Song of the Day 9/2: Adele, “Chasing Pavements”

Is Adele pulling a Greta Garbo? The British pop icon announced during her concert in Munich the other night that once her Las Vegas residency ends in November, “I will not see you for an incredibly long time. … I’ve spent the last seven years building a new life for myself, and I want to live it now.”

She didn’t say she was retiring, but Greta Garbo didn’t, either. Like Adele, Garbo had been the top star of her day – playing the tragic lover was her specialty, just like Adele – and was still popular when, at 36, she stepped away from her career. She never returned.

Adele Adkins is also 36. It might sound young, but she’s already spent half her life as a recording artist. She titled her debut LP “19” because that was her age when she wrote and recorded it. “Chasing Pavements” was her first single to make the Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 21 in 2008.

The video, recorded before she started glamming herself up, is a reminder of how young she was. Two years later “Rolling in the Deep” hit No. 1, the first of her five chart-topping singles from her three chart-topping albums (“19” only made it to No. 4). Her last LP, “30,” was released in 2021, and she said she currently has no plans for any more.