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St. Paul sings 'Hello' to Minneapolis in Adele parody video

Parody welcomes Minneapolis visitors as British star opens U.S. tour with two shows at Xcel.

By Hannah Covington

June 29, 2016 at 2:12AM

St. Paul has a wistful new message for its cross-river rival: "Hello."

The greeting acts as the emphatic refrain of a music video released Monday that parodies Adele's hit single from her album, "25."

The British singer kicks off her U.S. tour with two sold-out shows at the Xcel Energy Center on July 5 and 6. So the city's convention and visitors bureau, Visit St. Paul, hopes the video will welcome fans attending from across the river in Minneapolis.

The parody recreates the sepia-toned melancholy of Adele's original video and showcases the bureau's marketing team lip-syncing revised lyrics.

The lyrics — which begin, "Hello, it's me. Older twin of Minneapolis, a place you've got to see" — poke fun at the Twin Cities' rivalry and catalog various St. Paul restaurants and attractions.

Como Zoo, CHS Field and Red Bull Crashed Ice each make an appearance.

"We are always trying to attract new visitors to St. Paul, and we sometimes forget that the closest are in Minneapolis," said Adam Johnson, vice president of marketing and media relations for Visit St. Paul.

Choosing businesses to include largely depended on rhyming and how well the names fit into the song, Johnson said.

"It would have been the longest video in the history of videos if we included everyone that should have been in it," Johnson said.

The team started working on the video in January and asked a former intern, Savanna D'Amico of St. Paul, to provide the vocals.

Filming took place throughout the first weeks of June as the team tried to replicate costuming and aesthetic details from the original.

Anastasia Straley, the bureau's social media coordinator, was the lead Adele impersonator in the parody. She made sure to find a faux fur coat — but she decided against Adele-style makeup.

"We should have done some winged eyeliner, but in 80-degree weather, I'm not trying to sweat all that off," Straley said.

The parody had pulled in more than 32,000 views on Facebook as of Tuesday evening, and more music videos may be in the works.

"I know there's already talk of a 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' parody because Def Leppard is coming in October," Straley said. "But that's a little more risqué than anything I'm used to."

Hannah Covington • 612-673-4751

St. Paul tweaks Minneapolis in an Adele "Hello" parody video. (Dennis McGrath/The Minnesota Star Tribune)