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Image via Tobias Jesso Jr.
Tobias Jesso Jr. joined Adele during a few recording sessions for her recently released album, 25, and the two eventually wrote “When We Were Young,” one of the many highlights from the record. Before her performance on SNL last weekend, Tobias took to Facebook to talk about how the collaborated happened, and what it meant to him. “Her music changed my life and as a songwriter she was an inspiration and showed just what a song could go on to do if it came from the right place,” the post reads.
“When I got the call that I would be working with her, my heart stopped,” he continued. “I spent four years in Los Angeles trying to write songs for anybody I could get to sing them, and eventually, as some of you know, I had to start singing them myself just to get them on a record. She was so down to earth and so very sweet, even after realizing what she probably realizes every day of her life, that the person sitting across from her is having trouble registering what is really happening in that moment.”
“That was me, just a gigantic Adele fan meeting her for the first time. She made me instantly comfortable, we just sat in the garden and shot the shit. After that we spent two days writing songs and trading jokes. There was no studio, just a piano and us, and we wrote a lot. I mean a lot lot.” The note ends with him apologizing for his spelling errors, eventually culminating in the inspiring ending below.
I learned a lot from her, most of all just how much she truly deserves to be exactly where she is, and why all of her songs mean so much to the people who hear them. I can tell from the bottom of my heart she means what she says and the words she puts into her music. Every lyric and every line comes from a place that she feels. She does not settle. For a songwriter it was probably the best experience I could have possibly had. One of the songs, When We Were Young, made her record, and a second one we did made it onto her bonus track album from Target (get it, it’s amazing).
I’m writing this because my very first show was a year ago. Before that, I had nothing, no hopes of getting to write for anybody, no big dreams I thought would ever come true. Just a 28 year old in his parents basement learning the piano for the very first time. But a dream did come true, and I couldn’t be happier about it. If it could happen to me, it can happen to you. I love you Adele. sorry for any spelling errors i’m writing from a studio in NY, ha.
