Hometown Glory

"Hometown Glory"
Single by Adele
from the album 19
Released 22 October 2007
Format
Recorded November 2006–June 2007
Length
  • 4:31 (album version)
  • 3:37 (radio edit)
Label
  • Pacemaker
  • XL
Writer(s) Adele Adkins
Producer(s) Jim Abbiss
Adele singles chronology
"Hometown Glory"
(2007)		 "Chasing Pavements"
(2008)
Adele singles chronology
"Cold Shoulder"
(2008)		 "Hometown Glory"
(re-release)
(2008)		 "Make You Feel My Love"
(2008)
Alternative cover
"Hometown Glory" re-release cover on XL Recordings
Music video
"Hometown Glory" on YouTube

"Hometown Glory" is the debut single by British singer Adele, released on 22 October 2007 in the United Kingdom. The song appears on her debut studio album 19 (2008). In 2008, the song was re-released as her fourth single. Adele wrote the song in 10 minutes after her mother tried to persuade her to leave her home suburb of West Norwood in London for university. "Hometown Glory" is the first song that Adele ever wrote.[1]

In 2007, "Hometown Glory" was released on singer Jamie T's Pacemaker Recordings label as a limited edition 7" vinyl single, of which only 500 copies were made.[2] The song failed to chart initially. However, due to high downloads of the song during the release week of 19, the song managed to chart inside the UK Singles Chart top 40 for the first time. In 2010, the song received a Grammy nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance,[3] but lost to Beyoncé's "Halo".

Background and composition

As mentioned, "Hometown Glory" was re-released on 21 July 2008 as the follow-up to second single "Cold Shoulder". The song was added to Radio 1's B-list on 18 June 2008, and moved up to Radio 1's A-list on 2 July 2008. Its B-side now featured Adele's brand-new cover of the Etta James song 'Fool That I Am', which was recorded during a live performance in Cambridge.[4] The song was later released in 2008 as Adele's debut single for the US market. Due to its popularity in the UK, which resulted in it charting inside the top 40 twice on download sales alone, it was (re-)released as the third single (fourth including the original single release) from the album on 21 July 2008. As of July 2008, the song has become Adele's third consecutive top 20 hit single.

The song is played in the key of B♭ minor with an intro at a tempo of 60 beats per minute, before changing to 124 beats per minute. Adele's vocal range is D♭3-A5.[5] "Hometown Glory" follows the chord progression B♭m – D♭/A♭ – D♭/F – G♭maj7.

Music video

The initial limited edition vinyl release of "Hometown Glory" does not have a promo video. In June 2008 XL released a Paul Dugdale-directed live video for the single's re-release. In April 2009 Columbia finally released a proper promo video directed by Rocky Schenck and filmed at Sony Pictures Studios on Stage 29.[6] The video shows Adele singing while backdrops of American cities are moved around her.

In the media

On 7 April 2008, "Hometown Glory" was featured in the critically acclaimed, teen drama series Skins, resulting in the song re-entering the UK Singles Chart top 40 at #32. Later that month, on 24 April 2008, the song was featured in episode 5.15 of One Tree Hill. On 22 May 2008, the song was featured in the season four finale of Grey's Anatomy. According to Adele's manager Jonathan Dickins, the powerful music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas chose the song after seeing Adele perform it at the Hotel Café in Los Angeles following a recommendation by Columbia Records' creative licensing staffer Jonathan Palmer.[7] On 10 June 2008, the song was used on popular UK soap Hollyoaks, where it has been used again on the 13 October 2008 episode. It was used again on Hollyoaks in the 10 November 2010 episode which featured the death of one of the UK's most popular television characters Steph Cunningham. The opening of the song played as Steph said goodbye to screen-husband Gilly Roach, choosing to perish in a house fire rather than face death from the cervical cancer they had been informed was terminal. The episode was a season-high for Hollyoaks, viewed by 2.12 million viewers (including timeshift and E4 figures, 0.7, a high for the channel) – a high figure for a non-BBC or ITV show.

