A View From The Top #7

When I realised that the topic of this column was going to be Adele for the third week running, I panicked a bit. Do people really want to read about the same song three weeks in a row? And what’s more is, I don’t even have much of an opinion on the song. I don’t dislike it, but I hadn’t downloaded it or listened to it much myself until I came to write this. What do I have to say about Hello?

I’ve always been like this about Adele. I appreciate her voice and admire its moments of beauty on Hello. I prefer the more low-key parts in the verses like when she sings “Its no secret that the both of us are running out of time”. But I don’t like the chorus. That’s the bit when the emotion climaxes and I’m supposed to be belting it out with her through streams of tears right? But I’m just not. I felt the same about Someone Like You. Though I definitely prefer that one, I still just wasn’t as jazzed about it as the rest of the world seemed to be. So when Adele launched back into the charts from her three year hiatus I just thought “Oh great, another sad Adele ballad”. I just didn’t care.

What’s even weirder is, I can definitely relate to this song. “It’s so typical of me to talk about myself” - I could have written that. Realising too late that you should have apologised sooner, that you regret letting that person slip out of your life; we’ve all been there right? So why does this song not strike a chord with me where all my sorrows come pouring out in desperate flood of terrible singing and tears? This is a question I simply can’t answer. Maybe there’s something wrong with me. I don’t know what it is, but Adele just doesn’t hold the same authority on a power ballad as Loraine Ellison did on Stay With Me or Amy Winehouse. I guess not everyone responds to singers the same, and apparently I don’t respond to Adele at all. I was a much bigger fan of her laid back style on 19, and will always prefer it to 21; I will probably feel the same about 25.

I don’t feel bitter about Hello being Number 1, and judging from current figures, I’m sure 25 will follow up this success. I’d just much rather keep talking about Justin Bieber to be honest. I usually avoid NME magazine like the plague, but I’ve just read a really interesting interview with the Biebs, and I think we should all be paying much more attention to his music - Purpose is a cracking record, I’ll have you know.

I’m also super excited about the comeback of Missy Elliot on her collaboration with Pharrell called WTF (Where They From). One tumblr user described it as ‘”refreshing” to see Missy back. I agree, and I love her refusal to let go of her 90s aesthetic in the music video - finally, someone else who appreciates that it wasn’t all bad in the 90s.

I’m also a little confused as to why Elvis Presley is top of the album charts this week? Not to de-thrown the king but, incase you hadn’t noticed, One Direction and Justin Bieber had albums out yesterday. Where are they in the charts?