Adele Intended “Hello” Video as Statement on Race Relations, Director Says

December 9, 2016 Music News Group

Xavier Dolan/XL Recordings/ColumbiaIt turns out that the casting of former Wire actor and R&B singer Tristan Wild as the love interest in Adele‘s “Hello” video, was more than just a testament to his skills as a thespian.

The visual’s director Xavier Dolan tells New York magazine’s Vulture that while he recommended Wild for the role, it was Adele’s idea to cast a person of color for the part, in reaction to the recent rash of police killings of young black men.

“It was not opportunistic, she didn’t want to be hip or anything. She was just like, ‘I’m concerned with the reality of the tensions between authorities and the black community, and I want to send a message out there,'” he says. “I thought it was beautiful. I wish that it was my idea, but it wasn’t.”

Dolan also takes little credit for the video’s globe-conquering success — it’s been streamed on Vevo more than 1.2 billion times, and more than 1.8 billion times on YouTube, making it YouTube’s 7th most viewed video of all time. Although he says he’s proud of the success he says it’s “a measure of how appreciated an artist Adele is.”

So will the director be working with Adele in the future? Maybe, but not in his upcoming film The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Although there were rumors that Adele would be appearing in the film, Dolan shot those down to Vulture.