Adele – Hello

“Hello” – Single by Adele from the album 25
Released 23 October 2015
Label XL Columbia
Songwriters Adele Adkins and Greg Kurstin
Producer Greg Kurstin
Charted No..1 in US, UK, Sweden, Italy, Mexico, Greece, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Hungary, Romania, Ireland

The lead single from 25, this was released on October 23, 2015. The song title is apt, as it marks Adele’s return to music after a three-year hiatus.

Written by Adele and the album’s producer, Greg Kurstin, “Hello” is a piano ballad with soul influences (including guitar) and lyrics that discuss themes of nostalgia and regret. Upon release, the song garnered critical acclaim, with reviewers comparing it favourably to Adele’s previous works and praised its lyrics, production and Adele’s vocal performance. It was recorded in Metropolis Studios, London.

The accompanying music video for “Hello” was directed by Canadian actor and filmmaker Xavier Dolan and released on 23 October 2015, despite the fact the song was released as a single a day later. The concept of the video revolves around a recently broken-up young woman calling a younger version of herself. Portions of the video—mostly the finale on the pond and the shot of her opening her eyes in the beginning—were filmed with IMAX cameras, making it the first music video in IMAX format. The video draws inspiration from Dolan’s semi-autobiographical debut I Killed My Mother, which was made when Dolan was barely 20. The video was filmed on a farm in Quebec over four days in September 2015.

The video stars American actor Tristan Wilds. According to Dolan, Adele called him after an unspecified incident of police brutality in the United States, suggesting that a white male not be cast as her love interest in the video. Dolan elaborated “She was just like, ‘I’m concerned with the reality of the tensions between authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out there.'” Dolan contacted Wilds via Skype and explained the concept for the video, which Wilds agreed to take part in. During the filming, both Adele and Wilds were asked to improvise and “tap into” their past relationships to convey the correct emotions. Dolan also filmed shots of both Adele and Wilds having conversations and laughing. The sepia toned video shows Adele performing the song in a small house and outside in a wooded forest, intercut with scenes of her making a tearful phone call and flashbacks to a past relationship with Wilds’ character.

The opening lyric, “Hello, it’s me” is the name of a Todd Rundgren song about a different kind of aching conversation – in that one Rundgren is breaking up with a girl.

The 25 album is taking up plenty of space in the Guinness Book of Records. It sold a whopping 3.38 million copies in its first seven days of release, setting a new record for the biggest single sales week since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. We said bye bye bye to the previous record holder NSYNC, whose No Strings Attached long player sold 2,416,000 units during its first three and a half days in stores in March 2000 (it was released on a Thursday and only counted three days of sales during its debut week).

25 also sold a million copies in two separate weeks in the US, the first album to achieve such a feat.

In the UK 25 sold 800,307 copies in its first week, an Official Chart Company record. The album passed the previous record holder Oasis’ 1997 set Be Here Now, which sold 696,000 copies in its first seven days of release.

By its tenth day 25 had sold over one million copies in the UK breaking the Official UK Album Chart record for the fastest million-selling album ever.

The 25 album is taking up plenty of space in the Guinness Book of Records. It sold a whopping 3.38 million copies in its first seven days of release, setting a new record for the biggest single sales week since Nielsen began tracking sales in 1991. We said bye bye bye to the previous record holder NSYNC, whose No Strings Attached long player sold 2,416,000 units during its first three and a half days in stores in March 2000 (it was released on a Thursday and only counted three days of sales during its debut week).

25 also sold a million copies in two separate weeks in the US, the first album to achieve such a feat.

In the UK 25 sold 800,307 copies in its first week, an Official Chart Company record. The album passed the previous record holder Oasis’ 1997 set Be Here Now, which sold 696,000 copies in its first seven days of release.

By its tenth day 25 had sold over one million copies in the UK breaking the Official UK Album Chart record for the fastest million-selling album ever.