Is Adele's new single 'Hello' a rip off of Tom Waits?

Fans of Tom Waits' 1970s hit say Adele's new single is just a rip off.

Jimmy Coultas

Last updated: 4th Nov 2015

Fans of Tom Waits have accused Adele of stealing the idea for her new single from the 1973 song 'Martha'. Her track 'Hello', which became the biggest UK chart topper for three years and broke the record for streaming in one week, reaching 7.32m streams, centres around a phone call with an old lover which is where people began to notice the similarities.

The parellels run deeper tan that with the lyrics even coming under scrutiny for containing very similar content. Greg Kurstin, producer of Adele's new album 25 says that Waits' music is behind the inspiration for the album, which may explain it citing "we wanted to look at musical storytellers such as Tom Waits and others like him to make something honest and believable."

You can listen to the two tracks above. This in the same week that furiously litigious pop sensation Taylor Swift is being sued for £27m damages after accusations that her song 'Shake it off' contains lyrics plagiarised from Jesse Braham's 'Haters gonna hate. 

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