On Friday, October 23^rd, world renowned singer/songwriter, Adele, released her first single, “Hello”, after taking a three year hiatus. In just two days, the song and its music video has broken a series of records including the most watched YouTube video in 24 hours accumulating a whopping 25 million views. This figure even surpasses Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” video which had 20 million views in its first 24 hours. Unlike Swift and many other successful artists who actively promote their new music, Adele simply tweeted a letter that described what her new album meant to her on a personal level and posted a photo with a caption about the release of her new song and video to Instagram the day before its set release.

Along with the new single and its video, Adele also revealed that her third album, “25”, will be released on November 20^th and released its track list. Unlike her other albums, “19” and “21”, Adele told Apple Music that her third album will be her last one that has an age as the title. Her last album, “21”, spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, which is the most weeks atop the list for any album by a female artist. The album has been on the charts ever since its release (243 weeks and counting) and has also been named the UK’s best-selling album of the millennium. “21” includes viral hits such as “Rolling in the Deep”, “Someone Like You”, and “Set Fire to the Rain”, three songs that reached number one and remained there for at least two weeks.

The official music video for “Hello” was directed by Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan. Its sepia tone and symbolism gives the video a dramatic effect. Critics and fans, however, were quick to criticize Dolan’s choice of using a flip phone in the video and joked that both Adele and the flip phone made a comeback. Dolan told the LA Times that “[…] the real explanation is that I never like filming modern phones or cars. They’re so implanted in our lives that when you see them in movies you’re reminded you’re in reality. If you see an iPhone or a Toyota in a movie, they’re anti-narrative, they take you out of the story,” He also explained that the phone serves as an element of the past and is supposed to symbolize Adele’s memory of a past relationship.

As the powerful ballad has risen to number one on the charts, it is evident that Adele’s powerful voice is treasured and that millions are thankful for her return.