Real Life is the third studio album by Scottish singer Emeli Sandé, released on 13 September 2019 by Virgin EMI Records.

But, honestly, this may be her best work yet [...] Having gone through a period of difficulty in her life, Sandé has come out the other side and, across this new collection, she rises like the proverbial phoenix with tunes that are a new level of epic, all melodic and uplifting and hymn-like with the odd Motown or gospel influence thrown in where appropriate.

"[1] In his review for Evening Standard Jochan Embley found that "Real Life is far from adventurous in terms of its songwriting — too often, the structures seem slightly by-the-numbers.

The tense, ascending strings towards the end of "Honest" are the closest we get to experimentation and are compelling enough to make you wish Sandé had taken similar risks elsewhere.

That said, by clinging on to her soul-inflected roots, Sandé manages to avoid any modern pop tropes, which at least gives the album a disarming authenticity.