Why Is “Hello” No. 1? How Adele Formulated the Ultimate Comeback Song.
Yes, “Hello, it’s me” is the actual opening line of Adele’s new hit. Has a first single from a superstar album ever arrived more freighted with persona?
A crucial part of being a star is knowing how to make an entrance. Perhaps no one knew this better than golden-age movie stars. They made entrances that pretended to be about the material but were really all about them. Picture Rita Hayworth, flipping her hair and issuing a mock-surprised “Me?” in 1946’s Gilda. Or Lana Turner, rolling a lipstick case across the floor and framing her legs in a doorway just so in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Or Orson Welles, in 1949’s The Third Man, preening and smirking from a streetlit doorway, as if to say, That’s right, folks, it really is me.
Yes, “Hello, it’s me” is the actual opening line of Adele’s new hit. Has a first single from a superstar album ever arrived more freighted with persona?
A crucial part of being a star is knowing how to make an entrance. Perhaps no one knew this better than golden-age movie stars. They made entrances that pretended to be about the material but were really all about them. Picture Rita Hayworth, flipping her hair and issuing a mock-surprised “Me?” in 1946’s Gilda. Or Lana Turner, rolling a lipstick case across the floor and framing her legs in a doorway just so in The Postman Always Rings Twice. Or Orson Welles, in 1949’s The Third Man, preening and smirking from a streetlit doorway, as if to say, That’s right, folks, it really is me.