Adele - 'Cold Shoulder'
I think it's fairly safe to say at this point that the marketing push for the so-called "New Amys" (and let's face it, given the state of the Old Amy these days, keeping a couple of spares on hand is just good sense) has been a roaring success, with Adele and Duffy taking up considerable amounts of valuable Top 10 real estate in 2008 with their singles and albums. Forgive me, though, if I remain a little suspicious. I'm naturally wary of anyone who has , partially because anything genuinely deserving of an award ought to get one on its own merits in the end, surely? Perhaps I'm just getting old, but what ever happened to the good things coming to those who wait, eh?
Fogeydom aside, I'll admit I'm not a massive fan of Adele. I thought 'Chasing Pavements' amounted to a big mass of nothing, and found 'Hometown Glory' embarrassingly naive. I'm impressed by 'Cold Shoulder', though: it's a definite step in the right direction, with the tempo raised and chilling strings. No prizes for spotting the production presence of Mark Ronson in this though, I'm afraid - the deployment of most of his trademarks make his involvement here as obvious as one of Adele's metaphors.
(The also spotted 'Cold Shoulder's potential, but is a tad less worried about her lyrics...)
It's a shrewd move on Adele's part - after all, if you're being touted as the new Winehouse, might as well get on board with her BFF and collaborator nice and early - but it makes me wonder whether this track ultimately alters my opinion of her after all, since the (over)production is the main thing that really grabs you about it. In the same way that it's depressing when people who are quite capable of making excellent records of their own start talking about their exciting new collaboration with Timbaland because they think that's what they need to do to have a hit these days, if Adele is such an amazing talent, does she really need to rope in the hot producer du jour to help her out?
There are some moments on the single where Adele's vocals are truly, beautifully haunting, and I'm not denying that as a singer she has serious chops. But some of my previous issues with her as an artist remain on the table: the lyrics are too simplistic, even childlike, and dear God, sometimes I want to sit her down with an elocution teacher and explain to her how certain words are pronounced. "Fault" is not equal to "fool", and "see" is not equal to "say".
All of which ultimately leaves me a little unsure how to grade this. I do think it's a compelling song, and one which deserves to be a hit, but if you pick it apart even just a little bit, I can't help wondering if the strengths in this song are perhaps four parts Ronson to one part Adele, like diluting orange squash to make it more palatable. And so, I'm going to sit squarely on the fence with this one.
Download: Out now
CD Released: April 21st
(Steve Perkins)
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