The 2% Adele experiment
Shazam identified a recording as “Send My Love” by Madella Clinton. Could that reference be Adele’s recording, slightly sped up?
The experiment supports that hypothesis.
Raising Adele’s playback speed and pitch by 2% closely matched the exact Madella reference, 335602664. The measured pitch difference was zero; the timing difference was 0.052%.
Shazam still displayed Adele in every test, including when given the actual Madella Spotify preview. The reference match and the displayed artist are different outputs.
Shazam-reported skew against reference 335602664, rounded to three decimals. A fourth test increased tempo while preserving pitch; it did not return the Madella reference.
How it was tested
Four 12-second clips were submitted separately to Shazam’s Australian endpoint on 11 September 2026. Adele’s official Apple preview supplied the controls. The recovered Spotify preview supplied the Madella comparison.
Adele clips share a starting point. The Madella clip is a different passage. This is a fingerprint comparison, not an aligned waveform test.
What it does not prove
The test does not explain the original “Madella Clinton” display result, identify the uploader or establish licensing, intent or royalty payments. The full Madella recording remains unrecovered.
A near-zero reference match supports the altered-recording hypothesis. It does not establish full-master identity or what was played at the listener’s location.