Madonna sang a duet with Stevie Wonder as part of her touching tribute to Prince, Kesha performed a stunning cover of Bob Dylan’s “It Ain’t Me Babe,” and Britney Spears stripped and lip-synched her way through 10 songs at last night’s Billboard Music Awards. But the night belonged to Adele, who wasn’t even there. The singer won five awards, including Top Album and Top Artist, and premiered the music video for her new single “Send Me Love (To Your New Lover),” from her album 25.
Directed by Patrick Daughters, whose videography includes visually striking clips for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’s “Maps” and Feist’s “1234,” the video is deceptively simple in concept, but a kaleidoscopic feast for the eyes, layering several takes of Adele atop of one another as she twirls around in a floor-length floral dress. The result is a psychedelic, multiple-exposure effect rendered even trippier by the polychromatic lighting and a final shot in which Adele briefly appears to take on the image of the 10-armed Hindu goddess Kali, who is, fittingly, the destroyer of the ego.
Watch the video below:
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