Adele

Essential Albums

  • 25
    25
    25

    “Hello, it’s me,” declares Adele Adkins at the start of 25, her third album. It wasn’t just a greeting to the fans who’d been waiting almost five years for a new record. The British singer-songwriter was also, in many ways, addressing her old self, in the hopes of finding a way forward: As she later sings: “I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet.” Adele has always named her albums for the age at which she wrote them, with each release becoming a sonic scrapbook of emotions and experiences she weathered during those times. But when it came to making 25, she was feeling directionless—at least creatively. By the time she was in her mid-twenties, the Tottenham-born singer-songwriter and once-in-a-generation chronicler of heartbreak was in a long-term relationship and had recently given birth to a son. But, she later revealed, she felt writing about becoming a mother wasn’t interesting enough. That conflict led to a bout of writer’s block—not to mention plenty of soul-searching. It also eventually yielded the music on 25, her third smash album. Released in 2015, the album finds Adele searching for ways to update the classic sound she’d developed on both 19 and 21. She brought in several hitmaking big-name collaborators, including Max Martin, Bruno Mars and Danger Mouse, and she began exploring new genres, many of which found their way onto 25. You can hear the dancehall influence on “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”, while “Water Under the Bridge”—with its electro drumbeat and sonically tropical verses—has the undeniable feel of 1980s R&B. Still, even with so many styles and songwriters at her disposal, Adele retains her trademark sound on 25, which finds her exploring the passage of time in often devastating detail. On the nostalgic, piano-led “When We Were Young”—written with close collaborator Tobias Jesso Jr.—she sings of being surrounded by people she’s known for years, reflecting on the past and present with a gut-punching enormity of feeling. The organ-accompanied “River Lea”, meanwhile, finds Adele looking back at a river close to her childhood home—while also taking stock at of her current-day flaws. And on “Million Years Ago”, a Spanish-inspired folk song, she laments the end of her pre-fame life, and looks back at the friends and freedoms she’s lost along the way. By the time of 25’s arrival, listeners knew what to expect from Adele—big, heart-stopping, tear-jerking ballads from a soulful pop artist who idolised Etta James as a kid. But the album proved Adele still had plenty of surprises left. Across its 11 tracks, she fully embraces the difficulties of being in your twenties, while also trying to make sense of them. She may no longer be a teenager, but with age comes that other special quality: wisdom. After 25, Adele made listeners wait six long years for her next full-length, the 2021 hit 30. Only then, and no sooner, was she ready to present her magnum opus about motherhood and marriage—and the crushing impact of the latter coming to an end.

  • 21
    21
    21

    When the British soul belter Adele began working on the follow-up to her 2008 debut 19, she had a difficult time finding songwriting inspiration. Then, her relationship imploded—and within a day of her breakup, she and producer Paul Epworth had written the stormy, tearful "Rolling in the Deep", which would go on to not only open her second album, 21, but eventually become one of 2011's defining singles and set the tone for a vibrant portrait of young heartbreak that showcases Adele's fierce alto. On 19, Adele established herself as a key part of the 2000s class of British R&B-inspired singers that included Amy Winehouse and Duffy. For 21, however, she added new dimensions to her sound, bringing in ideas borrowed from country, rock, gospel and modern pop—as well as a gently psychedelic take on the downcast "Lovesong", originally by fellow Brit miserablists The Cure. Adele's powerful voice and unguarded feelings were 21's main draw, but her savvy about using them—and only going all in when a song's emotional force required her to do so—made it one of the 21st century's biggest albums. While a few top-tier producers, including Rick Rubin, Ryan Tedder and Dan Wilson, worked on 21, its coherence comes from the woman at its centre, whose voice channels the anguish of the stirring ballad "One and Only", the weepy "Don't You Remember" and the vengeful "Rumour Has It". The stripped-down "Someone Like You", meanwhile, is the natural bookend to "Rolling", its bittersweet lyrics and quietly anguished vocal sounding like the aftermath of the argument that track began. “21 isn't even my record—it belongs to the people,” Adele told Apple Music in 2015. That's true in a sense; 21 was one of the 2010s' true pop successes, reaching listeners from all over the world. But Adele is its key ingredient, a modern soul singer whose range is only matched by her ability to conjure up deeply felt emotions.

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About Adele

Dozens of artists share Adele’s origins—BRIT School, Myspace, pop stardom—but it takes rare talent to have your voice declared timeless in your career’s first flush. Adele Adkins honed hers as a kid in her North London bedroom, imitating Etta James every night for an hour. But as soon as she made her television debut at age 19 in 2007, all potential comparisons evaporated: this girl with whopping hoop earrings and a pub landlady’s brashness had something unique. Heartbreak, indignation and regret all found a natural home in her regal mezzo-soprano, the instrument that powered her 2008 debut album, 19, and took influence from the American South on 2011’s 21. Both of these albums broke records for breaking records, which made a subsequent operation on Adele’s vocal cords a matter of global import. She recovered immaculately—for proof, watch her performance of “Rolling in the Deep” at the 2012 Grammys—and it took just one word to reintroduce her in 2015. “Hello”, she sang during an X Factor ad break, unveiling her third album, 25, in the process. Songs like the swirling “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” and the pensive “Water Under the Bridge” helped it become yet another global chart-topper. In 2021, Adele released 30, which grappled with motherhood, the aftermath of her divorce and—perhaps most surprisingly—happiness amid life’s upheavals. She embarked on a Las Vegas residency in 2022, showcasing her formidable catalogue and era-defining voice.

FROM
Tottenham, London, England
BORN
5 May 1988
GENRE
Pop

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