Three years and one child later, Adele is out of her music-career hibernation. “Hello,” the single released on Oct. 23, is a heartfelt ballad. With outstanding vocals, Adele sings: “Hello from the other side / I must have called a thousand times / To tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done.” Adele’s first album, “19,” was first released on Jan. 28, 2008. Her second album, “21,” featuring songs like “Rumor Has It,” “Rolling in the Deep” and “Turning Tables, was released in January of 2011. The album “21” focuses mainly on an breakup. On the other hand, Adele explained “25,” her upcoming album, to Sirius XM saying, “There is some darkness on it, just because I like to do dramatic. I’m a bit of a drama queen … This record is all about how I feel as opposed to how someone else has made me feel. It’s about how I made myself feel.” In addition, Adele tweeted, “I’m making up with myself. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did.” “25” is her comeback, her I’ve-still-got-it album. While “Hello” may sound like pleading to an ex, Adele claims it is aimed at anyone — friends, family, even her fans. Adele has also publically apologized for the wait, saying: “life happened.” And to say “Hello” has done well is an understatement. “Hello” had the biggest sales week for a single since Elton John’s Princess Diana Tribute in 1997 — 1.11 million downloads in one week. In addition to the release of the single, Adele filmed a music video. Adele’s dramatic music video fits the soulfulness of the song. Shot completely in the Sepia filter, the “Hello” music video is rather cinematic.
The video is set in an isolated farm in Canada and was shot in secret. And, while I’ve already researched on the Internet where I can find that textured coat she’s wearing, it is not likely because the director of the video found it in a couture shop. When Adele is making the call to whoever is at the other end of the line, she’s using a flip phone. A flip phone! Many critics have asked why, and they can’t seem to find an answer. Adele recently revealed, “The use of flip-flop phones is coherent with the rest of my work. I can’t get my head around filming iPhones — they’re too real, too identifiable with our everyday lives. Same for cars. I feel bad filming Toyotas and Kias. As soon as you film these elements, it’s like you’re shooting whatever commercial. I find them to be non-narrative elements.” Another way of looking at it is the whole video is very aged; therefore, having an iPhone in there would throw off the chic “vintage-ness” of the film. The Grammy-winning singer spoke about her latest video, saying that she was very proud of this work and that she truly felt it was her best acting. The music video for the song broke the video hosting service Vevo’s record by achieving over 27.7 million views within a 24-hour span and broke the record for shortest time to attain 100 million Vevo views (surpassing the record Miley Cyrus held for “Wrecking Ball”).
Adele plans on going on a world tour starting in February for “25.” But, until then, Adele fans are eagerly waiting for Nov. 20 to hear the rest of the album.
