Lydia Jenkin: Is Adele's new song any good?

Singer Adele in a scene from the music video for her song Hello.

With that simple, initial plaintive "Hello", it's hard not to launch into Lionel Richie's 1983 hit in your head. But Adele's conquered the "Is it me your looking for?" comparison, and the airwaves, with the release of the first single from her upcoming album 25.

It broke all sorts of records over the weekend. It broke the one-day streaming records on both Spotify and Vevo, where it had 27.7 million views (and before this went to print it was close to 90 million). It went to number 1 on iTunes in 85 countries, and looks set to create a new benchmark in the category of one-week US digital song sales.

So apart from the fact that she's Adele, and everyone was curious to hear what would come next after a four-year gap between albums, why is Hello on repeat in every house in the UK?

It's both achingly familiar, and a step forward for the English lass - a sequel to Someone Like You that somehow also feels more assured and more mature than her past works. There's a sense of weight and confidence in the song's simplicity.

The simple four repeating piano chords which open the track, with subtle bass and percussion slowly added, leave all the focus squarely on her voice, throbbing with emotion, even when orchestral bells, breathy backing vocals, and ever-so-slightly 80s ambient synths are added to the mixture in the three, 50-second choruses.

Sure, it's a pretty conventional ballad, but it's less restless than her previous work, more accepting, grounded in the authenticity of her performance.

There's a nice knowing glance every now and then too - an acknowledgment of the ballads that came before, like the lyrical nod to California Dreamin' by The Mamas & the Papas, and the line "It's so typical of me to talk about myself, sorry" as a sort of sly dig at the many songs of heartbreak out there already.

There's no doubt this is a blockbuster track though, one that somehow manages to outdo Adele's previous successes, both artistically and commercially.

* What do you think of Hello? Post your comments below...