Adele's new single and when we'll see her new album

Adele released a new single, 'Hello,' and her new album '25' has a release date. The singer's last album '21' was a smash hit, with such songs as 'Rolling in the Deep' and 'Someone Like You' appearing on it.

Singer Adele has released a new single, which will also appear on her upcoming album “25.” 

Adele’s song “Hello” was posted online Thursday. It features Adele’s powerful vocals previously seen on such tracks as “Rolling in the Deep” and “Skyfall” and may remind fans of her song “Someone Like You,” which appeared on her last album and had a similar theme of a troubled relationship. “Hello” includes lyrics such as “I must’ve called a thousand times to tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done.” 

The singer had recently posted on social media about her upcoming album and some inferred from her writing that her next album would be called “25” after the age at which she was presumably working on the album. (She is now 27.) Adele wrote, “25 is about getting to know who I’ve become without realizing. And I’m sorry it took so long, but you know, life happened.”

Now the title “25” as well as a release date have been confirmed by Adele’s Vevo channel. The album will be released on Nov. 20. 

Fans of the British singing competition “The X Factor” recently got a sneak peek at the single. During a commercial break, a clip was screened in which lyrics appeared onscreen and an unseen singer performed. Some viewers recognized the vocals as Adele’s and the lyrics that were sung during the commercial match some of the lyrics of “Hello.” 

Unusual marketing plans and secrecy surrounding new work is nothing new for high-profile artists. Rapper Drake released a collection of songs titled “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late” this past winter with little fanfare. The rapper appears to like the method: this fall, he and rapper Future unexpectedly released a collection of songs titled “What A Time To Be Alive.” 

Meanwhile, Beyonce fans got an early holiday present when the singer released a self-titled album near the end of 2013. A lack of advance notice certainly didn’t hurt the collection: in its first week of sales, the album had the best sales week performance for a female singer in 2013.

In the past, artists may have needed big marketing campaigns to get the message to fans that a new work was coming. Now, when so many music artists are on multiple social media platforms and people receive music news through Twitter and other instantaneous forms, there seems little chance a devoted fan would miss the news. In addition, with the music business still figuring out the best way of doing things in the age of Spotify and Tidal, a surprise release can bring someone to the attention of pop culture fans when they may have otherwise gotten lost. It's been so long since Adele released new work ("21" came out in 2011) that this would have less been the case for her, but for established artists who have released several albums and may not be at the forefront of the pop culture conversation anymore, a surprise release could give them more visibility.