Someone Like You

Adele wrote this with Dan Wilson of Semisonic about the same relationship that partly inspired 21's lead single, “Rolling in the Deep” — but where that song is defiant, this one is the quiet aftermath. It's just voice and piano on the record, which is a big part of why it's become one of the most-performed piano-and-vocal songs of the last fifteen years.

What's on this page is a full transcription of the recorded piano part, not a lead sheet with chord symbols — every note the pianist plays on the record is written out for both hands, which is why it reads as harder than the others in this collection.

The left hand is a rolling, arpeggiated pattern that outlines each chord — A, F♯m, D, E, and inversions like E/G♯ — rather than striking it all at once; getting that pattern even at a slow tempo is most of the technical work. The dynamics are written in too: verses and pre-choruses sit quieter, with forte marked at the choruses, and matching that shape is a big part of the song's effect.