LONDON -- It's her first new thing in years, six minutes long and features Tristan Wilds from The Wire, but there's only one thing anyone cares about in Adele's new video: the massively retro flip phone.
The ancient device makes an appearance really early on in the clip - long before Adele starts singing - as she says to someone, "I just got here and I think I'm losing signal already." It might be no surprise given the backwards brick she's trying to call them on.
People were bemused.
Why is Adele still using a flip phone? No wonder it's taken her 4 years to call— jame/s (@edgejames) October 23, 2015
It's 2015 @Adele why do you have a flip phone?— Emma Lansdown (@Eminemma) October 23, 2015
Why is Adele using a flip phone in her video no wonder she's been calling a thousand times no one uses them phones no more #vintage #Adele— dean reynolds (@deanreynoldz) October 23, 2015
One just tweeted "Adele's flip phone."
adele's flip phone.— matt (@marthaPlimptron) October 23, 2015
Some made inevitable jokes.
Adele appears to be calling from 2006 with that flip phone pic.twitter.com/NDmuW2lA2x— Katie Weasel (@KatieWeasel) October 23, 2015
Others thought it explained her long and quiet absence.
A flip phone #Adele? Explains the lack of tweets... pic.twitter.com/L71dN9kGEY— Lex (@toddlerlex) October 23, 2015
One person pointed out that if she'd made the call, she might not have gone into the house and sung the song, so we should be thankful for the flip phone.
If Adele had an iPhone that song & video would have never happened. She started singing when she couldn't get a signal on her flip phone.— iMDRW (@iMDRW) October 23, 2015
Some felt sorry for her.
Just watched Adele's new video and I'm a bit emotional. All that success and she can't upgrade her flip phone pic.twitter.com/eQ6MyE21FK— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) October 23, 2015
But others decided that, because she's Adele, she can use any phone she wants.
Further proof that @Adele can do whatever she wants...SHE'S BRINGING BACK THE FLIP PHONE pic.twitter.com/tlaBFzbHXx— Greg James (@gregjames) October 23, 2015
Some thought the phone was a nod toward this photo of her.
The usage of flip phones in Adele's music video reminds me of this iconic photo. pic.twitter.com/qwYLURwp34— Anthony (@anthagiox) October 23, 2015
Another argued that the phone - and the sepia filter - is meant to signify that the action happened in the past.
Adele has a flip-phone in "hello" because it's filmed in sepia which means it is set in the past. So glad my media studies a-level is useful— Ryan Bassil (@ryanbassil) October 23, 2015
Mashable has reached out to Adele's people to find out what's up with the flip phone.
