Adele's latest single came out today, and as expected, she's cut right through everyone's tough exterior, taken a flashlight to our communal solar plexus and revealed our innermost feelings. She's got such a gift with words. Not the long, extraneous, waffley ones like mine, but her recourse to the simplest, most accessible language works on such a profound level.
Not only does 'Hello' feel like a seamless transition in her music and life-tale, it's a cracking first single being delivered with exact, saliva-inducing accuracy ahead of her album release next month. When I heard the words, 'Hello, it's me, I've been wondering after all these years...' I felt like saying too right- where've you been! Alas, the time is now. Fasten your seatbelt and get ready to be moved by the eloquence of the industry's greatest wordsmith.
Though words on their own aren't enough. Literary talent is common, it's storytelling that represents a truly unique gift, and for the first time in three years, we finally get to be told a raft of beautifully constructed stories from her irrepressible talent. Adele clearly writes about love. That which has intersected her life pre-fame, and now during. Her thoughts as they vacillate between hurt and regret.
But while I listen to her songs, I always have someone in mind. And that's the beauty. Everyone has their own Adele subject. It's as if Adele sat us down and conducted lengthy interviews with us to flesh out the pain we've suffered at the hands of this volatile thing we call love, then gone away for a few years and created a masterpiece from our tales, and lo and behold- a product that feels so intimately relatable to just about everyone else on this earth.
And she does it so graciously. She isn't the fully formed pop star that walks straight out of a plume of smoke with high heels and daisy duke hot-pants. Her voice hasn't been diluted amidst a raft of post effects in the studio, or herds of backing dancers on stage during live performances. It's her, with a microphone and someone usually playing piano. She enunciates her words, her diction is fantastic, and you never come away thinking, what is she saying, I didn't quite hear it right. Or scrap that; your dad won't even sing the wrong words.
I'm no music expert, but I believe this was one of the inherent qualities that pervaded the music of The Beatles. Crystal clear and understandable lyrics, delivered alongside beautiful melodies. As with anything in life, the simpler the better. Personally I've had enough of today's flash-bang music and I'm through with meaningless lyrics. A song called 'Can't feel my face' (Weeknd) recently topped our charts. You will be surprised to hear that the mystical numbness of one's face didn't refer to the overwhelming sense of euphoria love emits, rather it's about the effects of cocaine. And so you see, it is with open arms I welcome back our dearest Adele.