With the teaser for new single Easy On Me and a friendly interaction with the Twitter overlords all happening in the space of days, what does it all mean?
Adele really knows how to breadcrumb the excitement for her new material, and we love her for it: her sudden social media revamp earlier this week, and the countless posters and projections of the number 30 around the world, heralding the fourth album.
Back to Easy On Me. The 21 second black-and-white clip shows Adele deftly clicking a cassette into her car stereo, checking the rear view (A Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre-ing Queen) checking that it’s safe before she moves off and drives down a deserted country road.
She then whimsically waves her hand out the driver window, then cuts to her car pulling a trailer piled high with upside down furniture - that table is TURNED. Self referential queen! Thirteen seconds of Signature Soaring Adele Pianos (TM) then gives us the reassurance we need; 2021 is saved.
Here’s what we’ve gleaned so far
The cassette
Adele’s always blazed her own path when it comes to retro tech. Her long history of flip phone love is well known (see: The Original Adele Flip Phone Meme) well before the flip phone from the video for Hello blew up the hinged communication device market.
Samsung brought out a new flip phone that same year (her influence!) and the video’s director Xavier Dolan basically said smartphones were gross when he explained the choice: “I never like filming modern phones or cars. They’re so implanted in our lives that when you see them in movies you’re reminded you’re in reality… they take you out of the story.”
Adele’s tape is the 2021’s flip phone. No Spotify playlist for Adele. nSales of cassettes have skyrocketed over the past few years, and doubled during lockdown thanks to tapey releases from pop girlies like Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. In 2020, over 150,000 cassettes were sold in the UK, the most since 2003 and an increase of almost 95 percent on 2019. With Adele stepping in to the cassette cause, expect that number to rise and rise - and perhaps bring about a tape deck revival. Her power!
The upside-down table
She’s back and she’s turning tables! Along with what looks like a few bits of furniture from the Rolling In The Deep video. She’s starting a new chapter and she’s taking her belongings with her (or going to the tip, if she’s booked a slot for the correct day). Reuse and recycling icon!
The flying manuscripts
Adele is DONE with your demisemiquavers and your treble clef, she cares not for the constraints of musical scores! So maybe there’s some surprises in store with album number four?
The celebrity reactions
With 40 million followers on Instagram and generally being the greatest person/pop star in existence, where Adele goes, the celebs follow in her wake.
The famouses went wild on her Easy On Me post, including Blue/Blur stan Donatella Versace, who commented, “Can’t wait!!!!” with some explosion and heart emoji.
As did her best pal Alan Carr, who simply said: “Screams!!!!!”
Same, Alan, same.