WATCH: Michigan Felon Sings Adele-Inspired Apology to Judge

ANN ARBOR, MI – Brian Earl Taylor sang in court the other day, not like the fabled canary, but like British megastar Adele.

“Hello there, your honor,” the 21-year-old felon from Belleville sang, borrowing the melody and lyrics from Adele’s hit “Hello” during his March 10 sentencing in Ann Arbor's Washtenaw County Trial Court on unlawful imprisonment and a weapons charge.

"I want to say I'm sorry for the things I've done and I'll try and be stronger in this life I chose, but I want you to know — that door, I closed. And your honor I'm sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."

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Shackled in handcuffs, his performance lacked some of the sweeping gestures that Adele uses for emphasis, but he gave it his best, clasping his chest as he apologized to his mother and the victim of his crime, as well as to the judge.

“To my mother, I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry,” he sang. “To the victim, I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Yes, your honor, I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.”

Spectators in the court gallery appeared oblivious to the musical apology. Judge Darlene O'Brien said was impressed by the performance, but unswayed.

She said Taylor was “obviously a talented young man,” and then sentenced him to up to 17 years in prison.

Taylor was arrested last November on multiple felony warrants after police found him holding a man at gunpoint in the stairway of an apartment building in Ypsilanti.

For comparison, here’s Adele singing “Hello.”