While most songs on Top-40 radio tend to follow the “loved today, laughed at tomorrow” cycle, every now and then something great slips through the cracks. Sometimes (although rarely) an artist comes along that makes the public snap out of its routine bad judgment and earns the respect he or she deserves. It seems that the world of music is once again lucky enough to experience this infrequent occasion as Grammy award winner Adele completely dominates. After winning Best New Artist in 2009, the stage was set for her to make a small dent in the world of popular music, and even earned her an almost-top-20 single with “Chasing Pavements” as well as a top-10 album with her debut, 19. After some time off, Adele is back and is slowly, but surely, taking over.
With her single “Rolling in the Deep” selling by the bucket loads on iTunes, Adele is on track to have her first top-20 (most likely top-10) song, which is quite an achievement for an artist like her. Not to mention the fact that her album is shifting huge numbers and is on track to hit number one, it’s obvious that this amazing vocalist, songwriter, and performer is actually getting the success she deserves.
On the other side of the pond, Adele made some serious history by becoming the first living artist in almost 50 years to simultaneously have two top-5 entries on both the UK singles chart and album chart. After an amazing performance at the BRIT Awards (the UK Grammy equivalent,) both “Rolling in the Deep” and the album’s second single, “Someone Like You” skyrocketed to the top of the singles chart. Meanwhile, not only did 21 easily sell enough to take control of the top stop on the albums chart, but her debut, 19, sold enough to re-enter at number 4, landing her an extremely rare feat. The last act to accomplish this was the Beatles in 1964.
At the end of the day, Adele makes fantastic music; any music critic can tell you that. Whereas most music of this caliber is left for enthusiasts and those who understand that there’s more music than what’s played at the club to enjoy, it seems that she has just enough appeal to make it everywhere. Not to say that there isn’t any great pop music on the radio today, but something like “Rolling in the Deep” is so anti-pop that the recognition it’s getting is truly an anomaly.
Maybe there is still hope for the music world. Finally there can be something on the radio to give us all a break from the “same-old, same-old” sounding songs that we’ll all forget by the end of the year. Trust me on this one; we’re not going to forget Adele any time soon.
