As part of covering ELLE's September 2022 global issue, Adele has made a video that takes fans behind the lyrics for some of her best-known songs. But one of the most surprising things revealed in the video is that her #1 hit "Hello" isn't about the heartbreak of a shattered romance ... it's about herself.
In the video, Adele is asked to talk about the meaning behind the lyrics "Hello from the outside/at least I can say that I'm tried/to tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart/but it don't matter/it clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore."
"I hadn't long had a baby when I wrote 'Hello,' and it was also on the 25 album, which was following 21, which just blew up ... it was massive," Adele recalls in the video. "So I guess I was a little bit of a stranger to myself in the way that my life had changed because of my career, but also becoming a mum."
"I missed my friends and I missed my life before being a mum, before being famous, all of those things," she continues. "And I feel like when you have a kid ... it brings up a lot to do with your own parents, because you're trying to be a parent ... so it was very much inspired by that."
And so, Adele reveals, "Hello" "was about my younger self. It was my older self talking to my younger self, like, 'Who am I?' I remember it very clearly. I don't feel like that at all anymore, which is a relief!"
In the video, Adele also reminisces about writing "Easy On Me," "Chasing Pavements," "All I Ask" and "Someone Like You."