Adele: "Someone Like You"

I'm obsessed with this song. It's off Adele's second album, released this year and immediately met with an exceptional amount of critical praise, especially considering it's her sophomore album. The sophomore album is typically a black hole where artists struggle to balance successful elements of the first album with expectations and predilections for the future. But not Adele. The radio simply cannot get enough of her. Even this song, which is a total downer about seeing an ex much later in life when they're doing better than you, has set the airwaves on fire. She's expected to sweep the Grammys in February, though she already won two in 2009 for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance*.

So we're all obsessed with Adele (last name Adkins) this year. Why? It's not because she's writing songs about things we've never heard before; she talks about love and loss and empowerment and depression. Been there, done that. No, we're obsessed because she's an incredible. fucking. singer. Simply unmatched. And singing is really, really hard. It's not just notes and rhythms -- it's tone, attitude, presence. Once you master the technique, you still need to mean the words you sing.

Yesterday we looked at a Gaga performance, the choreography of movement, the coordination of outfit, the presentation of a character. Adele does none of that, but her performance is just as sophisticated, just as refined. She just leaves the batshit crazy part out of it.

The first minute of this video is spent with Adele, talking about the song and its meaning. The performance begins around the one minute marker, and it's a little slower than the album version -- all the better to draw out the notes, linger, suffer through them again. She gesticulates, her arms pushing the air with her hands as she pushes the notes with her breath in tandem, shaping the notes with her fingers. More force for more difficult runs, keeping time. She doesn't hit the high notes of the album version (possible evidence over her intermittent voice troubles), but everything she sings is soaked in power and regret.

Standing in her living room, younger than seems possible given her wisdom, one of the best songstresses alive performs for the whole world. This is what YouTube is for.

* It seems like they're getting pretty specific with these categories, doesn't it? I wonder who won Best Male Non-Pop Cello Performance, or Best Hermaphrodite Harmonica/Bass Drum Combination Performance.