Adeles, meet your Adele.
November 23, 2015 2:31 PM Subscribe
As part of the one-hour special Adele at the BBC hosted by Graham Norton, the program featured an audition of Adele impersonators demonstrating their talents. Among the performers was a mild-mannered nanny calling herself Jenny. Actually, that's probably not the name they know her by.
I love how one of the impersonators instantly knew it was Adele, and how everyone else knew her voice and mannerisms so intimately that they could comment it so analytically. "That note." That's the power of fandom.
Also, how Adele really sung to them so intimately. So touching! Love artist/fan relationships.
posted by yueliang at 2:43 PM on November 23, 2015 [15 favorites]
Also, how Adele really sung to them so intimately. So touching! Love artist/fan relationships.
posted by yueliang at 2:43 PM on November 23, 2015 [15 favorites]
This is so good! Reminds me of this really old undercover Jewel karaoke video.
posted by a halcyon day at 2:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by a halcyon day at 2:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [12 favorites]
Years ago, when I heard this quote on the radio, it made me groan at the time, but it fits here:
"Dude, you're getting Adele."
posted by radwolf76 at 2:52 PM on November 23, 2015 [25 favorites]
"Dude, you're getting Adele."
posted by radwolf76 at 2:52 PM on November 23, 2015 [25 favorites]
I've seen this going around, but didn't watch until now. I am not ashamed to say that I shed a tear at how lovely this was. I'm just so happy for them!
posted by Ruki at 2:54 PM on November 23, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Ruki at 2:54 PM on November 23, 2015 [6 favorites]
That moment when the first woman to realize grabs to the right and left of her, eyes wide, is my new favorite thing in the world.
posted by Errant at 3:05 PM on November 23, 2015 [57 favorites]
posted by Errant at 3:05 PM on November 23, 2015 [57 favorites]
I wish the BBC didn't feel the need to telegraph everything with canned laughter. Just so they can be sure we're in on the joke, and haven't forgotten the premise in the two minutes since the intro.
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:07 PM on November 23, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Joe in Australia at 3:07 PM on November 23, 2015 [6 favorites]
Have you guys ever heard Dolly Parton tell the story of how she entered a Dolly drag queen contest once? She lost!
posted by trackofalljades at 3:07 PM on November 23, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by trackofalljades at 3:07 PM on November 23, 2015 [8 favorites]
I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't watched it yet so I'll just say there's a couple of moments where she just nails being nervous about performing and they're delightful.
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:23 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Joey Michaels at 3:23 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
In tears. Wow, I thought I couldn't love Adele more.
posted by cell divide at 3:25 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by cell divide at 3:25 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
In the vein of celebs playing dress up, I love this video of football legend Thierry Henry (somewhat half-heartedly) pretending to be a substitute teacher to surprise some of his fans.
posted by paulcole at 3:26 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by paulcole at 3:26 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
That was lovely and delightful.
posted by rtha at 3:42 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by rtha at 3:42 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Thanks - I needed that today.
posted by parki at 3:43 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by parki at 3:43 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
That was so lovely.
posted by Thorzdad at 3:43 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Thorzdad at 3:43 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Adele needs to stop making me cry.
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 3:54 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Stonestock Relentless at 3:54 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Stevie Wonder Surprises Ahsan During Performance
posted by ouke at 4:01 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by ouke at 4:01 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
That was very sweet.
posted by 4ster at 4:09 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by 4ster at 4:09 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thank you. I just bought Adele's new album, 25, on CD. I haven't bought a new CD in what 4 or 5 years? And I haven't listened to one single track besides "Hello". I'm just stuck on hearing that song. And I know I will be getting around to the rest. In fact, just today I copied it to computer to different formats to a USB drive to play in my jeep around the island. I could bluetooth it. But I'm fifty and there is something about so rarely finding music that hits you like this and I'm stuck on "Hello".
Over on my twitter stream there are always references to Adele. It's been going on for years. It's almost memetic. Then recently one of the people I follow tweeted out a rough video clip of the advance teaser commercial of the "Hello" track. And I watched it. Then I watched it again. And again...
