Say “Hello” to Greatness, Adele.

Wow.

Do you want to know one of the things that dictates true greatness?  It’s the drive and the ability to continue to produce, even when you could have walked away long ago with a perfectly solidified legacy.

This is the case for Adele, with her new single “Hello”, which has already gained over 7 million views on YouTube.

Admittedly, Adele has been out of the spotlight for quite a while now. The thing is, though, that I don’t think anybody was terribly upset about that.

We had “Someone Like You” to play when our confidence had taken a blow due to romance gone astray. We had “Rolling In The Deep” to help inspire us after we decided to dust ourselves off and decided to move on.

Honestly, we were satisfied. Adele could have walked away and remained one of the better artists of our generation, with her no-gimmick-all-talent style that has yet to be duplicated.

She could have gone out on top. What did she do instead?

Adele, somehow, topped herself and made damn sure that she’ll never fade in the minds of anyone old enough to remember her.

This comeback was masterfully executed thanks in part to an interesting change of context. For perhaps the first time, Adele wasn’t the victim of heartbreak, but rather the sole cause of someone else’s.

We as listeners are invited to take the all-too-familiar trip through the regret, shame, guilt, and near obsession that comes with causing irreparable heartbreak to another. The song’s lyrics almost give the impression that she’s speaking directly to us, either posing as the words we wish someone else once told us, or mimicking the thoughts that crawl through our own heads after betraying a past partner.

Adele has now given us both sides of the story. After years of experiencing the pain of heartbreak, we now get to live through the helpless desolation that comes with knowing that you corrupted something that may never be again.

The great punctuation of it all is that, much like many events in life, the song doesn’t get to have happy ending.

Welcome to greatness, Adele.