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Adele · S4 E6
Set Fire to the Rain
The album's third single and the one that proves 21 is not a one-hit record. It charts worldwide while she is recovering from surgery.
Summer 2011. "Set Fire to the Rain" is climbing the charts in thirty countries simultaneously while Adele, backstage at a concert in Minneapolis, feels something tear in her throat.
Adele, "Set Fire to the Rain" (official music video, 2011). Rain falls in a dark room while Adele sings about destroying something you love. The production builds from hushed verses to a thundering chorus that fills every corner. By the time this video was released, the voice making these sounds was already in danger.
Set Fire to the Rain
Co-written with Fraser T. Smith, "Set Fire to the Rain" is built on a dramatic arrangement that shifts from whispered verses to an explosive chorus within seconds. The production layers acoustic guitar, strings, and programmed drums into something that feels both intimate and enormous. The bridge is where Adele pushes to her upper limit on a sustained note before dropping back to a near-whisper. That dynamic range, quiet to deafening in a single phrase, is exactly the quality that was putting impossible strain on her vocal cords every night on tour.
The Third Single
"Set Fire to the Rain" is the third single from 21 and the one that proves the album isn't slowing down. It reaches number one in the US, making Adele the first female artist to have two singles and two albums in the Billboard top five simultaneously. The song is relentless on the charts and relentless on her voice.
TAP TO REVEAL: What was already happening to Adele's voice while this song was at number one?
“"I knew something was wrong. I could feel it every night. But the shows were sold out and I didn't want to let anyone down."”
What chart record did Adele set with "Set Fire to the Rain" and her other singles from 21?
I Put a Spell on You, Nina Simone
From Nina Simone's I Put a Spell on You (1965). Simone takes Screamin' Jay Hawkins' original and transforms it from a novelty into a declaration of obsessive, consuming love. The vocal builds with the same relentless intensity that defines "Set Fire to the Rain": starting in control and ending somewhere between a plea and a threat. This is the lineage Adele belongs to. Women who sing like they're burning the room down from the inside.
I Put a Spell on You, Nina Simone (1965)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Simone's version turns a rock and roll novelty into something genuinely dangerous. The same emotional escalation, controlled verse to uncontrolled chorus, is exactly what Adele does on "Set Fire to the Rain." The difference is that by 2011, the escalation was costing Adele her voice.
Set Fire to the Rain
The charts keep climbing but the voice keeps failing. Next episode: a vocal cord haemorrhage, emergency surgery in Boston, and the terrifying question nobody wants to ask: will Adele ever sound the same again?
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