"Cold Shoulder" is a song by the British singer-songwriter

Adele Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (; born 5 May 1988) is an English singer-songwriter. Regarded as a British cultural icon, icon, she is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. List of awards and nominations received by Adele, ...

, released from her first album '' 19''. It was released digitally in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on 20 April 2008 and in the UK on 21 April 2008. "Cold Shoulder" is the only song on the album to be produced by

Mark Ronson Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British-American DJ, record producer, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Amy Winehouse's album '' Back to Black'' (2006), as well as two for Record ...

. The former

Jamiroquai Jamiroquai ( ) are an English acid jazz and funk band from London. Formed in 1992, they are fronted by vocalist Jay Kay, and were prominent in the London-based funk and acid jazz movement of the 1990s. They built on their acid jazz sound in th ...

bass guitarist Stuart Zender plays bass guitar on the song and is also part of Ronson's touring band. Adele performed the song on ''Friday Night with Jools Holland'' on 8 February 2008 and on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' during the 18 October 2008 show. A remix by

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton (born 30 April 1970) and Simon Ratcliffe (born 28 November 1969). The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first ros ...

also received airplay and is digitally available.

Critical reception

The song was met with positive reviews from critics, with most praising Adele's vocals and the song's lyrics. However,

Clash Magazine ''Clash'' is a music and fashion magazine and website based in the United Kingdom. It is published four times a year by Music Republic Ltd, whose predecessor Clash Music Ltd went into liquidation. The magazine won awards including the Best New M ...

described the song and Ronson's production as having "high concept" and "slick production" that "seems as soulless as a Michael Bay film".

Music video

The music video for "Cold Shoulder" was shot in February 2008 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It had airplay on UK music channels and shows Adele singing in a darkened room among melting ice statues, each with looks of despair. The music video ends with many of the statues melted and the final shots of Adele interfade into those of the statues. As of December 2023, the music video has received over 35 million views on

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Track listings

UK – CD and 7-inch vinyl # "Cold Shoulder" 3:15 # "Now and Then" 3:24 iTunes EP
''Cold Shoulder – EP'' # "Cold Shoulder" # "Cold Shoulder" # "Cold Shoulder" # "Cold Shoulder" # "Cold Shoulder" # "Cold Shoulder"

Credits and personnel

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

–

Songwriting A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...

– Adele Adkins, Sacha Skarbek * Production, drums, guitar, programming, keyboards -

* Keyboards - Jason Silver * Guitar - Michael Tighe, Matt Allchin * Bass guitar - Stuart Zender * Percussion - Pete Biggins * Glockenspiel - Sam Koppelman * String arrangements - Chris Elliott

Release history

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cold Shoulder (song) 2008 singles 2008 songs Adele songs Song recordings produced by Mark Ronson Songs written by Adele Songs written by Sacha Skarbek Trip hop songs XL Recordings singles