Dear Gossips,

So how many times did you listen to Adele’s “Easy On Me” this weekend? Pretty sure some of you, at the very least, because it’s broken all kinds of streaming records which was inevitable…even if Adele didn’t think so. Remember what she said in her Vogue interview?

“And she still takes measures to avoid ramping up her fame. She avoided writing a certain kind of song for the next album, for instance. “There isn’t a bombastic ‘Hello,’” she tells me at one point. “But I don’t want another song like that. That song catapulted me in fame to another level that I don’t want to happen again. I’m not saying I’ve got ‘Hello’s in my pocket. I was just conscious that I didn’t want my story on this album to sound like that.”

“Easy On Me” may not be as “bombastic” as “Hello” but it’s not like it doesn’t have mass critical appeal like “Hello” did. Like “Hello” it’s one of those songs that feels like you know it right away. That becomes familiar the first time you hear it. Sometimes it takes me a while to remember a song. And then there are some songs that you can hum immediately as soon as it’s over. That’s what happens often with an Adele song. That’s why she’s just delivered another monster hit.

In addition to the song, Adele’s video for “Easy On Me” is also getting major play, with over 71 million views on YouTube at the time of this writing. The video, as we know, was directed by Xavier Dolan, who also directed the video for “Hello” – both were filmed in Quebec, where Xavier was born and raised. Adele just posted to Instagram about Xavier last night, calling him her “creative soul mate”.

Now it’s a matter of just how big this album will be when it drops on November 19 – and what kind of promotion she’ll be doing for it. Will she return to Saturday Night Live as musical guest? Or musical guest and host? It’s not like they wouldn’t want her back. Ratings were strong when she hosted last year and it’s definitely the right demo. Also wondering if she’s going to do something with James Corden.

Adele and James Corden are close. She, Harry Styles, and James went on holiday together last year. And then of course there was Carpool Karaoke in 2016, after the release of her album 25. That Carpool Karaoke is considered by many to be one of the very best of the series, so worth the rewatch.

James, by the way, was seen this weekend hanging out with Adele’s boyfriend, Rich Paul, so those circles are definitely overlapping:

Rich Paul and James Corden at Soho House in Malibu, October 17, 2021

James’s show is a CBS property. And look what Adele just announced:

Adele said she was getting ready to be super famous again. Well, this is Adele in primetime. It’s Adele season.

Yours in gossip,

Lainey

Xavier Dolan Gossip

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