Not for me either, MMM. I don’t know anything about Adele. Maybe she’s a talented songwriter (she certainly can sing) but this song strikes me as yet another big, loud, soulless, committee-written melisma-fest.
Love Adele, she writes her own lyrics, is funny as hell, and doesn’t take herself too seriously. Replies to questions/criticisms about her weight with a “I’d much rather have lunch with my friends than go to the gym”. LOVE her.
Big not lover of pop and grin and bear the music on the stations my 14 year daughter old asks to listen to in the car. (I’m a softy and let her pick the station most of the time. Sometimes she has to put up with my choices too.)
This song I like.
This voice I like.
Maybe because I hear it fairly infrequently. But mostly because it is stark contrast from the rest of the autotuned pop crap: “First thing: we make you feel better. Next stop: we pull it all together. I’ll keep you warm like a sweater …” GAH! The irregularities of her voice … which I have heard trash her vocal cords … the very things that production often filters out … are what make it work so well. To me.
I don’t really go to Walgreens, but it seems like a place I wouldn’t be surprised to see a selection of music (or maybe just in the pre-download days).
I’d say her voice is the exact opposite of the overwrought Aguilera-Carey vocal gymnastics.
I like her singing a lot. I hate the sound of Carey, Houston et al. Too much like showing off. I don’t believe a word they sing and don’t think they do either.
When pushed to nominate my favourite female singers I’d go for such as Patsy Cline, Karen Carpenter or Sandy Denny.
Adele? yep, I’d put her in that rarefied company as well. There is small amount of gymnastics but they always feel to me like a conscious musical decision rather than just leaping up and down the octaves because she can.
I first saw her on Jools Holland many years ago, just her and a guitar. Her voice was very much the second instrument and the vocal flourishes were minimal and integral to the song.
And FWIW, she is very much not my normal genre. My playlist de jour is currently full of The Who, Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Arcade Fire, Silversun Pickups, The Shins, Band of Horses, Mogwai, Moonface, British Sea Power, Billy Bragg.