Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	78/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	B
The Guardian
Mixmag	5/5
NME	7/10
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Spin	8/10
USA Today

Lovers Rock is the fifth studio album by English band Sade, released on 13 November 2000 by Epic Records. Following the release of Love Deluxe (1992), the band began an eight-year hiatus, during which time some band members began recording with American musician Maxwell and produced his debut album, Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite. Following the group's Love Deluxe World Tour, Stuart Matthewman, Paul Denman and Andrew Hale formed the group Sweetback. During the eight-year hiatus Sade would experience media scrutiny and would later go on to give birth to her first child.

Lovers Rock was titled after a style of reggae music known as lovers rock, noted for its romantic sound and content, which Sade listened to in her youth. Lovers Rock was seen as a departure from the band's previous use of jazz elements, opting instead for a wider use of musical elements from soul music, R&B, soft rock, folk music, dub, reggae and lovers rock. The album's production has been characterized as spare, with simple arrangements and reggae flourishes. A concept album, the lyrics focus on both the positive and the negative sides of love, the album's lyrical content also touches upon political themes.

Upon release Lovers Rock was met with generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised the band's musical direction, the album earned Sade the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album. Commercially the album was a success reaching number 18 on the UK Albums Chart and number three on the US Billboard 200. It has since been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), having sold 3.9 million copies in the United States by February 2010. The album spawned two singles—"By Your Side" and "King of Sorrow"—and was further promoted by the band's Lovers Rock Tour.

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Wikipedia