Adele 1

The video actually looks as though it were made for youtube: Kurdwin Ayub sits in a living room in front of a coffee table with a laptop on it. The obviously private setting, which is not all tidied up, and also the artist in her simple T-shirt who does not seem as though she has dressed up for her “performance,” mediate a sense of intimacy.
As is common on youtube, Ayub speaks directly into the camera in the introduction, explaining that she is about to sing a song that especially suits her current situation. The song is Adele’s Someone Like You, a love song, which Ayub dedicates to her ex-boyfriend.
In contrast to the many cover versions on youtube, the artist does not use the song to demonstrate her singing skills: instead, she plays back Someone Like You by Adele on the computer and attempts—at first fully motivated—to hit both the notes as well as the lyrics. However, she soon becomes lost in the lines, notes, and emotions, and in the end, simply looks out in front of herself, sad and resigned.

Those familiar with Ayub’s charming video miniatures know that they always deal with the emotional world of young women. Looks play a role, but also relationships, sex, and heartache. Katzenjammer, for example, is the title of a work in which the artist presents her assets in an attempt to win back her boyfriend.
The failure, which was established in this venture, is exhibited also in Adele 1: Ayub does not finish the song, yet precisely through this, expands the palette of emotions that she uses in her attempts to affect her audience. youtube and its cloak of authenticity provide support. However, the whole thing continually slips into ironic parody, thereby investigating the platform’s potential to be more than a private stage. (Christa Benzer)