#ThrowbackThursday: “Chasing Pavements” by Adele

by Sean Smith

Finally, after years of waiting and months of anticipation, Adele will be releasing her new album 25 this week. The new record is only her third album, and will be her first since 2011’s 21 catapulted her into music superstardom.

In late October the first single from 25, “Hello,” was released to much critical and commercial acclaim. It quickly reached the top spot on the music charts in 26 countries. The video was released on Vevo, where it quickly broke a number of records. It became the most watched video in a 24-hour period, with over 27 million views in that time, and also became the quickest video to reach over 100 million total views, taking just 5 days.

Earlier this week Adele released another new track from her upcoming album. This time it was released on her Vevo page, and it came in the form of a live performance video. It shows her performing the song “When We Were Young” at The Church Studios in London where she recorded much of the new album.

Adele first captured the hearts of mainstream music fans when she released her 2011 album 21. The success of singles like “Rolling in the Deep,” “Someone Like You,” and “Set Fire to the Rain” made the singer/songwriter a household name across the world. The autobiographical nature of the album as a whole also helped Adele earn the prestigious Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2012.  There is no denying that 21 served as Adele’s launching pad into music superstardom, but it was not her first taste of critical and/or commercial success.

In 2008 Adele released her debut album 19. The album debuted in the UK at the top of the album charts, and would later help the singer take home the Grammy Award in 2009 for Best New Artist. The second single for the album was “Chasing Pavements,” a song that Adele wrote about a time when she was deciding whether or not to stay with a boyfriend even though she knew the relationship wasn’t going anywhere. The song won Adele another Grammy Award in 2009, this time for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It was also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, but lost in both categories.

Adele performed the song in the U.S. on NBC’s Saturday Night Live in October of 2008. That performance was seen by a huge audience who tuned in to watch then Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin make an appearance on the program just prior to her failed election bid with Sen. John McCain. One of the people who tuned in that night was none other than famed music producer Rick Rubin, who loved what he heard out of Adele that night. He praised her ability to perform live. Rubin would later work with her on 21 and capitalize on her ability to sing so well live. Rubin produced four songs to include “One and Only” and “Don’t You Remember” on the record and he had Adele singing live with accompanying musicians playing live along with her.

So with Adele releasing her highly anticipated third studio album 25 this week, today we remember a hit from her debut record with “Chasing Pavements.” Enjoy.

Adele 

“Chasing Pavements.”

From 19

XL Recordings