On 2 July 2008, it was featured on Season 4 of So You Think You Can Dance in a Mia Michaels' contemporary dance by Katee Shean and eventual winner, Joshua Allen. It also featured in a season 2 episode of Secret Diary of a Call Girl. A remixed version of the song was featured in the superhero drama-comedy Misfits. The track has recently been used on advertisements and promotional scenes for the UK soap Coronation Street. The song was featured in a season 1 episode of American teen drama series 90210. It was also featured on The Hills. The song was sampled by Mississippi Rapper Big K.R.I.T. on his single "Hometown Hero," in Big Sean's song Hometown from his mixtape Finally Famous Vol. 3: BIG, by French Rapper La Fouine on his song "Vecu" featuring French rapper Kamelancien, by The OCS on his song "Hometown" featuring Glasses Malone, Jay Rock and XO, by Montreal rapper Boy6lue in his song "Hometown" featuring Two Two, and by Minneapolis hippy-hop artist Mod Sun on his song "The Same Way" as well as being used by many British rappers. The song has been used in various soap operas in accompaniment to the deaths of Danielle Jones, Steph Roach, Joe McIntyre, Archie Mitchell, and Bradley Branning. It has also been used in EastEnders: Revealed. Various reality singing and talent shows use the song in between performances such as The X Factor (UK), The X Factor (Australia), Britain's Got Talent and Australia's Got Talent. The song was used memorably at the end of Julien Temple's 2012 documentary, 'London: The Modern Babylon', debuted on BBC in August 2012 to coincide with the end of the Olympic Games and takes its place in the film alongside other London anthems including 'London Calling' by The Clash and 'Waterloo Sunset' by the Kinks.

Track listings

Original release

7-inch vinyl
  1. "Hometown Glory"
  2. "Best For Last"

Re-release

CD single
  1. "Hometown Glory" 4:32
  2. "Fool That I am" (Live) 3:45
Digital EP
  1. "Hometown Glory" 3:40
  2. "Hometown Glory" (Axwell Radio Edit) 3:35
  3. "Hometown Glory" (Axwell Club Mix) 5:11
  4. "Hometown Glory" (Axwell Remode) 5:55
  5. "Hometown Glory" (High Contrast Remix) 6:36
  6. "Hometown Glory" (High Contrast Remix) [Instrumental] 6:35
7-inch vinyl
  1. "Hometown Glory" 4:32
  2. "Fool That I am" (Live) 3:45
12-inch vinyl
  1. "Hometown Glory" (High Contrast remix)
  2. "Hometown Glory" (High Contrast remix instrumental)

Official remixes

Charts

On 13 April 2008, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at #32 following its showcase on an episode of Skins. On 6 July 2008, it re-entered the chart at #74 and then climbed to #49 the following week. It eventually peaked at #19 on 27 July 2008, following its physical release.

Weekly charts

Chart (2007–12) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[8] 3
Belgium (Ultratip Wallonia)[9] 14
European Hot 100 Singles[10] 58
France (SNEP)[11] 51
Ireland (IRMA)[12] 78
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] 25
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[14] 86
Scotland (Official Charts Company)[15] 18
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[16] 19

Year-end charts

Country (2008) Position
United Kingdom[17] 162

Certification

Region Certification Certified units/Sales
Canada (Music Canada)[18] Gold 40,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[19] Gold 400,000double-dagger
United States (RIAA)[20] Gold 500,000double-dagger

^shipments figures based on certification alone
double-daggersales+streaming figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Pacemaker Recordings web site". Pacemakerrecordings.com. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  3. ↑ "TWO-TIME GRAMMY AWARD WINNER ADELE TO PERFORM ON CBS INTERACTIVE MUSIC GROUP'S "LIVE ON LETTERMAN" WEBCAST SERIES" (Press release). CBS. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
  4. ↑ "Adele interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' July 2008". Bluesandsoul.com. Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  5. ↑ "Adele: Hometown Glory Sheet Music". sheetmusicdirect.com. © Copyright 2007 Universal Music Publishing Limited.
  6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvFJLXboQic
  7. ↑ "Interview with Jonathan Dickins". HitQuarters. 14 Jul 2008. Retrieved 18 Feb 2011.
  8. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Adele – Hometown Glory" (in Dutch). Ultratip.
  9. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Adele – Hometown Glory" (in French). Ultratip.
  10. ↑ "Chart Search Results - European Hot 100 Singles 2008-08-09". Billboard.biz. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  11. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Adele – Hometown Glory" (in French). Les classement single.
  12. ↑ "Irish Charts Portal: Discography Adele". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2015-11-24.
  13. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Adele search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40.
  14. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Adele – Hometown Glory" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
  15. ↑ "Archive Chart: 2008-07-27". Scottish Singles Top 40. Retrieved 2 October 2015.
  16. ↑ "ADELE – The Official Charts Company". Theofficialcharts.com. Retrieved 2011-02-20.
  17. ↑ "UK ChartPlus - Official singles chart - 2008" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-08-07.
  18. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – Adele – Hometown Glory". Music Canada. Retrieved 16 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "British single certifications – Adele – Hometown Glory". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 19 August 2016. Enter Hometown Glory in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select single in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
  20. ↑ "American single certifications – Adele – Hometown Glory". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 11 October 2016. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
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