Tag: Adele

Adele – Send My Love (To Your New Lover)

“Blatantly an Ed Sheeran track”

Tom: Our reader, lempamo, sends this one in with the comment “good song, though it’s not what I expected from an Adele track.”

Tom: That’s because this is blatantly an Ed Sheeran track in the verses, at least based on that guitar work, and a… hmm. Who’s the chorus?

Tim: I don’t know, and to be honest: that’s not so much because I can’t place it, but more because I’m not fussed enough to try. This…this really doesn’t do it for me. It’s a shame, maybe, because obviously being a British pop music fan I’m obliged to love Adele, but here I’m happy to pass this aside.

Tom: I said yesterday that I had two tests for a Really Good Pop Song, and this passes one of the two. Yes, after one play, I can remember part of it — that chorus. But do I want to hit replay? No. No, sadly I don’t.

Tim: And today, I very much agree with you.

Adele – Hello

“She’s certainly putting her voice to good use.”

Tom: There’s a minute of non-song before the song, just so you know. And well done to the director for including subtle sound effects all the way through so this can’t be ripped off YouTube.

Tim: I want someone to subtract the song from the audio there, so I can hear the phone conversation. But let’s speak about the song first.

Tom: You’re waiting through all that first verse for the Chorus. What were you saying the other day about Sia — about how the power of the voice can sometimes be all you need?

Tim: Yep – seems Adele got that message, because she’s certainly putting her voice to good use.

Tom: And what a voice this is. The song is typical Adele, and that’s not really a style that grabs me — but the voice is enough to carry it through.

Tim: I agree with the entirety on your last sentence – most of me thinks “big slow ballad, move on” but a small part appreciates the majesty of it. Nice work.

Tom: Got to be honest, though, I keep singing “is it me you’re looking for” after that first “Hello”, though.

Adele – Skyfall

Tom: New Bond theme! And boy, is it ever a return to old-school Bond themes.

Tim: It’s like the Bond themes of the olden days. Soulful female vocalist, big orchestra behind it, title of the film in there in a way that people will always remember, long enough for everyone in the cinema to get thoroughly bored of it while it plays out in its entirety (WHY DO THEY DO THAT? NOBODY LIKES IT.)

Tom: Well, I like it. Tradition, and all that. But after the pop-rock of “You Know My Name” and Jack White being Jack White on “Another Way To Die“, this is welcome. And if you’re going to return to form and get a diva to belt out a traditional Bond theme, who else is there these days but Adele? What a voice.

Tim: It’s basically what everybody ‘knows’ a James Bond song is. You can’t blame them for going back to basics, as Another Way To Die didn’t exactly receive rave reviews, and as far as I’m concerned the less said about Die Another Day the better, really. But does it make it a bit dull, as some have claimed? No. It’s powerful – that chanting in the background works wonders for me, for a start.

Tom: Really? That’s the only thing I’m not sure about: I heard it more as a call-and-response that didn’t work. Other than that: my word, this could be belted out by Shirley Bassey, and could have been written for her years ago as well.

Tim: It’s one you want to sing along to. I love it.

Tom: A side note: the best Bond theme ever? Aimee Mann’s cover of “Nobody Does It Better”. It sends shivers up my spine.