Emeli Sandé "I Feel So Grounded Within Myself"

Happy and confident, singer-songwriter Emeli Sandé looks back on her amazing experiences and talks about the creative period she is in now

- Simon Button

Since coming out last year, Emeli Sandé has never felt happier. “It’s all about understanding, accepting and embracing yourself,” the singer-songwriter tells me. We’re speaking on the phone so I can’t see her face, but I imagine she’s smiling as she adds: “It has unlocked so many doors both creatively and emotionally within me and I feel so much more grounded within myself.”

Sandé is engaged to classical pianist Yoana Karemova and says of the wedding: “We don’t have a date yet but it’s definitely in talks. We’re very deep in love and it just makes life glorious.”

Now 36, Emeli (who was previously married to marine biologist Adam Gouraguine before they split up in 2014) is much more settled in her thirties than she was in her twenties. “One thousand per cent,” she says. “You really settle into yourself as you grow older and you learn so much from different experiences. I look back on my twenties and I couldn’t have had a better time. I lived my dream, got to do all of these amazing performances and make albums. But now in my thirties I can let myself marinate. I feel so much more confident in myself, for sure.”

Released last spring, her fourth album Let’s Say for Instance reflects her happier, more grounded state of mind. Most of it was recorded during lockdown. “A big inspiration was the idea of connecting with people, because so much of that connection had been taken away. I wanted to make the music as positive and uplifting as I could. I had a studio at home and could go down and record things in the middle of the night. I felt like I had complete freedom.”