Someone Like You

Adele's Someone Like You is a song that's going to be considered "a classic" in a short year. It's party due to the great songwriting craft behind it and partly because of Adele's incredible voice. The song is about one of her relationships that had a bitter end and Adele's trying to get over the heartache. Someone Like You is one of the few ballads that managed to become number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is a single from her second album 21.

General information

Writers: Adele Adkins and Daniel Wilson
Producers: Adele Adkins and Daniel Wilson
Genre: AC (adult contemporary), pop, blues and soul
Tempo: 67 beats per minute
Key: A major
Vocals span from F#3 to E5.
Instruments: lead and background vocals, piano
Duration: 04:46
The song ends without a fade out.

Someone Like You Chords

This song is mainly for intermediate piano players. There are some more complex chords in this song. If you'd like to find out how to play them, check out the piano chord chart or even learn how to play chords very quickly and easily. It's definitely worth learning to play this song. You know the rule: the more hit songs you learn to play, the better melodies you'll be able to write yourself. Soon it'll be second nature to you!

Intro: A, C#m/G#, F#m, D

Verses: A, C#m/G#, F#m, D (3 times)

Pre-Choruses: E9, F#m, D, E9, F#m, D, E/D (E9, F#m, D, E9, F#m, D, D5-, D, D5- the second time)

Choruses: A, E, F#m, D (5 times)

Bridge: E, F#m, E, Bm, C#m, D, D5-

Outro: D, D/E, D7+, D, A

Structure

There isn't anything unusual about the structure of Someone Like You: Verse 1 / Pre-Chorus / Chorus / Verse 2 / Pre-Chorus / Chorus / Bridge / Chorus / Chorus. It's important to note, however, that the first verse is a little longer than the last one, which is pretty usual but it's a great method if you want to avoid predictability in your song.

Melody

The greatest thing about the melody of Someone Like You is that there is so much contrast. The choruses can easily be separated from the rest of the song. They are much more intense than any other part. This is something that's true about almost all hit songs, however, in case of this one it's taken to an extreme. This is why the melody carries so much emotion and you can't help but empathize with Adele.

The transitions from pre-chorus to chorus are a work of genius. There is always a little pause between them, which makes the listener curious of what's going to come. It creates a feeling of suspense that is finally resolved by the chorus.

Lyrics
The Someone Like You kind of lyrics are rare these days. Short, simple phrases, conversational, easy-to-understand language is popular nowadays. This song, however, has a completely different style. It's very mature, elegant and sophisticated. There are several metaphors and scenes described in it, which make it accessible and easy to understand though.
The title of this song is not very unique but does a good job at making us interested in "what's that someone like?".


Verse 1 cleverly takes us into a situation and first mentions Adele's problem only in the fourth line. Therefore it comes as a (little) surprise.


The song has some very nice rhymes in it. The rhyme patterns of verses are AABB(CC), the pre-choruses are AAAB, the choruses are AABBB, and the bridge is AABBCD.


The number of syllables is around 7-11-7-11 in the verses. This way the writers could already include some contrast in the first few lines. Every other line of the verses has to be sung a little faster this way. The pre-choruses have a similar faster-slower pattern and the chorus lines are all slower and last longer, which is another great contrast.


What Can We Learn From All This?
Someone Like You is not your typical hit song. It's much deeper, more mature and sophisticated than 99% of the songs on the charts. Adele's amazing vocals are essential to sell this song. Without an extremely talented singer, it could be a great song but wouldn't be at the top of the charts in my opinion. This song definitely wasn't written with commerciality in mind. And it's great. You don't always have to stick to all the rules of a hit song to have a hit. Of course, you'll increase your chances if you do but every now and then an amazing, different song comes out that sweeps everybody off their feet immediately. This is a great example for such a song.


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