Beneath the red lights of the Sultan Room in Bushwick on Saturday night, old and new fans of Sade swayed their hips, lip-synced to “No Ordinary Love” and closed their eyes in dance-floor bliss. Almost no phones were in sight.
“I don’t really go out that much but this is something I come out for,” said Lawrence Gonzalez, a reveler at the 10th anniversary of Sade Night, a party dedicated to the R&B star Sade and her namesake band. He wore a Sade “Soldier of Love” hoodie and a Sade cap, and a flash of his forearm revealed a Sade tattoo.
Before themed parties centered around a single artist, like Taylor Swift or Beyoncé, were available each weekend in New York City, before Apple and Supreme had stores in Williamsburg, before Dimes Square existed, there was Sade Night.
“I’m obsessed with Sade,” said Mr. Gonzalez, who has attended the event since its inception in 2014 at the now-closed Kinfolk in Williamsburg. “Being around people that wear merch to things like this boosts my enthusiasm,” he added.
The tribute party, created by John McSwain, a video editor and music composer also known by his DJ name, Vacations, has a cultlike band of followers. Sunday’s anniversary party, which came two months before the upcoming release of Sade’s first new song in years, was large in scale, but it retained the intimacy of a friend’s house party.
“There’s something very magical when everyone’s all dancing together and singing along at a party as kind of strange as this,” said Mr. McSwain, 43, who wore a tuxedo.
With Mr. McSwain at the helm, and after a brief interruption from the fire alarm, the party got going around 11:30 p.m., progressing from slow jams to up-tempo Afrobeats and remixed Sade hits for dancing.
The crowd, to the surprise of many longtime regulars, spanned generations. Attendees largely fell into three categories: fans who grew up listening to Sade (which is colloquially used in reference to both the band and its lead singer, Sade Adu), fans who grew up listening to their parents listen to her, and fans who discovered the singer on TikTok, where there has been a renaissance of her music.
“I’m surprised with the crowd,” Joy Agustine, 46, said. “It’s a lot younger than I would have expected.”
Yvonne Prieto and Sandy Cao, both 24, had come from Queens and New Jersey for their first Sade Night.
“I hate to be that guy, but because of TikTok, I feel like there’s been kind of a resurgence of audiences,” Ms. Cao said. “They’re doing more remixes of songs from that era.”
The two were especially excited to hear “Paradise” and “Kiss of Life,” both of which are popular on social media.
“I also love how timeless the music is,” Ms. Prieto said. “You can make Sade relevant at any time.”
Mr. McSwain started Sade Night in 2014 as a low-key alternative to night life.
He had been a D.J. at Lit Lounge, the Jane Hotel, Westway and Kinfolk — all of which have since closed — and largely played “club party music.” He dreamed up Sade Night as a different experience: “something chill and sexy on a Sunday night.”
“It seemed like such a novel idea at the time, almost like the antithesis to what was going on,” said Ezra Morris, 43, who went to one of the first parties. “It’s taken on a whole other life.”
Mr. McSwain still has a screenshot of a Facebook post an attendee made in the party’s early years describing the vibe: “Free. Tons of Space. Everyone is gorgeous.”
The event quickly developed a dedicated following and had the likes of Questlove, Dave Grohl, Ed Sheeran, Florence Welch and Eric Andre in its crowds.
Mr. McSwain brought the party with him to Los Angeles when he moved there in 2016, but continued to fly back each month to throw it in New York. (Now, the New York parties are less regular.) He’s since thrown Sade Night in Miami, London, Paris, Copenhagen and Barcelona. It’s a passion project he personally funds and organizes, and has said he loses money on.
“I feel like part of a much larger community, not just as fans of Sade,” Mr. McSwain said, “but people who really love a certain feeling in music” — those who crave “deep emotions and big releases” from a night on the dance floor.
At the Sultan Room, as the night wore on, newcomers shimmied in through the entrance and made their way straight to the sunken dance floor. In sequined halter tops, Sade merchandise tees and oversize button-up shirts, they slow-danced (and many kissed passionately), taking in the singer’s breathy hits.
Around 1 a.m., Mr. McSwain had an announcement — more of an invitation, really — that everyone was welcome to join him in front of the D.J. booth.
Soon the stage was packed with dancers throwing their arms up and bouncing their shoulders in rapture, and the partying continued past 3 a.m.
“It’s hard to believe Sade Night is 10,” Mr. McSwain said. “It sometimes feels like something beyond me.”
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