The nonprofit Red Hot is releasing the 46-track TRAИƧA collection, which includes original music from artists like Sade, André 3000 and Sam Smith.
Sade’s “Young Lion” happens to be her first in more than six years and is deeply personal for the British GRAMMY winner. The song is dedicated to her transgender son, Izaak Theo Adu.
Sade Adu, lead singer of the band Sade, lived most of his life out of the spotlight, but still publicly supported his son’s transition. In the emotional ballad, Adu asks her son for forgiveness, wishing she could have eased the pain sooner. “Young man, it’s so heavy for you/ You must have felt lonely/ You should have known/ Shine like the sun/ You have everything you need.”
Adu’s 28-year-old son has shared much of his transformation journey via Instagram. As the male singer’s only child, he constantly talked about his mother’s open love and support.
In “Young Lion,” Adu apologizes for “not knowing better,” a poignant love letter that doubles as a request for forgiveness. This is Sade’s first release since the acoustic ballad “Fflower of the Universe” for the Disney film A wrinkle in time.
Excitedly sharing the single via Instagram, Adu wrote: “Trans people have always existed, with many different names across time and culture, often as healers and spiritual leaders. When global systems bridge continues to fail humanity and all life on Earth, the journey of transgender people – and all oppressed people – is a possible blueprint of our collective liberation and being the light within us all.”
TRAИƧA is scheduled for release on November 22. A total of 100 artists are involved in the project, divided into eight chapters to represent a color on the pride flag.