Adele's New Music Video is Just Gorgeous

You can't deny that Adele is a bit of a superstar.

Although she didn't attend last night's Billboard Music Awards, she was there in spirit by releasing her latest music video for the Send My Love track off her chart-topping album, 25, on the unsuspecting crowd.

Gorgeous' director Patrick Daughters spoke to shots about keeping it simple, relating to the lyrics and getting to know Adele... for real.

Adele always strikes me as the sort of artist that has a strong idea of what she wants to create visually with her music. Was there a brief from Adele for this song and if so, what was it?

Nope, it was totally open.  Normally the chance to do a video without the artist is quite appealing but this was an exception.  Nothing, I thought, would be more compelling than seeing her.

How did you approach the music video and was there a certain pressure to match up to the success of the previous songs off the album?

I wanted to do something very simple that focused on her performance in an uninterrupted way, which is something I hadn't seen in her previous videos.  There was never any pressure because of the previous successes.  On the contrary, it's exciting that her audience is so massive and enthusiastic.  

This song seems to be about letting go and moving on from a past love… What’s the music video actually about?

Here's an excerpt from the treatment:

Listening to the song I was struck by the idea of letting go of our ghosts. This video is a performance piece that embodies that idea. Ghosts in this case are versions of ourselves that remain stuck at particular point in the past. So, when Adele sings about letting go of all of our ghosts, I picture other versions of her that are in a different place emotionally than where she is now.

In terms of execution, the basic idea was to film several long takes of her performing the song from start to finish, then layer them over top of one another.  

All the imperfections and differences between the takes are of course what make it interesting.  

Differences in emotion, gesture, timing, and camerawork.

Adele understood very clearly how it would all come together.  

She shaded her performance differently for each take, sometimes line by line.

Part of Adele’s success in my opinion is her ability to bring raw emotion to her music. How important was it to use the lyrics as the storyline and narrative of the music video?

Not terribly as there's no overt narrative to the video.  The narrative behind the lyrics is something that we sense only through her performance.  

Once the teaser was released last week, many people were quick to speculate online that the video was more colourful than previous videos from the album, partly because Adele isn’t wearing black. Was this a decision made by her or by the creatives involved and why was this right for this particular song?

The texture of this particular dress worked well for the technique.  On this particular song she was happy to go for a look that was a bit lighter than what people have come to expect from her.  Not sure if you can see it but she's barefoot.  There's a nice balance between formal and personal.  

The spot will premiered at the Billboard Music Awards last night, what’s the significance of releasing the music video at an event of this sort?

It's immensely gratifying to know it will be released that way. A captive audience for once, at least inside the award show... It reminds me of when I grew up, there was this thing called Music Television or MTV. She was nominated for quite a few awards but she's on tour so she couldn't go. It's very flattering to think that the video is somehow a proxy for her appearance.  Even if it's not true.

Good thing she ended up being in the video.  

And of course, I have to ask… What was it like working with Adele?

She's the real deal. It's funny... When I tell people she's really sharp and funny and a total pro, they always respond, "Yeah, that's what I thought"

Everybody feels like they know her. Maybe they do.