...and when the video came out, I was mesmerized. I listened to that track and instantly knew: this is someone who is telling about the feelings I feel too. It really brought me up short that these experiences are universal enough that an artist with the talent and skill can tell us all about it in song. Which for whatever reason is something I really only get reminded of so often (though I learned it well enough when I was a teenager.)
Nowadays I don't imagine that the singer is speaking to me but rather to a human experience of emotion and feeling to which many of us can relate. And Adele speaks to me, yes, as a grown-up. That others feels the same only make me happy. See, the sadness is real only because the happiness is too. I think Adele gets that. If she doesn't that's okay too. Because in the end, what matters is that someone somewhere feels so powerfully about being alive that they can express that feeling beautifully and brilliantly and make the rest of us just nod and cry tears–of joy, of sadness, of difficulty and hardship–in understanding. Brava, Adele. You make me able to look all the students I work with in the eye when I tell them on a daily basis that being a grown-up is just as awesome and stupendous and rotten and glorious as being a kid and in its very own way.
Oh yeah I'm moving on to the next track tonight. Maybe. What's the rush?
posted by Mike Mongo at 4:38 PM on November 23, 2015 [14 favorites]
Over on my twitter stream there are always references to Adele. It's been going on for years. It's almost memetic. Then recently one of the people I follow tweeted out a rough video clip of the advance teaser commercial of the "Hello" track. And I watched it. Then I watched it again. And again...
...and when the video came out, I was mesmerized. I listened to that track and instantly knew: this is someone who is telling about the feelings I feel too. It really brought me up short that these experiences are universal enough that an artist with the talent and skill can tell us all about it in song. Which for whatever reason is something I really only get reminded of so often (though I learned it well enough when I was a teenager.)
Nowadays I don't imagine that the singer is speaking to me but rather to a human experience of emotion and feeling to which many of us can relate. And Adele speaks to me, yes, as a grown-up. That others feels the same only make me happy. See, the sadness is real only because the happiness is too. I think Adele gets that. If she doesn't that's okay too. Because in the end, what matters is that someone somewhere feels so powerfully about being alive that they can express that feeling beautifully and brilliantly and make the rest of us just nod and cry tears–of joy, of sadness, of difficulty and hardship–in understanding. Brava, Adele. You make me able to look all the students I work with in the eye when I tell them on a daily basis that being a grown-up is just as awesome and stupendous and rotten and glorious as being a kid and in its very own way.
Oh yeah I'm moving on to the next track tonight. Maybe. What's the rush?
posted by Mike Mongo at 4:38 PM on November 23, 2015 [14 favorites]
This is fantastic.
posted by flatluigi at 4:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by flatluigi at 4:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't care overly much for Adele's music (it's fine when I hear it but I don't feel drawn to listen to it), but I find her just wonderful and compelling and refreshing and fascinating as a person. I could watch videos of her telling funny anecdotes all day, regularly punctuated by that brilliant gives-no-fucks Adele cackle (seriously, it's iconic).
posted by erlking at 4:56 PM on November 23, 2015 [15 favorites]
posted by erlking at 4:56 PM on November 23, 2015 [15 favorites]
Seconding erlking: if you have somehow missed seeing Adele's amazing appearance on the Graham Norton Show a few years back, make it right.
posted by Errant at 5:06 PM on November 23, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by Errant at 5:06 PM on November 23, 2015 [7 favorites]
Even though I'm not a huge Adele fan I got a little teary-eyed when I watched this. There's something quite special about getting a surprise introduction to one of your idols.
posted by fuse theorem at 5:29 PM on November 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by fuse theorem at 5:29 PM on November 23, 2015 [4 favorites]
I watched this earlier and assumed it had been posted in one of the other current Adele threads, drat. So, so lovely. And watching the dawning realization on their faces..! HOLY SHIT THAT IS ADELE AND SHE JUST HEARD US AND SHE IS SINGING HEAD ASPLODE is kind of what I assume went through their heads.
