Adele and Hootie & the Blowfish’s Darius Rucker. It’s hard to imagine a more powerful vocal duo than that. Lady A were absolutely not ready for these two vocal dynamos to drop this emotional duet on the country trio’s hit “Need You Now” on the CMT stage. Darius is just the master of pulling on your heartstrings. And when he teams up with the British Queen of Soul, the heartbreak anthem is just devastating, and we cannot get enough!
Apart from the incredible vocals all around, the two stars made the performance one to remember by taking “Need You Now” and making it their own. Darius really adds a certain flavor and soul to it that is so distinctive yet still perfectly fits with the lyrics. Adele likewise added a fresh touch with her vulnerable delivery of the lyrics. The Music Man has to say that one of the best parts of the clip is surely seeing the Lady A members watching in awe as Adele and Darius go to town on their hit.
Adele and Darius performed the duet for CMT’s Artist of the Year event in 2010, where Lady A was named along with four other acts. Viewers could see performances like this don’t come around so often, and added comments such as “There are songs that get covered, then there’s this…” and “I have always known that Adele had an incredible voice. But Darius Rucker, oh my. No words for how good his voice is. New respect. What a perfect collaboration.”
It’s no surprise that Adele and Darius chose “Need You Now” to celebrate Lady A’s Artist of the Year gong. The song always pops off live, as seen in Lady A’s own rendition of their breakout hit in Little Rock, Arkansas. There’s something about the raw vulnerability of the lyrics and the passionate vocals that the trio delivers that makes it hit right in the chest.
Lady A issued “Need You Now” as the lead single from their 2010 studio album of the same name. The Music Man readers may recall that the Tennessee trio had already scored three hits in the US by this point in their career, but it was “Need You Now” that really propelled them to international country stardom. The ballad went a massive 11 times Platinum in the US and also went multi-Platinum in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.