# Adele's 'Hello'. Goodbye. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487 "2015-11-24T23:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/1 "2015-11-24T23:51:32Z")
I can’t listen to this song. I’ve done it twice, all the way through. I shan’t do it again. It’s her vocals. To me she is trying waaaaay too hard to sound powerful. It’s Whitney Houston/Mariah Carey syndrome. It’s “listen to what I can do with my voice!” (Oddly enough, a snippet of it just came on the telly as I am typing this) I find it absolutely uncomfortable to listen to. Anyway, I’m sure Adele would be crushed to know my opinion. 🙂 (Good Gawd, they’re still playing it) That is all. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/2 "2015-11-25T00:01:26Z")
I keep hearing about this song. I should probably get around to listening to it one of these days. Or not. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/3 "2015-11-25T00:06:49Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > I keep hearing about this song. I should probably get around to listening to it one of these days. Or not. Oh don’t worry. I’m sure we’re all going to be hearing Adele’s new album a lot over the next year. Over, and over, and over, and over. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/4 "2015-11-25T00:13:16Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/5 "2015-11-25T00:13:38Z")
I’ve listened to it twice, two days ago, first the SNL spoof and then I watched the actual video. I’ve listened to it twice…I’ve _heard_ it eight thousand and eleventy brazillion times…in my head…because my brain won’t stop singing it. Make it stop. _whimper_ ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/6 "2015-11-25T00:16:42Z")
I cannot stand that woman’s voice. It’s like nails on a chalkboard! I am not a big fan of that style of singing anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/7 "2015-11-25T00:43:25Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/8 "2015-11-25T00:49:42Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > 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. Two people is not a committee. ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/9 "2015-11-25T00:50:12Z")
Sure, the composition sounds mediocre and formulaic, but at least the singing is overwrought and affected. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DeepLiquid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deepliquid/32/14893_2.png) [@DeepLiquid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeepLiquid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/10 "2015-11-25T00:55:48Z")
SNL isn’t known for quality sound, acoustics, or cutting an artist a break… but here she nails every note, and does it with a sense of humor: [Adele - When We Were Young (Live on SNL) - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV8NqiYjuIc) Go girl\*. _she’s young enough to be my daughter_ ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/11 "2015-11-25T01:17:54Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Two people is not a committee. Maybe not. …but _three_ people? Can you imagine three people writing a bar of _Hello_ and walking out? That’s would be an organization! If you want me, I’ll be down here waiting for it to come around on the guitar. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/12 "2015-11-25T01:28:33Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/13 "2015-11-25T01:33:10Z")
I don’t know why you say goodbye, she says, “Hello.” “Hello.” “Hello!” I don’t know why you say goodbye–she says, “Hello.” ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/14 "2015-11-25T04:27:56Z")
Speaking of Adele, her CD is on sale in Walgreens. Never before have I seen any other artists’ album on sale at Walgreens, not even Taylor Swift. I swear there are powers that are elevating this woman. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/15 "2015-11-25T06:07:10Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Speaking of Adele, her CD is on sale in Walgreens. Never before have I seen any other artists’ album on sale at Walgreens, not even Taylor Swift. > > I swear there are powers that are elevating this woman. Yeah, but Taylor Swift was sold at Papa Johns. 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). ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/16 "2015-11-25T09:52:28Z")
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. Ah! [here it is](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpTYro_25K4). 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. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/17 "2015-11-25T11:29:18Z")
> [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](#): > > Sure, the composition sounds mediocre and formulaic, but at least the singing is overwrought and affected. 🙂 Yeah. I like a lot of overwrought and affected stuff, ( I don’t know how else you’d describe Bowie and Cocker ), but she just doesn’t work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/18 "2015-11-25T11:46:04Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’d say her voice is the exact opposite of the overwrought Aguilera-Carey vocal gymnastics…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… My OP was specifically about her vocals in ‘Hello’. Foul. mmm ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/19 "2015-11-25T12:32:12Z")
[That’s a school](http://www.brit.croydon.sch.uk/) you want to go to; with Adele, Winehouse and Jesse J all mincing about in music class. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487/20 "2015-11-25T12:34:32Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > My OP was specifically about her vocals in ‘Hello’. > > Foul. > mmm Well I haven’t heard that song yet so can’t comment but I seriously doubt they’ll be “foul” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adeles-hello-goodbye/738487.md?page=2)