A Rock Star Co-Wrote Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’

Adele‘s “Someone like You” is a pop masterpiece. Interestingly, it was co-written by the “Rolling in the Deep” singer and a 1990s alternative rock star. The star in question explained how he came to work with Adele.

Adele’s ‘Someone like You’ wouldn’t exist without a major rap producer 

Dan Wilson is a rock musician who was part of the band Semisonic. That band is most known for the 1990s alternative rock/easy-listening hit “Closing Time.” “Closing Time” displays some of the same no-frills emotionality that “Someone like You” has, and both songs are built around deceptively simple piano melodies. Listen to either song once and you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.

During a 2021 interview with American Songwriter, Wilson discussed how he came to work with the “Rumor Has It” singer before she became a star. “Adele and I met for the first time at our session at Harmony Studio in Hollywood, about a year and a half ago,” he said. “[Rap producer] Rick Rubin, among other people, had called us both and suggested we work together. Rick’s opinion carries a lot of weight in my world.”

Wilson and Adele listened to a bunch of songs by early rock ‘n’ roll singer Wanda Jackson and then set out to write a song. Adele played an unfinished version of “Someone like You” on a guitar. Wilson decided that the track should be performed on the piano and Adele agreed with his idea.

Dan Wilson expected Adele to take the song in an ‘angelic’ direction

Wilson’s vision for “Someone like You” was very different from the final product. “The recording on the album was intended as a demo. I was thinking, ‘Oh, they’re going to make a big version of this, strings and angelic choirs, like a big Chrissie Hynde power ballad,'” he said. “But by the end of the first day, the demo was sounding lovely, and very affecting, but it was only half-written, there were no words on the second verse or the bridge as I remember. 

“Adele came to the studio the next day and said, ‘I played it for my manager and me Mum,'” he added. “I was a little nervous about this because I don’t like people to hear works-in-progress. I asked her what they thought of the song. ‘My manager loves it and me Mum cried.'” Wilson noted that many people cry when they listen to “Someone like You.” A Saturday Night Live sit featuring Coldplay lampooned this common response to the ballad.

‘Someone like You’ took over the world

“Someone like You” became a massive hit, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks and staying on the chart for 39 weeks. The tune appeared on the modern classic album 21. That record was No. 1 on the Billboard 200, staying on the chart for 24 weeks and 608 weeks. 

21 gave us two more No. 1 hits: “Rolling in the Deep” and “Set Fire to the Rain.” “Rumour Has It” became a modest hit as well, making it to No. 16, while “Turning Tables” peaked at No. 63.

“Someone like You” is one of the best ballads of the 2010s and it wouldn’t be the same without Wilson.