The ManicaPost
Morris Mtisi Education Correspondent
Give a detailed critical appreciation of the song ‘‘Hello’’ by Adele with particular emphasis on lyrical power, sound effect, message and meaning (25 marks)
Adele — Hello lyrics
{verse 1}
Hello, it’s me
I was wondering if after all these years
You’d like to meet, to go over
Everything.
They say that time’s supposed to heal you
But I ain’t done much healing.
Hello, can you hear me?
I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet
{Pre-chorus 1)
There’s such a difference between us
And a million miles.
{Chorus}
Hello from the other side
I must’ve called a thousand times to tell you
I’m sorry, for everything I’ve done
But when I call you never seem to be home
Hello from the outside
At least I can say that I’ve tried to tell you
I’m sorry, for breaking your heart
But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore.
{Verse 2)
Hello, how are you?
It’s so typical of me to talk about myself
I’m sorry, I hope that you’re well
Did you ever make it out of that town
Where nothing ever happened?
{pre-chorus 2}
It’s no secret
That the both of us are running out of time
(REPEAT CHORUS)
Literature Essay:
Hello! Hello who? We wonder, but immediately we get the sense of someone calling out. We do not know why, but the appeal for someone to listen is instantly loud and clear. The caller, also the persona if it were a literary piece) does not declare her name except to say, “Hello . . . It’s me.”
We know of course from the name and the voice it is a lady . . . and that lady is Adele. What we cannot deny is that at once we are forced to be involved in the why and where-for, carefully meddled, pried and butted in, the business gone bad between the caller and the called.
Soon we get to learn the caller is appealing for a meeting which she wonders if it is possible or allowed, “. . . I was wondering if . . . you’d like to meet.” But it is suddenly clear the caller has not met the called for years, “. . . if after all these years . . .” The reason for the calling and the appeal is however clearly mentioned, “. . . to go over everything.” Interesting that the caller has some EVERYTHING to go over . . . to review!
There must be something critically urgent or important . . . whatever the-everything’ is!
Before we know what the import of the call and her obvious appeal for a meeting is, the singer (poet or writer or persona) regrets that common philosophy, “time’s supposed to heal you” he or she feels betrayed, cheated, hoodwinked by common thought because she, “ain’t done much healing.”
Suddenly it is clear that the singer is sick, obviously from a heartbreak which she believed and hoped time would heal.
The hurt and sick singer suspends declaration or confession of what is wrong with her and why . . . seemingly evading and avoiding the real story of her heartbreak. Perfect suspense! Instead she is keen to let known her state of emotional unwellness first. She heightens this suspense by loudly telling no one, for no one is at the end of the line, where she is and what she is doing. “I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be or when we were younger and free . . .” The nostalgia must be acute and biting. Memories devour or haunt her and she yearns to be heard, “Hello, can you hear me?”
‘‘No one can hear you Adele,’’ we almost want to tell her. But the feeling of almost sensual nostalgia is unmistaken and heightened by musical mellifluence and deep sorrow serenaded through the slow and drugging auditory magic in the song. She remembers when they were ‘‘younger and free’’. Youth and freedom are synonymous, we all know. We have all been there. But she seems to regret the mind that reminds her of the past the two of them are not now.
At this stage of the song, there can only be one thing clear. She has forgotten how it felt before the world fell at their feet, “I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet.”
The singer’s careful and accurate choice of words succeeds to take us by force to where she wants us, namely in emotional hell. ‘‘In California . . . with whom, doing what poor Adele? The answer is clear, “Alone . . . dreaming” ‘ Where have those years gone to?’’ She seems to ask, ‘‘. . . before the world fell at our feet.”?
At this stage of the song we still do not know why but know already a disaster took place between them. The disaster separated them. And it is hurting bad.
The pre-chorus painfully reveals one more detail. “There’s such a difference between us / and a million miles.”
