You can’t escape it – so you may as well just give in.

Yes, we speak of “Hello” by Adele. It’s one of those tracks that arise, and suddenly is absolutely everywhere. From the grocery store to Starbucks, local radio and your car stereo, we guarantee you’ll hear it again soon.

When a single moves all others aside, as “Hello” has done, there’s just gotta be a reason. Adele’s incredible performance is at the center of it all, of course. In the verses, it stands among the most intimately vulnerable vocals ever recorded – experience it in headphones and it’s just you and Adele, alone together, intertwined and extremely exposed.

But then comes the chorus, massive beyond belief. That’s where Adele unleashes absolutely everything she’s got, going primal as she grieves, “Hello from the other side/I must have called a thousand times/To tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done/But when I call you never seem to be home/Hello from the outside/At least I can say that I’ve tried/To tell you I’m sorry for breaking your heart/But it don’t matter it clearly doesn’t tear you apart anymore.”

The piano gives “Hello” even more power. It’s the supporting co-star in an epic arrangement that’s proven to be one for the ages.

Don’t comprehend “Hello’s” massive impact? Here are some truly stellar stats: Not only did the song hit #1 in 28 countries, it was the first record to exceed 1 million digital sales over a seven-day period. “Hello” spent 10 consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 100, took the shortest time to 1 billion YouTube views (88 days), and powered Adele’s album 25 to 8 million+ sales as of early February – just the sixth album released since 2001 to hit that mark.

An essential element in making “Hello” happen was the song’s co-writer and producer, Greg Kurstin, whose historic success with Adele was anything but a fluke. His path to co-creating the track was borne over decades, starting as a jazz musician in his hometown of LA, which led to forming the duo Geggy Tah which broke through with the offbeat ‘90’s hit “Whoever You Are.”

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In the early 2000’s Kurstin became officially obsessed with songcraft. His discography has grown nonstop since then to include Sia, The Bird and the Bee, Beck, The Flaming Lips, Lily Allen, Foster the People, The Shins, Pink, Ellie Goulding, Katy Perry, Lana Del Rey, and Kelly Clarkson – 2012’s 2X-Grammy nominated “Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” was his first #1. Another powerful production was Tegan & Sara’s 2013 release Heartthrob, a creatively and commercially successful partnership that led to their reteaming on their new album Love You to Death, due out on April 8th.

But even though his efforts have netted five Grammy nominations and 60 million+ album sales to date, Greg Kurstin never got cocky. So when “Hello,” which was mixed by Tom Elmhirst and mastered by Tom Coyne of Sterling Sound, detonated across the soundscape, he was amazed as anyone. But he was there in Metropolis Studios, alone with Adele when she recorded the masterpiece. Perhaps at the moment her voice exploded into the microphone, he caught a glimmer of what was to come.

Read on to experience Kurstin’s journey with what now stands as Adele’s signature hit — from the writing to the recording at London’s Metropolis Studios, and the slightly unreal aftermath.

Your career has followed an arc that anyone would want to emulate. Has it felt like a natural progression to you?

It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before. I’ve had songs that did well, but nothing like this one. It’s a great feeling. It’s one of those things that you hope for as a professional songwriter and producer, but when it actually does happen it’s crazy.

But I can’t say it’s been a fast track. It’s been very slow, gradual, kind of one-thing-after-another, which is great. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve experienced different parts of the music world from being a jazz musician playing in jazz clubs, to recording, being in a band, being on a label, touring, and recording as a studio musician.

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People come up to me and say, “How did you get to where you are now?” I respond that I wouldn’t recommend the route I’ve gone. It’s been a long road. But it’s been amazing, and I’ve kept going.

You produced/co-wrote three songs on “25” — “Hello,” “Water Under the Bridge,” and “Million Years Ago.” How did you come to be working with Adele on this record?

I had gotten to know Adele’s manager, Jonathan Dickins, a little bit over the years, and when it came time to be working on 25, he got in touch and said, “Maybe we can make something happen.” It happened to be a great timing for both Adele and me. We started to write “Hello” around August 2014.

“Water Under the Bridge” was the first song we did together. Then, “Hello” started with the two of us in a Metropolis Studios writing room together, with me playing chord progressions on a MIDI piano. We got into a groove, but then we wanted to try something different, so we switched to the grand piano in the big studio at Metropolis.

I started laying the chords down for “Hello” while she was singing. Then we brought it back into the control room, where we came up with a verse for the song and a temporary chorus that we didn’t think was right. Then I didn’t really talk to her for six months! I was at home in LA, doing my thing when I got a call to come back and continue writing with her. Then we started working on choruses until we found the final one, and that was it.

How did you hit on that chorus?

We tried a lot of different ideas. I think it was just one of those things with us jamming in the room, trying different chord progressions. When something clicked, it really clicked.

Did you feel like you had a hit on your hands then?

No, I had no idea about that. Even up to the very end, I wasn’t sure. Adele and her manager seemed very happy about it, especially the verse in the beginning, it felt like there was something special there.

I thought, “That’s good, maybe it will make the album.” I didn’t think it would be the first single. Sometimes I’m so close to it, I can never really tell. I didn’t think it would be a home run. It’s just so unpredictable, really.

How was the track recorded?

I recorded everything myself, it was just me and her in the room. The engineer (Liam Nolan, see sidebar below for more details on the piano recording) set up all the mics, then he left.

That’s what I do normally. Often when I’m working with an artist for the first time, I engineer during the writing as well. While Adele and I were writing, for example, I was sitting at the computer running Logic, tracking her vocals myself. It’s usually quicker for me to do it that way. In my home studio in LA, I have my engineers Alex Pasco and Julian Burg help me with vocals. When I’m writing, it’s quicker for me to be on the computer, pull up some instruments, and engineer as we go.

When we recorded “Hello” at Metropolis, we didn’t have the computer with us in the live room. Adele would be writing lyrics in the control room while I would be running back and forth — what I did was put Logic on loop record, go into the live room and play piano, then run back into the control room and maybe do a few edits. Then we were ready to track Adele’s vocals.

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