Watch Adele Perform Smoky ’25’ Ballad ‘Million Years Ago’

Adele showcased her immense vocal range on Wednesday during a Today Show performance of “Million Years Ago,” a sparse ballad from her new LP, 25. “I know I’m not the only one / Who regrets the things they’ve done,” she sings in the clip, swooping from dramatic high notes to a low rumble, backed by minimal acoustic and electric guitars. “Sometimes I just feel it’s only me / Who can stand the reflection that they see.”

Adele also spoke with Matt Lauer about 25, her long-awaited, record-shattering third LP – explaining the writer’s block which, at first, prevented her from accessing the same emotions that defined 21. “I don’t think sadness is always devastating,” she says. “It can be quite uplifting and joyful, as well. Sometimes you have to allow yourself to be sad in order to move forward.”

As Billboard reports, the singer previously performed “Million Years Ago” during her recent BBC special Adele at the BBC, where she detailed the nostalgia that inspired the song.

“It’s kind of a story about … I drove past Brockwell Park, which is a park in South London I used to live by,” she said. “It’s where I spent a lot of my youth. It has quite monumental moments of my life that I’ve spent there, and I drove past it and I just literally burst into tears. I really missed it, for no other reason than we’ve all got different things going on and it’s got nothing to do with me not feeling like I can’t go and sit in there and drink a bottle of cider anymore … it’s more that life happens, so I’ve got no one to meet there.

“That’s basically what it is,” she continued. “And it’s just sort of about that, and about [how] I never realized that this was going to happen. I never, ever realized when I had my guitar in the park, singing to my friends … we never in a million years thought this would ever happen.”