Hello, it’s Adele, saying to the rest of the music industry: What’s good? Unless you’ve been under a rock or watching dance edits of “Hotline Bling” for the past week and a half, you know that British singer/songwriter Adele has come out of hiding with an impressive new single, a stunning music video and an announcement of a third studio album.
One may think being musically silent for three years – if you don’t count the song she did for Skyfall in 2012 would’ve made the public a little slow in re-adjusting to Adele being back on the radio, but then one would be completely and utterly mistaken.
Adele is back, and she’s back with a force, already breaking records and setting precedents for records to be broken. So much is happening with the 27-year-old that it’s hard to keep track of the important stuff, so I’ve put together a few main points you need to know to keep up with Adele’s fast-paced return to superstardom.
The album, 25, comes out Nov. 20.
Remember that post I previously wrote about the contest between Justin Bieber and One Direction for most successful album next month? Yeah, just throw that idea out the window. The Biebs/1D clash is set for Nov. 13, just a mere week before 25 hits shelves. They’re sure to be great, but the boys’ albums will stand up to be not much more than mozzarella sticks compared to Adele’s seven-layer lasagna.
Many people are even predicting that the album can do what 1989 could not – break Britney Spears’ record for highest debut week sales by a female artist, which the pop star currently holds for her 2000 album Oops!… I Did It Again at 1.3 million copies.
“Hello” is lining up to break digital sales records.
The first single from 25 isn’t doing too shabby on the charts – Billboard reports “Hello” sold around 450,000 copies in its first two days alone. This assertion means the single could be a solid contender to top Flo Rida’s 2009 single “Right Round,” the current one-week sales record holder.
She shattered Vevo’s record for most views in 24 hours.
Adele hasn’t been back for even a month and she’s already taking names – more specifically, Taylor Swift’s. Adele set fire to Swift’s record for 20.1 million views in one day for “Bad Blood” by receiving a staggering 27.7 million views for her simple, sepia-toned piece. I guess this just shows you don’t need months of promo or a hoard of runway models to make a great music video – just the Queen singing about her feels. Fun fact: “Hello” was the first music video to be partially shot using IMAX cameras. Director Xavier Dolan told Entertainment Weekly that the two shots on IMAX were “the finale on that pond” and “the shot of her opening her eyes.” So now you have a legit reason, Sam Smith, for screaming like a “little girl” upon seeing this look:
Fun fact No. 2: Adele admitted in an interview that the tears in “Hello” weren’t for her own lyrics. When Dolan asked her to cry, she asked for Labrinth’s “Jealous” to play. Adele said the song could play at her kid’s birthday and she’d still cry. I don’t blame her – heck, it even made Simon Cowell cry.
She will return to Saturday Night Live as the musical guest on Nov. 21.
The last time Adele performed on SNL was seven years ago, and she sang a relatively unknown song at the time called “Chasing Pavements.” This time around, with 10 Grammys and an Academy Award under her belt, she returns to the show the night after 25 is released. She joins fellow Oscar-winner Matthew McConaughey, who hasn’t hosted the show since his How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days days in 2003.
She made an Instagram.
How any celebrity lives his or her life without an Instagram these days is beyond me, but by George – we’ve got another one converted! The same day Adele dropped the 25 bomb on us plebeians, she posted her first picture on Instagram. So far the pictures have just been promo shots from the music video, but hopefully she’ll transition into sharing more personal photos (e.g., flawless cat-eyed selfies, her cute baby doing cute baby things, pictures of her breakfast so we all know how to Adele in the mornings, etc.).
She’ll perform songs off 25 in a BBC special this month.
BBC Music announced Tuesday that “Adele at the BBC,” an hour-long special hosted by Graham Norton, will be broadcast sometime this month. The exact air date hasn’t been released, but the show is set to tape on Nov. 2. BBC also wrote that this “world-exclusive show” will be Adele’s first televised performance since the 2013 Academy Awards, meaning that it logistically has to air before SNL on Nov. 21. In the special, BBC says the singer will perform both old and new tracks and talk to Norton about her life over the last four years.
Her team is in the process of procuring her a $30 million tour sponsorship.
The New York Post has recently learned that Adele’s negotiators at NWE are “so confident of the success of her upcoming album and as-yet-unconfirmed world tour” that they’re recommending Apple sponsor her tour for $30 million. If that sounds a little high to you, it is – the usual sponsorship deal is only a tenth of what Adele’s people are proposing. And to top it off, she’s never played arenas before (which is honestly a travesty to me). Only time will tell if Apple decides to accept the high-priced deal.
Other celebs are freaking out just as much as the rest of us.
Celebrities really are just like us. Just with so much more money on their Visas than us, and so many more clothes than us, and so many more reasons to randomly show up at Chris Hemsworth’s house than us and – oh, never mind. Just check out these star reactions to the return of the Queen:
Fangirling in IMAX mode – commence.
And last, but not least, Adele’s own Sanjaya crying girl.
If we can learn anything from Adele’s second round of success, it’s that: 1.) We can never underestimate the success of the British, 2.) We can never underestimate the success of someone with a voice like Adele, and 3.) We can never ever underestimate the success of a Brit with a voice like Adele.
Hello, universe, it’s me… can Nov. 20 come any faster?
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