I haven't been to a Big Name concert in, God, a decade? Ish? And the moment she announces the tour for this album I will sell a kidney if I have to, just to go.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:51 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
I haven't been to a Big Name concert in, God, a decade? Ish? And the moment she announces the tour for this album I will sell a kidney if I have to, just to go.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:51 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
I saw this yesterday and just loved it. Today can't stop listening to her saying "They just made me eyes look more ca' ee."
posted by mudpuppie at 6:00 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by mudpuppie at 6:00 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
I saw this around and thought it sounded super cheesy, but it's really quite touching.
posted by Fig at 6:34 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Fig at 6:34 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Love this.
Love Adele.
Love the new album. (I wasn't gripped at first, but it has grown monumentally on me with each listen. There's this part about halfway through "All I Ask" when she carefully climbs up the word "to-mor-row" with her marvelous voice and I just fall in love with it every single time. Sigh.)
posted by sallybrown at 6:37 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Love Adele.
Love the new album. (I wasn't gripped at first, but it has grown monumentally on me with each listen. There's this part about halfway through "All I Ask" when she carefully climbs up the word "to-mor-row" with her marvelous voice and I just fall in love with it every single time. Sigh.)
posted by sallybrown at 6:37 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Here is a gif of the first women who realized reacting.
posted by andoatnp at 7:05 PM on November 23, 2015 [38 favorites]
posted by andoatnp at 7:05 PM on November 23, 2015 [38 favorites]
there's a comment on youtube that is something like "pranks make people laugh. when adele does a prank, you cry" and it's so, so true.
Mike Mongo - that next song is great. i recommend headphones with good bass for the first listen.
posted by nadawi at 7:13 PM on November 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
Mike Mongo - that next song is great. i recommend headphones with good bass for the first listen.
posted by nadawi at 7:13 PM on November 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
I like Adele's music all right, but my lord I want to have drinks with her now, she seems delightful as all get out.
posted by angeline at 7:15 PM on November 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by angeline at 7:15 PM on November 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
that brilliant gives-no-fucks Adele cackle
ok that video gave me serious joy.
posted by threeants at 7:55 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
ok that video gave me serious joy.
posted by threeants at 7:55 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'll just say there's a couple of moments where she just nails being nervous about performing
I'm not a huge Adele follower but I'm pretty sure she is actually nervous about performing and has anxiety attacks on stage.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:16 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm not a huge Adele follower but I'm pretty sure she is actually nervous about performing and has anxiety attacks on stage.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:16 PM on November 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
All the impersonators leave the microphone in its stand and sing into it. Adele-in-disguise takes it out and holds it casually close her to body, first thing she does. That's what gives away that this is a professional performer; most of us don't have that comfort with mic manipulation.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:42 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 8:42 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
As soon as she hits that effortless minor crescendo into falsetto on "dry your tears", the jig is well and truly up. There are many fantastic, talented artists in the world, but no one else does that quite like Adele.
Yes, I have been playing it over and over this whole time, shut up.
posted by Errant at 9:30 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Yes, I have been playing it over and over this whole time, shut up.
posted by Errant at 9:30 PM on November 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
That gif of the first woman to realize is how I want everyone in the world to react to every important realization they ever have for the rest of their lives.
posted by nonasuch at 9:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by nonasuch at 9:47 PM on November 23, 2015 [12 favorites]
> I love how one of the impersonators instantly knew it was Adele, and how everyone else knew her voice and mannerisms so intimately that they could comment it so analytically. "That note." That's the power of fandom.
Yep, that's what struck me as well. I suspected that the producers might have wished that there was more of a loooong dawning realization, but I was even more touched by how quickly they were able to knowledgeably recognize her.
posted by desuetude at 9:51 PM on November 23, 2015
Yep, that's what struck me as well. I suspected that the producers might have wished that there was more of a loooong dawning realization, but I was even more touched by how quickly they were able to knowledgeably recognize her.
posted by desuetude at 9:51 PM on November 23, 2015
That gif of the first woman to realize is how I want everyone in the world to react to every important realization they ever have for the rest of their lives.
