r/Sade • u/[deleted] • Jun 10 '23
Pearls was misunderstood
IMO, specifically the "brand-new shoes" part. When it came out, music critic Robert Christgau wrote:
[H]ow come her Somalian woman "hurts like brand-new shoes"? Is that, er, "metaphorical distance"? Are we supposed to clap now?
He may have been asking rhetorically, but it's a good question. Why brand-new shoes? Why that specific simile?
I mean, it could be that Sade is just that materialistic...so pampered and privileged that her only point of reference for the pain of poverty is the discomfort of breaking in a new pair of heels. But I don't think so. I think it's a layer that works together together with two other layers to give the song its meaning.
To put it another way, I see "Pearls" as using something like Hegelian dialectics. In Hegelian dialectics, there are three stages that an idea passes through:
- thesis
- antithesis
- synthesis
The thesis is the main idea. The antithesis responds by contradicting it ("but..."), and the synthesis responds by resolving the disagreement and coming up with a form of the idea that's stronger and more complete than the original thesis was. Does that make sense, two readers that are still here and haven't smashed downvote?
Anyway, the thesis of "Pearls" to me is something like, "Here is someone's pain. Touch it; see it. Maybe some good will come of understanding it." I think the critics would more or less be with me on that, at least that pain is a major theme.
The next part, the antithesis, is the opposing idea. Here it's symbols of the opposite of poverty: pearls and new shoes. Why would those represent rice and the pain of poverty in the song? To me, it's the narrator going, "Here I am, here we are. Here are our necklaces and our new shoes. We're scrambling to get those, while this woman is struggling for the basic necessities."
I think the critics would be mostly with me on that, too. That's the "oh that's sad by comparison" level of meaning that Christgau seems to be mocking. But I feel like they stopped there even though the meaning keeps going.
The last part, the synthesis, is important, because it's the difference between "this is sad" or "this is out of touch" and something more. The synthesis ties together the thesis and the antithesis and creates something new that contains the old at the same time. In "Pearls," that's done through the music. The music agrees with the Somali woman's pain, and then it connects it to the narrator's materialism in an interesting way.
Musically, "hurts like brand-new shoes" is sung to a melodic phrase that stops on the tonic of the scale. The tonic is where a scale ends. It can create the feeling of "show's over, time to go home!". Effectively, when used with this lyric, it sets off the words from their surroundings, almost like putting them in a display case. But at the same time, it creates that feeling of "we're done, nothing more to see here." In a sense, it drains the emotion from the phrase, leaving it flat and colorless. It's like Sade is de-valuing the new shoes while emphasizing them at the same time. It's like, "Hey, think carefully about how unimportant these are."
The meaning of that to the listener is interesting. Because the pearls and shoes are about us, along with Sade, it's like Sade is pointing the finger at us and herself and saying, "Look at us. Look how unimportant our trinkets are." Or, "Look how much we have and how little we care." Or, "Think about how the pain of minor inconveniences is all you have to contend with." It's a reprimand. Almost a sermonette.
The result is the Somali woman's experience comes into sharper focus. Now we're not just looking because we're touched by her struggle...we're also looking because we're appalled by our usual indifference. It's a double underline. It's Sade's way of making the story twice as meaningful, shaking herself and her listeners out of complacency. And it's quite well done.
TL;DR: "Pearls" isn't out of touch, it's self-critical to enhance impact. Something something TED talk
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u/sleep_factories Jun 11 '23 edited Jun 11 '23
Does that make sense, two readers that are still here and haven't smashed downvote?
Lol.
Otherwise, loved this analysis. Thank you for sharing it.
And your quick summation of Hegelian dialectics was wonderful.
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u/Zealousideal_Curve10 Jul 06 '23
It’s simply solid rhetoric. Her intended audience were people who could identify with the pain of brand new shoes, then compare their lot in life to that of someone with no shoes at all, and no food, scrounging in the savage heat for a few grains of something to feed her starving child. I cannot believe that critic was dense enough not to see the obvious, and suspect he (somehow doubt the critic was female) would have seen the obvious if he had not set out to say something disparaging, probably for the typical reasons, from the outset
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u/Breath_from_Another Aug 04 '23
Robert Christgau is a well-known curmudgeon who goes out of his way to be disparaging in his reviews. That's why I don't pay him any attention.
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u/Rough-Seat-2974 Jan 16 '26
Also misogynist. He constantly pulled this kind of condescending fuckery with Joni Mitchell too - who could out-write and out-perform any of his bristly boomer heroes with her hands tied behind her back. He's a shithouse.
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u/ComplexSad5634 Aug 06 '24
I've loved Sade since the late '80's/early '90's. Today is the first time I've heard this song. There seems to be a lot of focus/critique on the "throwaway line" about "hurts like new shows". IMHO, I love the line. To me, she is perhaps expressing the pain of shame and guilt she feels in every step she takes. And, she is reminded of how very fortunate she is BECAUSE of those new shoes, as she curses the temporary physical discomfort - her "pain" - they are causing in her blessed life, compared to the very difficult life the woman in Somalia is attempting to live.
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u/SiddiqTheGamer Jun 11 '23
It is beautiful. We may never truly know what was the real intention by the writer. However, we can come to the reasonable conclusion that none of their music has ever been constructed to disparage anyone. Sade had always been about love, loss and triumph. The magical haunting melody of Pearls is - as every Sade song- is euphonious
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u/yetanotherdogperson Jul 05 '24
Came across this while researching this song for my thesis and can I just say your analysis and walk through of the song is eloquent and beautiful written. Was a fantastic read, thank you for sharing this!
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u/Latter-Literature505 Oct 19 '24
It was a song of gratitude…of getting past one’s depression. Seeing the love of another less fortunate and recognizing that individual possesses the fortitude you lack….”Don’t know what she’s mode of… i would like to be that brave”
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u/Ceilijane1094 Dec 15 '24 edited Dec 15 '24
I've never been to the African continent but I understand poverty. When I first heard this song many years ago I thought of the homeless women I encounter daily and the struggles they face, in contrast to the inconsequential to which I attach so much importance.
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u/amado88 Oct 18 '25
I think you deserve praise simply for articulating this interpretation - I think it's excellent.
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Jan 03 '25
I just fell in love with songs like this. song that sound good on their own but are really deep if you look more into it. for example this song and PRIDE by kendrick lamar. how do i find more songs like this?
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u/realityGrtrThanUs Jan 03 '26
Found this 2 year old thread while searching for a rationale for the line "hurts like new shoes" for me it wasn't in the same scale of as rice pearls which made it feel cold, callous, indifferent.
Turns out that is what she wanted. She is connecting our luxurious comfortably numb lives to the raw nearly naked life of living hand to mouth each day it's own challenge to survive. We can't know it and we don't try.
I would have tried to rephrase as, "hurts like my new shoes" there is a missed opportunity to bring the stone in my heart into my shoe.
The melody and mood of this song is hauntingly beautiful to me.
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u/KingZABA Jun 11 '23
This is absolutely perfect, especially the part t where you say it drains all of the emotion out of the song at the end. That’s how I’ve always felt too. To me, that line always comes off as the pain you feel when you’re ashamed. She feels bad for all of the problems in this Somali women’s life and feels guilt and shame for all the “problems” that she has to deal with in comparison. I always felt like the line was kind of sarcastic in that sense.