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The recording on the album was intended as a demo. Hopefully not to re-live the entire sad and sordid tale, but one somehow suspects that it will be so.Īny interesting story or tidbit about process of the song winding up on the album? The chorus is ironic: she says she’s going to find someone else, but the strange and obsessive part is that she wants to find someone like him. “Someone Like You” is a love song from the point of view of a woman who shows up unexpectedly at her married ex’s front door, only to be confronted by the fact that he’s moved on and has a life and a wife. How would you describe “Someone Like You?” We just had a great, relaxing time all three times we wrote together. Plus, she’s very funny and spontaneous and tells good stories. Well, she’s a genius that makes it pretty enjoyable. What do you most enjoy about writing with Adele? On the second day, her voice had a rougher, more ragged edge, and I suggested we go back and re-record the last chorus so it would sound more emotional. Once we started recording, I was very much concentrated on making sure we got a killer vocal performance, because I was starting to think this was a special recording, and also she is such a pleasure to record! She sounds so great coming back out of the speakers, and I was dead set on making the song sound great but very natural, very vulnerable, very devastated. My main memory is feeling like everything was flowing very easily and honestly.
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Once we decided on the melody, she very quickly came up with that amazing line, “I hate to turn up out of the blue, uninvited.” Once you have a line that great, the rest of the section is easy to finish.
SOMEONE LIKE YOU A NOVEL SERIES
For the pre-chorus, for example, I suggested a series of chords and we played with some melody ideas for it. There may have been some points where I said, “I think that line can be better,” and I always throw in lines of lyrics in my sessions, but at this one, Adele knew exactly what she wanted to say, and my role was much more in composing the music and creating chord changes for the various sections. So I played piano for the rest of the session. She was playing it on the guitar, and she taught me the part, but when I switched to piano, she lit up. There Adele showed me the idea for the verse. Not counting whatever time Adele had spent sitting on the edge of her bed writing that first verse, we took two days.Īfter we listened to a bunch of Wanda Jackson songs on YouTube, we went to the main room of the studio where the piano is. How long did it take to write, and what was the co-writing process like? Were there any lines or words you can remember that were especially tough to make a decision on…that you went back and forth on? Alternate lines? She told me a little bit about the guy who broke up with her, and I think maybe part of my contribution was to help keep the song really simple and direct-very personal.
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She told me she wanted to write a song about her heartbreak…that was how she put it. Adele came to the session with lyrics and melody for the first half of the verse at least – there was a real vibe and idea already.
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