Adele „30” – Album Review

The album 30 is undoubtedly one of the most expected albums of recent years. Adele has made a spectacular return to the music market, offering listeners the most intimate and personal record of the experiences she has had during her several-year hiatus.

The silence lasted four years – exactly how long it has been since the last tour, while six years have passed since the last album. Since 25, which premiered in November 2015, fans have had time to gasp. She has finally returned – changed not only physically, but also, as it was to turn out, mentally – with her latest album 30. It is impossible to talk about this album without two contexts: musical and private. Musical, as Adele’s statement cutting herself off from questions about making music for the new generation was widely echoed online: If everyone’s making music for the TikTok, who’s making music for my generation? Who’s making the music for my peers? I will do that job, gladly. Adele was also the first to convince Spotify to remove the shuffle (random play) button when listening to albums, so that they play in the exact order the artists planned.

The album 30 is therefore a disc prepared with great diligence – work on it began as early as 2019 – aimed at a specific audience. Equally important, if not more important, however, is the private context; although Adele is known for singing about heartbreak, in the case of 30 we are dealing with something even heavier – the consequences of divorce, family separation, depression and trying to put herself back together again. This is undoubtedly the strongest and most emotionally powerful album we have encountered since the beginning of her musical career.

“New” Adele – From Classic Ballads to ’70s Groove

The album’s opening track, Strangers By Nature, is a musical nod to Judy Garland, mesmerizing primarily through its instrumental layer. In an unhurried and rather unassuming literary manner, the artist introduces us to the emotional overtones of the entire album. Strangers By Nature (which begins with the eloquent verse I’ll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart) is a brief reckoning, and at the same time a reconciliation with the painful past. It’s a story about how everything bad that was supposed to happen has already happened. Although it is the first song on the album, it seems to sum up the catharsis that, by Adele’s own admission, the entire album has become for her.

“Alright then, I’m ready,” she throws in the last verse and moves us seamlessly into the second track – Easy On Me – which, as the album’s heralded single, we already had the opportunity to experience in mid-October along with the premiere video directed by Canadian director Xavier Dolan. Easy On Me is the song most reminiscent of Adele’s previous work. It’s a classic ballad with a piano in the background, which on first listening resembles Someone Like You or All I Ask – The track may, on the one hand, satisfy fans of the former Adele, not counting on musical and textual experiments, on the other – disappoint those who expected something new after the first single, released after six years of silence.

Easy On Me is not the only track on 30 maintained in this climate, but musically it certainly remains in the minority – for here, the very next My Little Love introduces a new rhythm and new sounds to the album, described as sexy ’70s groove. Although this track, especially with its sensual beginning and background choruses singing the words of the chorus, is very interesting musically, it is not its highest value here. Above all, My Little Love is the most intimate and emotionally heaviest song on the entire album; the artist’s titular little love is her nine-year-old son, Angelo Adkins, to whom the entire song is addressed. In it, Adele reveals herself not only as a mother attempting to explain to her child the emotional situation she finds herself in – but also as a person who makes no secret of the fact that she can’t cope with the reality around her.

Mama’s got a lot to learn, she sings in the chorus, adding on: It’s heavy. The song’s strongest points, however, are mainly the artist’s private audio recordings, which she chose to accompany it; thus, we’ll hear recorded conversations between Adele and her son, as well as the song’s closing voice recording excerpt, in which the singer openly – as if in therapy – talks about her emotional state at the time (I’m having a very anxious day, I feel very paranoid). My Little Love seems to be a mix of several contexts and perspectives – both of Adele herself and her son – while at the same time humanizing the events of the artist’s past and her parents’ divorce, and addressing all children – even if they are adults today – who have had similar experiences.

30 – a Story about Getting Up From Your Knees

After such a heavy emotional load provided by My Little Love, we get the track Cry Your Heart Out, perhaps the most ambiguous on the entire album. For in the sound layer here we get an upbeat, light-hearted track – it’s only when we listen closely to the text layer that we realize we’re dealing with nothing but a tale of depression (My skin’s paper thin, I can’t stop wavering, I’ve never been more scared). “Stomping our feet” to the rhythmic music, we are simultaneously admitted into the very center of the emotional abyss. In a recently published interview with Apple Music, Adele admits that this was the most difficult time in her life – and at the same time winks at listeners, saying that if someone doesn’t want to listen to the lyrics, they’ll just get a pleasant vibe. And if a truly positive vibe is what you’re after, it’s undoubtedly provided by the next track on the album – Can I Get It – which is a pop tale about having a good time.

Thanks to the previous Cry Your Heart Out, we don’t get a big leap here in terms of the musical layer, but when it comes to the textual and meaningful layer – we have a kind of breakthrough; for Can I Get It tells the story of the first post-depressive period, in which the artist takes control of her life again. Another track on the album – I Drink Wine – fans had a chance to get acquainted with even before the album’s release thanks to the CBS Special: Adele’s One Night Only; it was inspired by Elton John’s musical achievements in the 1970s, among other things. All Night Parking, on the other hand, is another positive element of the entire album, as it talks about the artist’s new love (You possess powers I can’t fight, that’s why I dream about you all night long), while also being proof that she is ready for a new stage in her life.

Musically, I associate the track with the sounds of Amy Winehouse (Do Me Good, You Sent Me Flying), and probably rightly so, since, as Adele admits, Winehouse has been a constant inspiration in her work from the beginning. The closing track Love Is A Game – which, thanks to the choruses, becomes one of the most interesting tracks on the album. Already approaching the end of 30, we get Woman Like Me – a delicate and peaceful track with an acoustic guitar in the background, Hold On – with almost gospel-like choruses, joining (along with Easy On Me) the ranks of classic, moody ballads, To Be Loved and the aforementioned, crowning track Love Is A Game.

More Than Ballads

The only tracks presented so far outside the album were Easy On Me, I Drink Wine, Hold On or To Be Loved, which the artist shared with listeners on her Instagram two days before the album’s release.  The tracks may give the impression that other than quiet, moody ballads, Adele doesn’t have much new to offer. I hope that those who haven’t yet had a chance to listen to 30 in its entirety will decide to do so as soon as possible – the album hides musical gems that allow you to discover Adele anew and from a completely different side than the commonly known. These “new” sounds tell me to abandon my dreams of attending the artist’s big concerts (such as at Wembley Stadium in 2017) and direct them towards dreams of small, intimate performances at local jazz clubs. One thing is certain – 30 has cemented Adele’s position as one of the most important figures in the global music market, and Easy On Me broke the Spotify playback record twenty-four hours after its release, knocking Korean band BTS off the podium. It remains to be hoped that we won’t have to wait another six years for the next album.

Review: Aleksandra Mysłek

Translate: Natalia Chojnowska