Journalism: Interviewing Sade… (and other celebs)

Sade only granted two print interviews regarding the release of her new album, Soldier of Love. One was to the New York Times. The other was to Ebony magazine. After working for a year to verify that the album would be coming out, I finally was able to snag the interview.

Sade was gracious and thoughtful in answering her questions. She also laughed a lot. She was interested in my opinion on her album. Her interest flattered me, but I had to keep the interview on her thoughts! Not mine.

I will tell you the most surprising thing she told me: she eats bush meat. On second thought, this shouldn’t be surprising because she is a native Nigerian. But she waxed so poetic about egusi stew and the grass cutter rodent that I now have to find a friend to make me some!

Students frequently ask for advice on interviewing celebrities, and my take on it is that an interview is an interview is an interview. It doesn’t matter who the subject might be. Every subject is worthy of study prior to the reporter asking the first question. In Sade’s case that means knowing her parentage and where she was born. That also means knowing enough about her to ask about egusi stew… And as a side note, one should always prepare for an interview, but with celebrities I’ve found that the interview rarely takes place at the time and date when you agree that it will take place.

Sade’s interview, for example, was scheduled for a Friday but got delayed and then delayed again until the next week. My interview with Diddy was delayed from the initial date and time. And my recent interview with a popular actor took me by surprise. I was headed out to lunch when my phone rang and boom, it was him. I texted a friend to cancel lunch plans and sat down to talk with the Academy Award nominee who will show up in my future work.

I’ve found that once you set up the interview with a celeb, you should do the research and be ready to conduct the interview at a moment’s notice. Even though they say they’ll call you next Friday, they might just call you in the next ten minutes. That said, it pays to be prepared.

(Source: adriennewrites.net)