Grab a tissue. You're not the only one crying to Adele's new song
Adele's fans hailed the British singer's return Friday with the arrival of her highly anticipated single "Easy on Me," her first new song in six years and the first track from her forthcoming album "30."
In the 17 hours since its midnight release in the U.K., the Grammy and Oscar winner's new piano ballad garnered 28 million views on YouTube — making it the No. 1 music video trending on the site Friday — 13.6 million views on Instagram and 4.4 million views on Twitter. And counting.
"Easy on Me" also broke a Spotify record Friday, becoming the most-streamed song on the platform in a single day.
As the accompanying music video racked up plays, the robust comments section on her social media posts were the places to see and be seen by everyone from music luminaries to brand ambassadors.
The reception was warm and weepy, with everyone from Drake, Amazon's A.I. and clothing brands welcoming the 33-year-old belter back to the music arena — or canceling their weekend plans to get married and divorced to feel Adele's breakup lyrics more deeply.
The TikTok re-creations of Adele's driver-seat hand gestures and remixes were already in full swing and fans could not get enough of the callbacks to Adele's music videos for "Rolling in the Deep" and "Hello."
"SHELLINGS 🐚💖," Drake wrote on Instagram, praising the bold artist. "One of my best friends in the world just dropped a single," he added on his Instagram story.
"Go easy on me Adele… you always make me cry… 😭💔" commented "Clueless" star Alicia Silverstone, who also made an alcohol-soaked TikTok preparing for the single's arrival.
"Of course this is what u put out today when I am struggling 😫😫🤦," wrote reality star Tamar Braxton.
"You are the gift that keeps on giving," commented musician Tyrese. "Thank you for bringing your gifts back to music…. We all missed you so much!"
Actor Gabrielle Union dropped six heart emojis on Adele's snippet video. DJ Khaled chimed in with six fire emojis, but he was outdone by rapper Busta Rhymes who dropped in nine.
"Congratulations!!!!!!!!" wrote singer and actor Rita Wilson.
"What a voice!! You’re angelic @adele," wrote designer Donatella Versace.
"now we’re all happy crying 🥲🥲🥲," read a post on Instagram's official account.
The FacebookApp was a bit pithier, commenting: "She did not, in fact, go easy on us. 😭" The account also posted this on Twitter: "Officially cancelling my weekend plans to find someone to marry and divorce me."
"wind machine stocks 📈📈📈," wrote clothier Old Navy, referring to the video's opening sequence (and possibly Adele's amazing blowout).
"Girlies break up with ur manz…Adele has arrived to save us," added clothing brand Guess.
And Amazon's Alexa issued a statement with a directive: "Please try not to cry on me in the process of enjoying [queen] Adele."
One Twitter user was a mess of reactions, writing: "SCREAMING CRYING SOBBING THROWING UP YODELING"
And another demanded, "WRECK MY SOUL I AM READY."
But others were not as shook by the release, with one user tweeting a less-than-glowing review: "I love Adele. She has a great voice. Let's be honest tho. This is just more of the same. It sounds just like most of her other songs. It's boring. It's ok to criticize and not just say it's great because its Adele."
Adele's new album, "30," is scheduled to be released Nov. 19. Keep those tissues handy.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