I made the gif so I that can use it constantly on Twitter and Facebook.
posted by andoatnp at 10:11 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
I made the gif so I that can use it constantly on Twitter and Facebook.
posted by andoatnp at 10:11 PM on November 23, 2015 [3 favorites]
Honestly, if there isn't a scene in Star Wars: The Force Awakens where someone senses a great disturbance in the Force with that exact expression and gesture, I will be SO disappointed.
posted by nonasuch at 10:29 PM on November 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by nonasuch at 10:29 PM on November 23, 2015 [5 favorites]
I first caught Adele on her TV debut on Jools Holland back in 2007. At the time I was living in South London (near Brixton in fact), and hearing someone with the accent I heard every day around me singing so beautifully was quite powerful. I remember saying to my wife 'this woman is going to be massive.' One of the very rare times I've been right about something like that.
Also, this video is adorable.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:04 AM on November 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also, this video is adorable.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:04 AM on November 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I refuse to enjoy this song until I hear the acid house remix.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:16 AM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:16 AM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wait this one's even better feel those pianos
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:11 AM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:11 AM on November 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
The full-length video is gone, but if you didn't see it in the other thread, the isolated vocal track from Adele's SNL Performance is insane.
posted by schmod at 7:07 AM on November 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by schmod at 7:07 AM on November 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
potomac avenue the second remix vid got taken down, is this the same one?
posted by numaner at 2:04 PM on November 24, 2015
posted by numaner at 2:04 PM on November 24, 2015
I'm waiting for a remix that has a giant, pants-wetting build followed by a drop into that full-throated HELLO FROM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:29 PM on November 24, 2015
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 5:29 PM on November 24, 2015
I learned from NPR on the way home from work today that Adele's new album 25 has set the record for most albums sold in the first week,and it's Tuesday.
posted by 4ster at 8:15 PM on November 24, 2015
posted by 4ster at 8:15 PM on November 24, 2015
adele also set the record for most albums sold in 2015, overtaking taylor swift's 1989, in three days.
her appearance on the tonight show was so, so good - including the kelly ripa stanning. adele performed water under the bridge - according to the interview she'll be playing a different song at every big stop like this. she also did "hello" w/ the roots on classroom instruments.
posted by nadawi at 8:14 AM on November 25, 2015
her appearance on the tonight show was so, so good - including the kelly ripa stanning. adele performed water under the bridge - according to the interview she'll be playing a different song at every big stop like this. she also did "hello" w/ the roots on classroom instruments.
posted by nadawi at 8:14 AM on November 25, 2015
Adele and Jimmy Fallon do "Hello" with classroom instruments.
I love her more with every media pop-up she does during this album release PR campaign.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:33 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
I love her more with every media pop-up she does during this album release PR campaign.
posted by mudpuppie at 9:33 AM on November 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
Adele and Jimmy Fallon do "Hello" with classroom instruments.
At the risk of echoing YouTube comments, the look of contained awe/love that Fallon gives at 0:11 when she opens up her pipes for the first time has me entirely sold. It is one of those instances where the itch to be him, sitting centimeters away from a revere-able voice gave way to watching that few times, sometimes without the sound, to better see and assess the faces and reactions of the musicians in the room as she tore open on HELLLOOO FROOMMM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIDE. She has an ethereal talent to be able sing and deliver the goods to the smallest audience or room.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:36 PM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
At the risk of echoing YouTube comments, the look of contained awe/love that Fallon gives at 0:11 when she opens up her pipes for the first time has me entirely sold. It is one of those instances where the itch to be him, sitting centimeters away from a revere-able voice gave way to watching that few times, sometimes without the sound, to better see and assess the faces and reactions of the musicians in the room as she tore open on HELLLOOO FROOMMM THE OTHER SIIIIIIIIIDE. She has an ethereal talent to be able sing and deliver the goods to the smallest audience or room.
posted by Cold Lurkey at 6:36 PM on November 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
Anthony Vincent aka Ten Second Songs covering "Hello" in 25 styles
posted by numaner at 2:01 PM on November 26, 2015
posted by numaner at 2:01 PM on November 26, 2015
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