Following the release of her highly-anticipated album 25, Adele gave a performance on Saturday Night Live of two of her newest tracks. As Matthew McConaughey, who was hosting on the night, introduced her, the crowd screamed with joy and excitement before she absolutely killed it both times. The two previous SNL performance by Sia and Disclosure were phenomenal, so the bar was already set pretty high, but any and all expectations were totally blown out of the water after this.
I can tell you now that she was jaw-droppingly incredible. I’m sure you already knew that, because she’s Adele.
Hello was first up. The recorded version is heart wrenching enough, but singing it live takes it to a whole other level. It’s so raw, it hurts. Adele stands still with a band, back-up singers and a cello player behind her. There’s nothing to distract us as the song takes us in. All eyes are on Adele. Her voice is pitch-perfect as she draws us in and slays our hearts as the chorus roars. She finishes, and as the crowd practically explodes with adoration she reacts by pulling a funny face, casually reminding us that under all the grace and talent she is still a normal person – as hard as it is to believe.
When We Were Young was the second performance of the night. This is the newest single from her which is, in my opinion, even more heartbreaking than the last. We once again open to her standing still on the dark stage, with just a piano playing. If you watch this performance and it doesn’t have you wiping drops of water from your cheeks or at least on the brink of tears, you should probably get your heart checked.
Overall, she was amazing. After this, we can’t wait to see who will grace the stage next week.