Ava Adore

"Ava Adore" is the first single from The Smashing Pumpkins' fourth album, Adore, and exhibited a new sound from the band which integrated traditional instruments with loops and electronic music. "Ava Adore" and the B-sides were written by Billy Corgan. The recording features drums by Matt Walker, and production from Brad Wood.

When released as a single in May 1998, "Ava Adore" reached number one in Iceland, number two in Greece, number five in New Zealand, and the top 20 in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. In the United States, the song reached number 42 on the Billboard Hot 100, number three on the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and number eight on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Background
Lyrically, Corgan explained the song was "ostensibly written about some objectified person", and that there is no actual Ava. He further explained the lyrics "more a screed to my frustration at the fairer sex than say what might meld two souls together; 'we must never be apart' more a demand than any state of absolution."

The bulk of recording took place in a single morning and afternoon. Corgan, who produced the song with initial assistance from Brad Wood, said he might have "made a better effort to examine what made the track provocative, and for its time, too strange" had he known it was going to released as the album's lead single.

The cover artwork is of fashion model Amy Wesson, photographed by Corgan's then-girlfriend and collaborator Yelena Yemchuk.

Music video
The music video was released on June 1, 1998 and was directed by Dom and Nic, featuring the band in gothic-inspired clothing and walking through a variety of scenes. The video, filmed in one long take, is notable for its use of slow and fast motion while the speed of the camera is apparently static, and the band continues to lip sync to the song in perfect rhythm. The calculations required to work out the speed changes caused massive delays on set, causing the band to nearly call off the entire plan. The sets seen in the video were arranged in a configuration resembling a hallway, in which a rave sequence functioned as the end of the hall. Instead of continuing to the right, the camera rotates to the left, revealing the artifice of the visuals.

The music video won an award for "most stylish video" at the 1998 VH1 Fashion Awards.

Track listings
All songs written by Billy Corgan

Additional personnel

 * Matt Walker – drums
 * Brad Wood – production