Rolling in the Turkey...
November 22, 2015 1:47 PM   Subscribe

As we enter Thanksgiving week in one of the most politically-charged environments in recent memory, Saturday Night Live reminds us to steer the dinner-table conversation toward something that everybody can agree upon -- Adele's new album is pretty great.
posted by schmod (42 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is gonna be my Thanksgiving dinner...except replace Adele with the Hamilton soundtrack.
posted by TwoStride at 1:49 PM on November 22, 2015 [15 favorites]


I'm really glad I don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so I don't have to support the awkward deletion of its colonial history...and that I also have my own opinions about Adele's album. Awkward.
posted by yueliang at 1:53 PM on November 22, 2015 [6 favorites]


Sigh...yeah....that's about what I am expecting this year as well....
posted by Captain_Science at 1:54 PM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


HERCULES MULLIGAN.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:06 PM on November 22, 2015 [8 favorites]


The Auto-tune on that track would ruin MY Thanksgiving.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 2:18 PM on November 22, 2015 [3 favorites]


history repeats itself - first as tragedy, second as farce, third as thanksgiving dinner
posted by pyramid termite at 2:38 PM on November 22, 2015 [4 favorites]


So, Ta-Nehesi Coates was on NPR a couple of times this weekend, because of winning a major book award, and he mentioned that his family used to fast on Thanksgiving, for political reasons, which was an eye-opening idea to me. (I'm probably going to eat pie and find a different day of the year to do my atoning, but it's intriguing to realize that even inside the US not everyone celebrates in the same way.)
posted by puddledork at 2:40 PM on November 22, 2015 [12 favorites]


first as tragedy, second as farce, third as thanksgiving dinner

fourth as leftovers, fifth as stew
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:51 PM on November 22, 2015 [14 favorites]


Yes it's rooted in some horrible stuff, but it's pretty much the only American secular holiday that hasn't been completely messed up.

ah, you don't work in retail.

i'll be eating but i can certainly spare a thought for people who experience this holiday differently. i would not dismiss any criticism that it's fucked up top to bottom.

adele (gif) enters an adele impersonator competition (vid).
posted by twist my arm at 2:57 PM on November 22, 2015 [10 favorites]


THE ADELE ISNT WORKING CORTEX UNLEASH CELLPHONE BLING
posted by Potomac Avenue at 3:10 PM on November 22, 2015 [7 favorites]


Mod note: Several comments removed, I don't know if it's the ironic curse of Thanksgiving or what but this got off to kind of an odd start and maybe we should loop back around to the link itself instead.
posted by cortex (staff) at 3:10 PM on November 22, 2015 [5 favorites]


I work retail in my second job. Adele is on all too frequent rotation, to the point of earworm. I sometimes wake up with one of those songs in my head. I will have opinions about Adele's music, just not her current album (yet).

In honor of the holiday, the store is ordering pizzas for black Friday staff and tightly scheduling meal breaks so we cover the busiest hours....best to not inconvenience customers because they are already grumpy enough.
posted by mightshould at 3:13 PM on November 22, 2015 [4 favorites]




The memorable thing about Adele's Hello track is how earthshattering it sounds when played on full volume. Maybe a Thanksgiving Sing-a-Long would be really fun, with a playlist on full volume and the dinner conversation is basically non-existent? Just keep singing until the turkey is gone.
posted by yueliang at 3:20 PM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]




So, Ta-Nehesi Coates was on NPR a couple of times this weekend, because of winning a major book award, and he mentioned that his family used to fast on Thanksgiving, for political reasons, which was an eye-opening idea to me.

I hate Thanksgiving food and really can't stand Thanksgiving as holiday so I'll be telling people this year that I'm united with TNC and fasting. My smart friends will think I'm awesome and it will annoy my racist family members.
posted by photoslob at 3:24 PM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


SNL having a funny skit these days is a miracle in and of itself
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 3:26 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


The Auto-tune on that track would ruin MY Thanksgiving.

Ummm, you might want to listen to Adele's isolated live mic from SNL....
posted by howfar at 3:27 PM on November 22, 2015 [29 favorites]


howfar, she's off on a few transitional notes, but i think that's more a matter of getting her technique just right - unfortunately, with auto tune as a crutch, she'll be able to slide by like this

i really think she has the ability to iron this stuff out - (also, it may well be that her monitors weren't right - it happens)
posted by pyramid termite at 3:42 PM on November 22, 2015


It is silly to suggest that a producer would use autotune to fix those sorts of errors in the studio. You'd just comp it (I'm sure they did, the dodgy notes on that live take are mainly bigger ones, and I don't think it's a monitoring issue). The sound on the record is clearly a production choice, not "autotune".
posted by howfar at 3:49 PM on November 22, 2015 [6 favorites]


I really liked the last two Adele albums, but this one is kinda boring. The songs are all very similar sounding, nothing really in the way of fast tempo songs. I think expectations are way too high for this album.
posted by inthe80s at 4:41 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


I'd assume that my nieces know that Adele has a new album but I'd doubt that anyone else in my family at Thanksgiving will and I'd say that most of them have never heard of her. On the other hand, there aren't any conservatives in my family either; they're pretty much all dye-hard Bernie Sanders supporters. I'm sort of the token Democrat an a family full of socialists.
posted by octothorpe at 4:53 PM on November 22, 2015


I must have called a thousand times
To tell you I'm sorry for everything that I've done
But when I call you never seem to be home


Reading the lyrics of this song (and Someone Like You) reminds me of those AskMe threads where the OP wants advice on how to reconnect with an ex from years ago, with whom they broke up in a very messy way, haven't spoken since, but now want to reconnect and apologize because the OP feels that they've grown so much as a person.

