Chart Toppers: Adele – “Set Fire to the Rain”

British vocal artist Adele is a bona fied musical and cultural phenomenon.  Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” is the biggest crossover hit of the past 25 years, topping rock, pop, AC, R&B/hip-hop, dance and Latin charts. Adele is one of four female artists to have an album chart at number one for more than 13 weeks.

Buy "Adele Live at Royal Albert Hall" at Amazon

She followed up the raucous success of 21 with a high-budget video concert release.  Live at the Royal Albert Hall was released in November 2011, debuting at number one in the US with 96,000 copies sold, the highest one-week tally for a music DVD in four years, becoming the best-selling music DVD of 2011. The video for “Set Fire to the Rain” is the performance we’re featuring this week from the DVD.

21 was produced by the now-legendary Rick Rubin, who has worked with iconic musicians from nearly every genre and pulled performances out of all of them that are considered measuring standards. Adele’s latest is no different.

Notorious for his unorthodox production style, Rubin pushed the singer beyond her comfort zone, and despite being drawn to his unconventional methods, Adele described working with the producer as daunting. Rubin refused to let Adele rely on pre-recorded music, samples or any type of electronic device during primary tracking. He chose to bring in a live band who had to make their parts up on the spot, something that’s rarely ever done these days, due to the imposing cost.

It worked out in Adele’s favor, however. She won 6 Grammy nominations and to date, has sold more albums in a single year by any other female artist. “Set Fire to the Rain” became Adele’s third number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, as Adele became the first artist ever to have an album hold the number one position on the Billboard 200 concurrently with three number one singles.

Have a look and listen for another example of why this girl continues to stun the world with her voice and poise. ‘Til next time, truckers!