Hello, Adele, it’s me. I’m so glad you’re back in my life.
After a four-year hiatus, Adele came back to the music scene with the release of her much anticipated album, “25,” on Nov. 20.
In the album’s first week of being released, she broke the record for most albums sold in the first week, dethroning NSYNC’s “No Strings Attached” album released in 2000. “25” is also the best-selling album of 2015, knocking Taylor Swift’s “1989” from the top spot.
“25” takes on slightly different themes than her first two albums, as this album has some themes of everything that has been happening since the release of “21,” including songs “Water Under The Bridge” and “Sweetest Devotion,” which are about her boyfriend and her son, who is heard talking in the background of the song.
But if you’re still looking for the lost love themes that her earlier albums included, you’ll still find them in tracks like “Send My Love (To Your New Lover),” a cheeky track about letting go of a former flame.
“25” seems to showcase the wide vocal range that Adele is capable of singing. While she’s certainly not hitting whistle register notes like Mariah Carey or Ariana Grande can, she definitely explores her range, like in the track “When We Were Young,” where she sings and holds the note longer than I’ve heard in other songs of hers.
She also explores different singing techniques for each of the songs. “River Lea” takes on a grittier tone than the other songs on the album, while “Remedy” seems more like a lullaby or a promise to someone (most likely her son) that she won’t let anything happen to him.
The standout track on the album is the penultimate song, “All I Ask,” which was co-written by Bruno Mars. The song, which talks about the last night of being with someone, brought me to tears the first time I heard it and I still get choked up when I listen to it.
As I listened to the album on repeat, I found that I could relate to each of the tracks in some different way. That is one of Adele’s strong points in her songwriting – being able to write about something that is personal to her, whether it’s about her love life or her family, and making it relatable for everyone who listens to the track. One song, “A Million Years Ago” reminds me of missing someone but being excited for future. If the song had been released when I started college two years ago, I’m sure I would have listened to it on repeat as I said goodbye to my mom on move-in day.
After waiting four years for new Adele music, “25” is everything one could have wished for when it comes to her music.
The standard CD is available on iTunes and in many music stores. Target is the exclusive distributor of the deluxe album, which has three extra songs than the standard album.
