The Adele Topic: From 19 to 21 to 25

[UYI]

With Adele's new single out now, I think it's time she gets her own thread :) .

 

I can easily see November 20th coming and 25 EASILY becoming the best-selling album of the year. No question.

[Athena]

Here's the new single:

 

 

I'm glad she is back on the scene. I love her singing. I don't love this song as much as my favourites from 21 or 19, but it may grow on me.

[UYI]

The reaction of a certain fellow pop star come November 20th, guaranteed. 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2015 by UYI

[Rick Kitchen]

It's a beautiful song and video, and the Internet is all a-twitter.  Katy Perry tweeted a picture of teardrops after hearing the song.

[TrininisaScorp]

Gorgeous!  I got chills and felt so touched when it was over.  I missed Adele so much and am so happy with this song.  I can't wait to hear the rest of the album.  

[TheGreenKnight]

I don't think I like this as much as "Someone Like You" or "Turning Tables" (as far as her ballads go), but it's still great nonetheless. Really looking forward to the new album.

[Kromm]

[truthaboutluv]

Love her. Have loved her since I randomly stumbled onto the video for Chasing Pavements and it was solidified when I heard Hometown Glory. I remember getting 21 as soon as it was released and thinking she really brought it for her sophomore album and knowing that Someone Like You was an obvious smash. But even I was shocked at what that album became.

 

I love Hello. I understand those who wonder about her only doing heartbreak songs but hey, if it's not broke right? The woman sings pain and hurt very, very well. And in her defense, this song is her apologizing for breaking someone else's heart versus the other way around. But I'm just glad she's back and killing it. Yes she didn't reinvent the wheel with this song but it is a beautiful song that she sings beautifully. 

 

That said, I have to say, I am little curious how she would have sounded on Sia's Alive. Rumor is that she considered it for the new album and possibly the lead single but changed her mind and so Sia kept it for herself. Here's the song. 

 

Edited October 24, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[Ohwell]

I see her as the female version of Sam Smith, and vice versa.  I liked her in the beginning because I do like her voice, but I'm over her (and him) now. 

[Kromm]

moved from General Music thread:

Admittedly, I've only heard a few of her songs but does Adele ever do "happy" songs?  She has a great voice but all I've heard are dirges.  The constantly blowing hair and piled on makeup in that video are distracting.

By "Happy" do you mean uptempo?

It's not really what she does. It doesn't really fit her voice or torch song singing style.

"Rumor Has It" is maybe mid-tempo though.

Or possibly "Tired"

But of course songs about rumors or being tired aren't what you are asking about. You really want to know if she does songs without any Emo component at all. Honestly... no. She doesn't. It's pain and heartbreak.

Even her covered other people's songs tends to go that way. Again, it's about what works with her voice, I'd say. (so... Bob Dylan/Billy Joel/Garth Brooks)

[Ohwell]

You really want to know if she does songs without any Emo component at all. Honestly... no. She doesn't. It's pain and heartbreak.

Yes, that's what I meant, but I also meant by "happy," I meant happy to be loving/loved by someone.  It's all heartbreak, longing with her, and it' gettin' old for me.  She's married now with a child so I would think that at some point she'd do something...happier.

[Kromm]

She's married now with a child so I would think that at some point she'd do something...happier.

11 things we learnt from Adele's zillion interviews today, from Lionel Richie to dog poo

 

3. She wrote (and scrapped) an entire album about being a mom.

"I wrote a lot of songs that didn't make the album because they simply weren't good enough. My confidence was really getting knocked by myself. I did write an album about being a mom but that's pretty boring for everyone that is, so I scrapped that.

Edited October 25, 2015 by Kromm

[Ohwell]

I'm referring to her state of mind (being happy and in love), not saying she has to sing about marriage and motherhood, per se.  

Edited October 25, 2015 by Ohwell

[AshleyN]

Is it me or has her voice gotten even stronger? Like, the song isn't the most exciting thing she's ever done, but when she launches into that chorus...damn.

 

Anyways, apparently it's already breaking/on track to break records for streaming and sales. The rest of the industry might as well just go on holiday for awhile.

Edited October 26, 2015 by AshleyN

[Kromm]

Yeah, there are dead parts of that song, but then it opens up big. And it's more down to her than the writing.

[Kromm]

Now Lionel Richie has responded to the 'Hello'-off with Adele

(Sunday, Oct 25 2015, 1:12pm EDT... so only 2 days after its release): Adele's 'Hello' video already has an incredible 50 million views on YouTube

Note that this morning (less than 3/4 of a day later) it's up to 69,578,407 views.

