2008 Woodie Awards
Adele: haunting and beautiful
Alex Nagoriski
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: Life!
Take the video evidence of drug abuse off of Perezhilton.com and YouTube and you're left with looking at Amy Winehouse through a musical lens rather than as another troubled wreck of a modern pop star.
Now take the soulful sound she brought back to the mainstream market and intensify that to incorporate not only aspects of jazz and pop, but also soul, R&B, and folk.
What you're left with is the new nineteen-year-old British sensation, Adele. With a haunting and beautiful voice that far exceeds her age, she has recently become all the rage across the pond.
After her self-released debut single, "Hometown Glory," (about her place of origin, Tottenham) caused her to become a hit MySpace artist, and independent record label XL Recordings signed her as quickly as they could.
As a result, her premiere album was just released worldwide and has begun to already spark much attention in places such as Ireland and Australia, as well as a British and American tour that is nearly almost entirely sold out already.
Truly capturing the airwaves is Adele's melancholy self-evaluation anthem, "Chasing Pavements." It is currently at the top of the U.K. Top 40 singles chart for the fourth week in a row. "Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements even if it leads nowhere? Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place, should I leave it there, should I give up?" she sings over a beautiful orchestration full of everything from percussion to strings to piano.
Undoubtedly the most "mainstream pop" track on the record, it is clearly the song that has deservingly put Adele on the map.
Other tracks, such as the lead off "Daydreamer" and "First Love," do not have the same big band feel as "Chasing Pavements." In fact, in comparison these songs are very stripped down and have a very raw, acoustic feel to them.
Tracks such as the bittersweet breakup song, "Cold Shoulder," still remain within the smoky café genre of the rest of the record, yet at the same time manage to have the feel of wanting to hit the dance floor.
Now take the soulful sound she brought back to the mainstream market and intensify that to incorporate not only aspects of jazz and pop, but also soul, R&B, and folk.
What you're left with is the new nineteen-year-old British sensation, Adele. With a haunting and beautiful voice that far exceeds her age, she has recently become all the rage across the pond.
After her self-released debut single, "Hometown Glory," (about her place of origin, Tottenham) caused her to become a hit MySpace artist, and independent record label XL Recordings signed her as quickly as they could.
As a result, her premiere album was just released worldwide and has begun to already spark much attention in places such as Ireland and Australia, as well as a British and American tour that is nearly almost entirely sold out already.
Truly capturing the airwaves is Adele's melancholy self-evaluation anthem, "Chasing Pavements." It is currently at the top of the U.K. Top 40 singles chart for the fourth week in a row. "Should I give up or should I just keep chasing pavements even if it leads nowhere? Or would it be a waste even if I knew my place, should I leave it there, should I give up?" she sings over a beautiful orchestration full of everything from percussion to strings to piano.
Undoubtedly the most "mainstream pop" track on the record, it is clearly the song that has deservingly put Adele on the map.
Other tracks, such as the lead off "Daydreamer" and "First Love," do not have the same big band feel as "Chasing Pavements." In fact, in comparison these songs are very stripped down and have a very raw, acoustic feel to them.
Tracks such as the bittersweet breakup song, "Cold Shoulder," still remain within the smoky café genre of the rest of the record, yet at the same time manage to have the feel of wanting to hit the dance floor.