With one “Hello,” Adele has us salivating in anticipation.
After four years, she’s finally back with new music, and not much changed. She still knows how to tug on our heartstrings, bring tears to our eyes and make us feel every emotion possible.
Not that anyone is surprised, Adele’s comeback single “Hello” released Oct. 23 along with a video and is already a huge hit, smashing Billboard records, racking up an insane number of views on YouTube and topping U.S. and U.K. charts.
A lot happened between “21” and “25,” her new album coming out Nov. 20. She’s become a mother and entered a long-term relationship. If her first interview in three years with i-D Magazine is any indication, she’s also become wiser. In the interview, she talks about how getting older and becoming a mother changed her, making her more nostalgic for her past.
She talks about how growing up in England meant everything to her and how she longs for it and her baby boy Angelo when she’s away. Her upcoming album “25” will cover all of these topics, just as its first single, “Hello,” did.
Adele said the song is less about heartbreak and more about wanting to be home and reach out to everyone she’s hurt, including herself.
It’s this kind of relatability — and her tremendous voice — that leaves us in a glass case of emotion every time one of her records comes on. We can all understand where she’s coming from because we’ve been there ourselves. With this new record, she proves it doesn’t matter when she releases music because we’re always willing to journey back to who we used to be with Adele.
For most artists, waiting four years to put out new music would be a disastrous move. To be more than just a blip on the radar seems to require constant exposure.
Even Adele pondered this, wondering if this comeback is a year too late in the i-D interview. Then, she gathered herself, saying she needed time to be a mother and wanted to let people miss her.
Miss her we did, and now that she’s back, it’s like she never left. Her ability to speak to so many people is rare, especially in this cultural landscape.
What separates her other than her voice, is her personality. There is never a time when Adele seemed manufactured or phony.
With Adele, we have a pop star and an otherworldly talent, but more importantly, we have a real person. We have someone we relate to, someone we understand and who understands us, a soulful British guardian angel of sorts.
Hardly a musical peep for four years and her face never in the tabloids, yet as soon as she came back, we were hers again. The song and video were released without a real build up and without an attention-seeking ad campaign featuring teasers or big celebs.
She released “Hello” with a simple Facebook message, and it’s taken the world by storm, becoming the first single to sell one million downloads in a week.
Only a true global superstar could accomplish that, and there is no one more deserving of it than her.
Having us at “Hello” is the mother of all understatements when it comes to Adele.
Kayla Randall is a 21-year-old mass communication senior from New Orleans. You can reach her on Twitter @kay_ran21.