That's just NUTS. It seems to be getting around a million views per hour.

[Ohwell]

If it weren't for the fact that Lionel doesn't need the money, I would smell a lawsuit.

[truthaboutluv]

If it weren't for the fact that Lionel doesn't need the money, I would smell a lawsuit.

 

A lawsuit for what - Adele's song? She didn't steal anything of his original song - the lyrics and musical arrangement are both completely different. Lionel Richie doesn't own the word Hello. 

[Kromm]

I can easily see November 20th coming and 25 EASILY becoming the best-selling album of the year. No question.

200K in pre-sales in the past 3 days in JUST the US alone.  That's going to be enough to give it #1 on next week's Billboard 200 (and by the time the week is over, who knows what those numbers will be?)

[Kromm]

Taylor Swift must be so jealous. She's never had a video do 71m (and counting higher constantly at nosebleed speed) in 3 1/2 days, and 200K and counting in 3 days.  Even some popular videos take a few years to get as many hits as this one's had in days, and that 200K in presales is going to be much higher by Day 7 of the week.

[Kromm]

200K in pre-sales in the past 3 days in JUST the US alone.  That's going to be enough to give it #1 on next week's Billboard 200 (and by the time the week is over, who knows what those numbers will be?)

Did someone say 200K (the source I'd gotten that from is at that link)?  Well that was for the album. This claim is about sales of the "Hello" single.

 

LABEL CONFIRMS ADELE’S “HELLO” DROVE 750K+ US SALES IN FIRST THREE DAYS

Edited October 27, 2015 by Kromm

[AshleyN]

Aaaaand the video has now hit 100,000,000 views on Vevo. In less than five days.

 

Girl is not messing around.

[Kromm]

Aaaaand the video has now hit 100,000,000 views on Vevo. In less than five days.

 

Girl is not messing around.

Well, add in another 99 million on Youtube, basically doubling that view figure.

 

VEVO and Youtube account for 99% of the video viewing in English speaking countries (Yahoo or even AOL might still have some proprietary videos to add to that, but only a tiny bit).

 

In Asia however, and maybe in some of the Spanish speaking/Latin and Arab/Middle Eastern countries there are other video services. We'll never know how many views are happening in those places, probably.

 

update: Adele 'Hello' video gets more YouTube views per hour than Star Wars trailer

Edited October 29, 2015 by Kromm

[Janet Snakehole]

I love Adele's voice, but she is the anti-Taylor to me in a bad way. Taylor is too immature in songs, and Adele sounds to me more like a hardened person beyond her years. I just can't get into her lyrics.

[AshleyN]

So, Hello didn't just break the record for most digital sales in a week with 1.112 million, it nearly doubled the previous record of 636 000.

Edited November 3, 2015 by AshleyN

[Kromm]

re: the online Hello video.

 

11 days. 203,211,788 YouTube views (and counting), Vevo 202,757,506 views (and counting). Between the two (which only really represent the English speaking parts of the world), that's around 3.7 million views per day. Note that's actually WAY down from the million views per hour or so it was getting it's first few days just on Youtube ALONE, but still a ridiculous pace over-all.

[AimingforYoko]

Interview with Rolling Stone.

[inyourmarrow]

Is it me or has her voice gotten even stronger? Like, the song isn't the most exciting thing she's ever done, but when she launches into that chorus...damn.

 

According to that Rolling Stone interview, after her throat surgery, she added 4 notes to her top range. So, there's that.

[AshleyN]

Damn, girl.

[truthaboutluv]

Damn, girl.

 

Yup, that about sums it up. I heard two minute snippets of all the songs and I am so ready for Friday. 

[Kromm]

I'm not really convinced these are great songs.

 

That said, at the same time her voice is so perfectly developed, it doesn't really matter. She's making so-so songs sound glorious.

[truthaboutluv]

YMMV but I think they are. Yes, lyrically they may not be the most poetic or challenge the depth of one's thoughts but they tell a story that's honest and beautiful. I've always believed that there can be beauty in simplicity. And personally I think her voice elevating the quality of the song all adds to making it timeless and yes a great song - it's the combination of the lyrics, music and her voice. Because twenty plus years from now it will still be her voice on that song that's going to still capture and move people. 

Edited November 18, 2015 by truthaboutluv

[VCRTracking]

"When We Were Young" is already my favorite current song. The way she sings "You look like a movie, you sound like a song..." gives me chills.

