Famous for her breakup ballads, Adele made a strong return with her album 25, which was released on Nov. 20. Her single “Hello” from the album dropped on Oct. 23, and broke the record for the music video on VEVO to reach 100 million views the fastest—the record was previously held by Miley Cyrus’s “Wrecking Ball,” which reached the number in six days, while Adele’s “Hello” reached the number in five days.
Adele’s previous album, 21, was full of slow and somber songs riddled with lyrics about heartbreak, however, 25, although still somewhat sad has much more upbeat songs. Adele herself described 21 as a break-up album and that 25 was her make-up album, to herself and to her respective relationships.
Her most melancholy tracks by far are “Hello,” her first song and the album, and “When We Were Young.” In “Hello” Adele laments about her failed efforts to fix a broken relationship, in where she describes feeling isolated by her ex-lover: “Hello from the outside/I must’ve called a thousand times/To tell you I’m sorry.” Along the same vein, Adele sings about nostalgia for the passions of youth, for example she recalls, “It was just like a movie, it was just like a song/ My God this reminds me of when we were young,” which are extremely raw and powerful lyrics that she sings with such moving emotion.
She still has her classic powerful voice present is all her songs, however there were a few songs that weren’t her traditional style and sounded unfamiliar to me. For example, “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” had peppy guitar plucking that created an upbeat feeling, which is unusual for Adele. It sounded almost like a pop track, with an optimistic chorus about reconciliation: “I’m giving you up/I’ve forgiven it all/You set me free,” which was a refreshing thematic change from her pretty depressing tracks in 21.
My favorite song by far was “River Lea,” where she remembers her childhood by the River Lea and how it affected her in adulthood. The intro had chilling electric piano chords, leading to a verse that created rising tension that was resolved when the beat dropped at the chorus in which she chants, “But it’s in my roots, it’s in my veins/It’s in my blood and I stain every heart that I use to heal the pain.” The guitar and strong drum beats created such a triumphant melody unseen in most of the other songs in the album.
“Sweet Devotion,” the last song on the album, is a perfect conclusion. It is the most uplifting song and has a celebratory tone as she expresses her appreciation to her lover. She admits that she, “Wasn’t ready then; I’m ready now/I’m heading straight for you/The sweetest devotion/Hitting me like an explosion.” The song is blatantly honest and very optimistic, which is something unexpected of Adele, but which she executes perfectly.
Overall, the album was fantastic. Adele set expectations very high because her last album 21 was so successful– it sold 30 million copies worldwide and stayed at the number one song on the Billboard Top 200 for 24 straight weeks, and she seems to be surpassing her previous high-set bar. 25 has projected 1.5 million CD sales and almost one million in digital sales according to Billboard.com, and rightly so, because Adele manages to incorporate both somber and hopeful themes as well as diverse types of melodies to create a well-balanced and powerful album.