And all the responses say: No, do not do this. Your apology is self-serving and may end up harming the person you think you are helping. Do not contact this person. The closure you seek doesn't exist anyway. Just forgive yourself, move on with your life, and try to be the best person you can be in the present.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Adele's lyrics are kind of creepy.
posted by obscure simpsons reference at 5:41 PM on November 22, 2015 [10 favorites]


The weird thing about US Thanksgiving is how much lead-up and strange anticipation to it there is. It is the start of the crazy season, or at least it looks that way to everyone else. And it's like this looming disaster of a "holiday" that started a week ago already.

It's like America goes to war with itself every year.
posted by clvrmnky at 6:04 PM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


@TheEllenShow: Why did @Adele cross the road? She wanted to say hello from the other side.
posted by twist my arm at 6:09 PM on November 22, 2015 [3 favorites]


No, do not do this. Your apology is self-serving and may end up harming the person you think you are helping. -- OSR

♫ Hello Adele
It's us, MetaFilter
We just called
To tell you
To laywer up
Hit the gym
and delete FaceBook

posted by rokusan at 6:09 PM on November 22, 2015 [10 favorites]


No, do not do this. Your apology is self-serving and may end up harming the person you think you are helping.


Hello?
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:23 PM on November 22, 2015 [2 favorites]


My dad actually said the transgender thing is a fad the last time we saw him! The response was "whaaa?!" and then we all just mutually agreed to pretend like it never happened.

Wonder if that's what Fox News is saying to reassure conservatives?
posted by betsybetsy at 7:05 PM on November 22, 2015 [3 favorites]


It's funny, because all my family that will be at Thanksgiving dinner, including myself, are politically very similar (crazy about Bernie Sanders) but we are DEEPLY divided on whether we think Adele is any good.
posted by Perko at 8:12 PM on November 22, 2015 [5 favorites]


Wait, I think that exterior shot is in my neighborhood.
posted by the_blizz at 8:34 PM on November 22, 2015


I love how Hamilton references are creeping into everything.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:46 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


The weird thing about US Thanksgiving is how much lead-up and strange anticipation to it there is. It is the start of the crazy season, or at least it looks that way to everyone else. And it's like this looming disaster of a "holiday" that started a week ago already.

It's like America goes to war with itself every year.


A cop in my town described Thanksgiving as the day where people drink a lot and realize that they really don't like their family, but stay for dinner anyway.
posted by dances with hamsters at 9:08 PM on November 22, 2015 [5 favorites]


I get along fine with my family. I just want this to be over with. I really, really detest turkey. I love to cook so I'll be doing the turkey and probably four sides, just because it is expected. I'll probably have a small slice of turkey and some green beans. Maybe a potato. Can it be January yet? Or, even better, May?
posted by bh at 9:19 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh, it is the crazy season. We have to spend a lot more time with our relatives, we have to think about them more because of presents, and we're reminded of how much we're all disappointments to each other. Whee!
I second the fast forward to spring.
posted by jenfullmoon at 9:26 PM on November 22, 2015 [1 favorite]


Oh, it is the crazy season. We get to spend a lot more time with our relatives! We tend to think about them more because it's the holidays, and we're reminded of how much we're all lucky to have each other. Whee!
I like turtles.
posted by Drewstre at 1:26 AM on November 23, 2015


Didn't we just have the discussion about whether Adele was a stalker or not?
posted by pxe2000 at 3:42 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


I think expectations are way too high for this album.

Yet it will still almost certainly outsell the previous two combined.
posted by blucevalo at 6:32 AM on November 23, 2015


I wish my family knew who Adele was. Instead we get one of my aunts who refuses to acknowledge me even when I'm five feet away but likes to jostle my child while yelling BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY BABY!!!!!!!! when she's not braying something like the Laverne and Shirley theme song, and then my mom says vaguely Dowager Countess things without benefit of delightful millinery.

Actually, now that I think about it, my aunt will probably start singing Adele. But my mom still won't know who it is. (She gave up on pop music after Gene Pitney.) Not that that'll stop my aunt.

And they have seven more siblings.
posted by St. Hubbins at 7:06 AM on November 23, 2015


I love how Hamilton references are creeping into everything

Hamilton!
On 28 May 1986, as part of a plan to increase publicity, [Hamilton, Ohio] city council voted 5-1 in favor of adding an exclamation point to the city's name. Thus, Hamilton officially became Hamilton! While used extensively in the city's documents, letterheads, business cards and on local signage, "Hamilton!" was not successful in getting Rand McNally to use the new moniker on state maps and the change was not recognized by the Federal Board on Geographical Names.
posted by Herodios at 7:29 AM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


Sadly, the new Adele album isn't that dope. 21 sounded like nothing else on the radio at the time--that gospel stomp, stripped-down arrangements, genuine soul...

25 sounds like every other female diva out there. Not a song on there that you go, "this is an Adele song. Only Adele can sing this." It's weirdly bland. And the lyrics have gone from super-specific, deeply personal to big pop cliches.

I mean, it's pleasant musical wallpaper. It's not bad. But it's not exciting either.
posted by skullhead at 8:37 AM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]


That is harsh but fair. 'River Lea' is an Adele song.
posted by colie at 9:14 AM on November 23, 2015


Metafilter: I'm sort of the token Democrat an a family full of socialists.
posted by The Tensor at 9:20 AM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]


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