[truthaboutluv]

"When We Were Young" is already my favorite current song. The way she sings "You look like a movie, you sound like a song..." gives me chills.

 

It's definitely my current favorite from the album. For me it's the way she hits those notes on the line "let me photograph you in this light in case it is the last time that we might be exactly like we were..." Woman just gets you right in the gut. 

 

So of course I've had the whole album on constant rotation since yesterday and I have to say, unpopular opinion perhaps, but I actually love this one collectively more than 21. I remember there were 2-3 songs on 21 that sort of had to grow on me but every song on 25 hits for me. Yes I have favorites but I love this album from the first song to the last. 

 

My favorites (for right now because it could change since I love all of them) aside from When We Were Young and Hello are, Send My Love (love the vibe on this song and proves she can do something a little different), Remedy, Water Under The Bridge, River Lea, All I Ask and Million Years Ago (her voice on that song is divine and the old school/bluesy vibe just kills).

[debbydeb]

I really like I Miss You and Love in the Dark.
All I Ask and Million Years Ago are even more amazing live!

And she went platinum in the US in a Day (i mean, the billboard article only mentions 900k iTunes. but I'm sure brick and mortar stores + amazon is probably easy 100k US wide?). It's insane.
http://m.billboard.com/entry/view/id/149033

 

Unless this is extreme frontload (i.e. Everybody bought albums in the first day and then a big fat zero for all the days afterwards). 

Edited November 21, 2015 by debbydeb

[Dejana]

[AshleyN]

And she went platinum in the US in a Day (i mean, the billboard article only mentions 900k iTunes. but I'm sure brick and mortar stores + amazon is probably easy 100k US wide?). It's insane.

http://m.billboard.com/entry/view/id/149033

 

That article also says they expect her to break the *Nsync one-week sales record. I honestly didn't think that was ever going to fall, given how much the industry has changed since 2000. Taylor Swift challenging Britney's female record was a big deal and this is is million copies more than that!

[UYI]

Taylor Swift is creating an Adele voodoo doll right now, I'm sure. :P

[TheGreenKnight]

I'm enjoying the album. I think 21's best songs were better than anything on here, but there were a few on 21 I didn't care for whereas the only track I can't get into here is "I Miss You."

 

If I had to pick out my favorites right now, I'd say "Water Under the Bridge," "Love in the Dark," "Million Years Ago," and "Why Do You Love Me." She reminds me of Aretha at a couple points on the album.

[truthaboutluv]

I remember reading at another board when the first 30 second snippet of Hello was released and some people were predicting that Adele would sell between 500,000 - 700,000 copies because her fanbase was was not as versatile, that it was mostly mature women or some such bullshit. And I remembered reading that and being baffled that anyone believed that.

 

First of all, a person doesn't sell 10 million copies of their album worldwide and stay on the top of the charts for a whole year with said album, by having a niche fanbase. Second of all, the curiosity and expectation factors alone because of what 21 did and the time Adele took to come back was guaranteed to already push this album to at least a million copies on that alone. 

 

Once Hello hit and the reaction people had to it, I knew it was over. 

[AshleyN]

I remember reading at another board when the first 30 second snippet of Hello was released and some people were predicting that Adele would sell between 500,000 - 700,000 copies because her fanbase was was not as versatile, that it was mostly mature women or some such bullshit. And I remembered reading that and being baffled that anyone believed that.

That seems bizarre to me. I've always thought that one of the major keys to her success is the fact that she does appeal to so many different demographics. It seemed like everyone had a copy of 21, or at least of Rolling in the Deep/Someone Like You.

[Athena]

Her demographics are interesting because she has fans of women of all ages and backgrounds. There are not a lot of artists that cover as much as the female demographics base as she does: young, old, rich, poor, and cross genre. She is the most popular cross genre artist now; very few other popular musicians cross as many styles as she has. She is relatable and accessible to many women. As with any moderately popular pop star, Adele has a very big LGBTQ fanbase as well.

[kili]

First of all, a person doesn't sell 10 million copies of their album worldwide and stay on the top of the charts for a whole year with said album, by having a niche fanbase

 

It's actually more impressive than that. She sold 10 million copies of "21" in the US alone. It is estimated at 30 million worldwide.

 

It was the best selling album in the US for two straight years topping 4M in each of  its first two years. As of February of 2015, it had spent 48 months on the main Billboard album chart (BB200).

 

Some are predicting that she may outsell the entire rest of the Billboard 200 (top 200 albums) combined this week.

