranks among the finest albums of the year, as Sade, nimbly utilizing that distinctively smoky, vulnerable instrument that is her voice, weaves gentle yet insinuating odes to love and loss.
  8. Back with the same band that helped her notch up such smoky, smooth jazz hits as 'Your Love Is King', 'Smooth Operator' and 'The Sweetest Taboo', Sade has produced an album of class, sophistication and melancholy soul.
  9. If there's nothing on Lovers Rock as naggingly memorable as past triumphs Diamond Life or Your Love Is King, then the refined ache and minimalist chic of By Your Side and Somebody Already Broke My Heart are persuasive enough.
  10. Spin
    80
    Lovers Rock is an airy album, demo-like in its simplicity. It has none of the agression of a "comeback." In fact, Sade has never put out anything quite so ephemeral. [Jan 2001, p.114]
  11. Lovers Rock is her first in eight years, and guess what -- it sounds exactly like Sade, heavily influenced by Diamond Life with a bit of Love Deluxe thrown in. Needless to say, it's also pretty damn good, because this smooth operator shrewdly sticks to the tricks she'd already mastered before turning pro.
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 70 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 70
  2. Negative: 11 out of 70
  1. May 8, 2022
    7
    nothing new, but the music is still done very well. I think it's her best. It's a satisfying direction cool smooth r&b
  2. Dec 4, 2017
    7
    Sade retorna elegante e com seu soul inconfundível, o que resulta em mais um ótimo CD cheio de sentimentos e no topo das paradas, porque elaSade retorna elegante e com seu soul inconfundível, o que resulta em mais um ótimo CD cheio de sentimentos e no topo das paradas, porque ela não precisa ser mainstream pra vender. Full Review »
  3. Nov 21, 2010
    10
    Sade represents modern soul music at its best. With Lovers Rock, they recapture most - if not all - of their inventive genius made legendarySade represents modern soul music at its best. With Lovers Rock, they recapture most - if not all - of their inventive genius made legendary from their previous album, Love Deluxe. One of the decades best albums. Full Review »