Passengers inside JFK’s International Airport threw their arrival and departure times to the wind as Scottish Singer-Songwriter Emeli Sande serenaded winners of the Jet Blue T5 Concert Series.
They saw the stage. The instruments and even her name splashed across the banner, but they were too busy to stop or even care. Until she started singing.
With just a mic, drums, two guitarists and a piano player, Sande opened her 45-minute set with “Heaven” from her debut album, “Our Version of Events–” a triumphant, percussion heavy up-tempo track professing her patience and fear that her mistakes will prohibit her from making it to heaven.
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As she reached the climatic ending, I was reminded by Sande’s wishful thinking during an earlier interview right before her performance. Sande told me that if she could, she’d borrow Whitney Houston’s voice for a day,
Sande raised her hand to the sky, as if to reach out and grab her rightful place with God, as her platinum blond hair flung wildly. She moved from one end of the stage to the other, belting out notes and contorting her body while the music and words moved through her.
“To do what Whitney [Houston] did in the 80s and be able to hit all those unbelievable notes…” Sande paused. “I’d love to have Whitney’s voice for a day if I could.”
Sande has been in the industry writing music for artists such as Alicia Keys, Fantasia and most recently the highly anticipated The Great Gatsby Soundtrack.
For the novice music listener, “Our Version of Events” is a rushed, almost Starbucks-esque pop record about the traditional ups and downs of love. But for the more tenured, Sande’s American debut is nothing short of a well-mastered story about the delicacies of love for self, family and God.
The band seamlessly transitioned into the romantic, ska induced “Where I Sleep” where unlike, “Heaven,” Sande stood front and center of the stage and boldly told the world, she only has one home, and it’s with him.
The crowd of 100 or so contestant winners and airport personnel began to swell, but boiled over when Sande sang “Breaking The Law,” and ode of love and loyalty to her younger sister.
“When you need to smile, but you can’t afford it/Go and point it out. I’m gonna steal i/ When the floor is more familiar than the ceiling/ I will come for you and shake up how you’re feeling”
Two men, headed to Salt-Lake City risked missing their flight, as Sande sung proudly and with the intent of all the illegal activities she’d perform to keep her sister happy. A husband and wife embraced and swayed back and forth as the guitarist strummed away. It was like a scene out of one of those stick-sweet chick flicks.
Unlike on the album, the heartfelt song was given a pulse, when the drummer came in on the second verse, igniting a fire, building the momentum of the song and galvanizing Sande. It was during her performance of “My Kind of Love–” a ballot of a tough, long-suffering, yet unwilting love–that Sande made everyone a believer.
“I can’t buy your love/Don’t even wanna try/sometimes the truth won’t make you happy/So I’m not gonna lie/But don’t ever question if my heart beats only for you/It beats only for you.”
For the poker face attendees, the only sign Sande had gotten to them, was their misty red eyes. But for the many whose eyelids could no longer act as a barricade, Sande’s live rendition brought tears.
The busy airport terminal came to a halt as Sande defended her love language. The mezzo-soprano’s voice carried more than just years of practice, it carried actual emotion, grit and experience.
As she waved goodbye and walked off the stage, within moments, the crowd disappeared, passengers found their terminals, and the day continued, leaving little to no clue of what took place. One thing is for sure, if you weren’t traveling on that day, you missed the most enchanting layover ever!
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