Adele - Hello

Although I have decided on my song and have already begun to plan what I envisage for my video, I feel that a post on Adele's new song and video 'Hello' from her album 25 is vitally important in contemporary media practise as she has made such an impact with this piece of work. 'Hello' is the first release by Adele in three years, following the release of 'Skyfall'. Adele was very careful with the marketing strategy for her single, to be followed by the album. The profile of the album was kept low, and was unexpected, a very different strategy to other artists who promote their forthcoming albums on social media and advertising for months before a single is released, for example Justin Bieber's 'What Do You Mean'.


Adele kept the release under wraps, a promotional advertisement of the video was viewed on the 12th October, in an advertisement break of The X Factor on prime time UK television, a clever tactic in of itself given the estimated 6.8 million viewers watching. The clip itself was only a 30 second promo of her new material, as can be seen from the screen shot the clip was very minimalistic containing only the lyrics of the song written in white, to contrast the black background - whilst the audience listened to Adele singing the first part of the song. This was an incredibly clever marketing technique as it built hype, the buzz surrounding Adele and her music was created a full ten days before the release of the song.

This is the only post Adele made on her social media before the release of the song 'Hello', it is so effective given its honesty, Adele connects with her fans through her realism and the personalisation of the letter makes the fan feel connected to Adele and her life - all creating hype surrounding the release of her song/ album. The song 'Hello' was released on the 22nd of October 2015 and broke several records. The result of Adele's marketing tactics and the effect of keeping the audience in suspense resulted in explosive gain for Adele and the video currently has over 222 million views. 'Hello' broke the Vevo record for the most amount of views in 24 hours, with over 27.7 million views, eclipsing Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' which previously held the record. Perhaps most impressively is the other record of reaching 100 million views on YouTube within 5 days, a record previously held by Miley Cyrus for the controversial, 'Wrecking Ball'.

There is definitely a sense of synergy within Adele's work, her album covers are a prime example of this as they show a sense of progression. The same style of shot is used, an artistic close up or extreme close up is the focus of the cover to emphasise Adele's status as the artist. The editing of the albums are important also, much of Adele's work and her album covers have a black and white effect, there is convergence between this and the sepia effect throughout Adele's 'Hello'. A black and white effect is very classic, and minimalistic and this has become a kind of motif for Adele, therefore the new album cover is an example of convergence, it is instantly recognisable to fans to be the work of Adele, and is a continuation of Adele's successful 'branding' as an artist.