[AshleyN]

2.3 Million Copies in the first three days, first week projections are now 2.9 million.

 

Holy shitballs. We all expected this to be big, but this is straight-up insanity.

[Kromm]

2.3 Million Copies in the first three days, first week projections are now 2.9 million.

 

Holy shitballs. We all expected this to be big, but this is straight-up insanity.

Yes. People actually BUYING music?  Wow. Insanity!

[LADreamr]

It's the first new music I've bought in a long time (Spotify has spoiled me). Totally worth it.

[Ohwell]

If I hear that goddamn Hello song one more time......

 

I'm sick of it and her. 

[truthaboutluv]

It's actually more impressive than that. She sold 10 million copies of "21" in the US alone. It is estimated at 30 million worldwide.

 

 

You're right. I did know that it was 10 million in the U.S. alone just a typo. But yes either way, it was absolutely ridiculous that anyone believed after that success, Adele wasn't going to move at least a million easily of her latest album. Especially because she did what so many of these current artists don't do - she went away for awhile, made people actually miss her. The problem with so many current stars is that they're so overexposed that it just becomes "oh great, been there, done that." 

[27bored]

I've now heard all of 25.

 

Let me say this. I like Adele, I love her voice, and I like most of her songs. I love that she's able to emote and be vulnerable vocally without sounding like she's showing off or oversinging. I love that she seems to sing real songs and even the fact that many of her songs are anguished and heartbroken. It's maybe a bit much to get through on a record, but in the pop landscape, it's actually kind of refreshing. Every song being about the same stuff gets old, and there's a meditative grace and sincerity to Adele's songs that makes her compelling without sounding like a victim.

 

That being said, I think Adele's a tad overrated. Ever since she came out, the two things she's had working for her is her image -- she's not a size-2 tarted up sexpot who drives all the boys wild -- and the fact that she's a mainstream female singer who sings real songs and doesn't seem eager to chase the EDM fad. I don't know if that makes sense, but what I'm saying is, "being a good singer who sings good songs" will always be popular. Ironically enough, the people who seem to have a hard time remembering that is the record industry. The record industry has such a distrust of actual talent without a lot of gimmickry and artifice that when someone with talent breaks through to the mainstream, we act like it's because that person is something special. And I don't say that necessarily as a slight to Adele as far as her talent is concerned, but when someone like her is book-ended against other artists who ride the wave of a couple of catchy singles and/or sex appeal, Adele, who can actually sing, can actually write songs, and actually makes albums and not just singles for radio, stands way out.

 

And, I think it's also proof that women in music who don't make their career off showing their asses generally don't get a ton of comments about their weight/image. Adele's full-figured, though she's lost some weight, but no one cares, because she wasn't showing off to begin with. Juxtapose that with someone like Beyonce, whose ass will be getting bigger soon, and it's like, if you don't want anyone to notice, maaaaybe try not emphasizing the ass so much.

 

As far as 25 is concerned, it's a good record, but to me it has the same problem 21 did: the lead single/first song is obviously the strongest song on the album, and all the others seem not to really live up to it, and Adele kind of defaults to the stately, dreamy balladry she's used to. Which, again, any of these songs on the radio would sound intriguing, but an album full of it is just...okay. That isn't to say "Hello" is my favorite song even if, in my critical opinion, it's the strongest one here. I'd say my favorite is "River Lea", and this is one place where Adele's sensibilities get in the way. If she was born in the American South, and was singing about New Orleans or something, I think this could've been a real standout. As it is, it has some sway and stomp, but it feels too mannered, and it sort of stops before it really knocks you out. Still, I love the muted gospel of it, and I think she could really flesh out the narrative with either a great video or a moving performance of it with a choir in the background.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I love Adele's voice, but she is the anti-Taylor to me in a bad way. Taylor is too immature in songs, and Adele sounds to me more like a hardened person beyond her years. I just can't get into her lyrics.

 

I looked it up, and I'm very surprised to find out that Adele is only twenty seven, making her just two years older than Swift. Her voice is very mature for someone so young, and it wouldn't fit the in-love-bordering-on-stalking vibe TS has. Swift is decent, considering the teenagery (leave me alone, its a word 'cause I say its a word) material she puts out, but Adele way outshines her as far as I'm concerned. I'm just glad to see her back on the scene and past that throat polyp thing.

 

If I hear that goddamn Hello song one more time......

 

I'm sick of it and her. 

 

Take it easy, Taylor. ;-)

Edited November 25, 2015 by Cobalt Stargazer