‘‘Ahaa!’’ At last we give a sigh of relief. We must have discovered the problem. Incompatibility! The two are like a square peg into a round hole. For one moment we smell a sense of de-javu. How many marriages and relationships suffer from similar acute incompatibility and what Adele calls “. . . a difference between us and a million miles”? That is what must have caused the world to fall at their feet.
You can almost literally touch the disaster. The world fell . . . it did not descend! We want to add ‘‘. . . and it crashed . . . not landed on their feet.” This is the EVERYTHING, Adele wanted to go over . . . to review, and the EVERTHING she is loudly calling out about from outside where it is quiet and cold, “Hello! Can you hear me?”
In the chorus we learn how long the singer has been calling and appealing for attention and the reason, “. . . a thousand times . . . to tell you I’m sorry.” Sorry about what, we ask? Adele gradually opens up and confesses, “. . . for everything I’ve done.’’ No wonder she said at the very start she wanted to meet the silent ‘‘killer’’. . . her ex, “. . . to go over EVERYTHING.”
It is evident from the song that the caller is flogging a dead horse. Adele’s ex is tucked away, mum and immovable. He could be a street or two away, or just in the suburb across . . . maybe a house just around the corner. The difference is the same. He is a thousand miles away on her mind. “But when I call, you never seem to be home,” she cries.
The singer realises that she has been securely kept out of an inside she wanted to belong to forever.
But in acknowledging defeat and surrender, she is happy, “At least I can say that I’ve tried to tell you, ‘‘I’m sorry’’ and it is here at almost the end of her musical melancholy that she calls a spade a spade, “I’m sorry, for breaking your heart?”
So Adele you broke someone’s heart, and you know it? She seems to say yes and knows much for her ex, “But it don’t matter, it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore?” How do you know this Adele? Suddenly we want to say in petrified sagacity “women!” Then almost at the same time, we realise this is gender insensitivity.
Yet before pinching ourselves for being stupid and knowing too much about women, Adele confesses unashamedly and in broad daylight that she is egocentric.
“It’s so typical of me to talk about myself,” and adds, “I’m sorry.” So you knew it all along Adele? Why your ex of young age . . . your lover of when you were both young and free, is not answering your thousand calls and continues to seem to be never at home? You know why? You have always known?
The saddest part of this emotional tragedy is perhaps the fact that the singer still wishes her ex well. Beautiful irony! You can remain mum and be permanently gone Mr Nice Guy, but Adele persists, for how much longer, we do not know, “Hello, how are you? . . . hello, can you hear me? I hope that you are well . . .” She finds out if he has now made it out in that town “Where nothing ever happened?” Was it why she left for California, we wonder? Maybe . . . could be . . . maybe not! But where did it end you poor girl? Sadder even is when the singer becomes bold enough and says a secret that is not a secret . . . to no one of course she confesses, “It’s no secret / that the both of us are running out of time.” Out of time to do what? To reconcile may be. . . to meet and make it up for each other . . . just maybe. But also maybe running out of life! Once upon a time the two were “young and free.” But now they are probably old, ageing or already senior citizens . . .and so for both of them, their days for repentance and reconciliation are numbered.
A gem of a song! Hello’s or is Adele’s lyrically power and ingenuity? Is clearly aided by wonderful instrumentation and appropriate voice undulation and mellifluence.
The slow serenading arrangement helps to bring out the obvious melancholic appeal in this beautiful song . . . beautiful in the sense of gently forcing every listener to share Adele’s stab on the heart.
Her intention in this song is to make listeners share with her the stabbing pain of being ignored by someone whom you still love but you know you wronged and he or she will not turn back to you. There are many songs that express emotional heartbreaks and conditions caused by matters of the heart.
Adele’s ‘‘Hello’’ is hugely successful in this genre of music. It is one song that will never die . . . will never expire. It means what it means today, what it meant yesterday and will continue to mean what it means forever. It is a song that calls for sharp listening fluency but when it gets it, makes it immortal. What a huge success in every sense of the word!
