Hello

Although "Hello" has similar aspects of "Someone Like You," it has a different take on the past--a matured view. This is about a lack of communication between two people. They're on different wavelengths. When the speaker has swallowed their pride enough to apologize, the other person has accepted the ending of their relationship. They seem to share a common denominator, however, involving the progression of their lives. They had such positive feelings about life and their relationship (or friendship?), before the world interfered and gave them a wake-up call. Although she has made it far in life ("away from that town where nothing ever happened"), she still feels like she is behind and outside this person (or what they've reached). They're both "running out of time" of being in-sync with life and other people so that all of their relationships don't fail. Adele truly is outside--with her successful career, family, her old life--everything--that is, if she is the speaker. With an incredible range and a real instrumental accompaniment, Adele might convince me to listen to a radio station that just plays music from the last 20 years. She truly is a blessing to the music industry.

Clearly, it's about her trying to reconnect with the man she hurt in the past. She wants to apologize for everything that she's done in the past even if he isn't hurting anymore, it would give her peace of mind just to be able to say the words "I'm sorry".

My entry was done after watching the music video. A lot of people are saying this is about her and an ex. But I think it's just about her. 'Who We Used To Be' -this doesn't sound like its addressing two people. Also, in the video she only makes one cup of tea, which she drinks herself. If you invite someone over, you aren't going to just make tea for yourself.

Italia8989 - I agree this is a matured response to a situation. That's why I wonder if it might relate to Someone Like You in the sense that the relationship ended, and rather than moving forward, there was a desire to hold on to parts of it. This can be hugely damaging. I feel like this is her way of looking back on that time and acknowledging all that was, what maybe could have been if the world was...different, and ultimately apologizing for her role/behavior in it.

I get the feeling this song is about someone who left a good relationship to make her dreams come true and after she achieved the success she wanted so badly, she realized it didn’t fill the place this love did, and the fact that she broke a heart and she may never feel that true love again is a hard trade off

This song makes me rethink "Someone Like You." The obvious interpretation with that particular song is she had her heartbroken, but tries to reconnect. It could also be interpreted as a person who broke a persons heart, but still tried to be in their life (likely to the detriment of the person who was hurt). I can imagine many of us have had the experience of a person ending a relationship, but still feeling entitled to the parts they want access to. With that idea in mind, this song could absolutely be a follow up to that. Not only an apology for the heartbreak, but the behavior that followed. Two things kind of frustrate me about this song. The idea that "at least she can say she tried to apologize," and the one that she can declare he is no longer "torn apart." Obviously I might be a bit biased in this, but my ex broke my heart in such a horrifically shitty fashion, and though I don't present as such, I'm absolutely still torn up about it. There are ways in which people can hurt each other that...ripple. For a very long time. I don't think the heartbreaker can say whether or not the person they hurt is recovered. And in general I don't like the idea of "at least I tried to apologize." If a person cuts you off so completely that you can't even speak to them to apologize, obviously whatever was done was bad enough that the attempt of an apology isn't going to carry much weight. Having said that, having Adele write a song apologizing to you certainly would feel pretty validating! :) Great song, and I look forward to the rest of the album.

First I thought why on earth would someone start a song that reeks of Lionel Richie, but then cleverly there are many references to other song titles in the lyrics - California Dreaming, Fall At Your Feet, Never Tear Us Apart etc. Just thought I'd mention it as I haven't seen it mentioned elsewhere.

I don't know if this is acually what the song is about, but it connects very well. When I first heard the song my mind of course went to Lionel Richie. As I looked farther into Lionel Richie's Hello, I found similarities that lead me to believe Adele's Hello is in response to Lionel Richie's. To set it up, Adele sings "It's me" showing the person she is singing to knows her well. Adele and Richie were in a past relationship. I think Lionel Richie and Adele are having a communication error. In the first verse of Richie's he is remembering Adele's character who used to "pass outside [his] door." Adele sings "Hello from the outside" or "the other side" (of the door.) Also Richie sings "In my dreams I've kissed your lips a thousand times. " It doesn't mean much but Adele also mentions a thousand times. In the first chorus of Richie's he still is dreaming about her. This is where the real conversation between Richie and Adele starts, but it is over the phone and their connection isn't good. Adele sings "did you ever make it out of that town" obviously looking for Richie. Richie doesn't hear her right and asks if it is him she is looking for. Adele says she is "sorry for breaking [Richie's] heart" and Richie tells her that his "arms are open wide" but Adele can't hear him and thinks it doesn't matter to him anymore. Richie realizes she isn't hearing him and says "I want to tell you so much I love you. Some people might think that the "million miles" is metaphorical, but I think it's just an over exaggeration to show that they live far away from each other. Richie says "I wonder where you are" enforcing the fact that they live far away from each other. Because they live far away, the cellphone reception isn't good. In the second verse, Richie still acknowledges how they can't communicate by saying "I long to...tell you time and time again how much I care." So that's pretty much it. Hello by Adele is a sort of response to Hello by Lionel Richie.

I think this song can really mean whatever you want it to mean. Adele said in her interview with Graham Norton that 25 isn't about her defining what it means, it is about what her listeners define it as. For me, Hello is about a love that never really would have worked but down the road, 20 years later you are reminded of it. You see them at a coffee shop, you find old photos of them. You start to reminisce about the relationship. All of a sudden, you realize in your maturity that you were wrong. You feel like you owe them an apology. So, you reach out to them but they never give you that satisfaction of accepting that apology. So you're left heartbroken. I think that we can all relate to this. Trying to apologize for something that you've done to someone but having it just be too late. They can't accept it and they won't ever accept it.

Wow! I totally agreed, until I thought about it and listened and watched the video some more. I thinking it's not about the guy from the other side of the tracks... but from the other side of mortality. I think it is about a love gone from her forever. WOW! I love how powerful she is at such a young age! Thank you Adele.. cant wait for the entire album to come out