Adele - 25
- Written by Rob Crozier
It may have slipped your attention but Adele has a new album out.
The album starts with the lead single ‘Hello’. However this is not some belated homage to Lionel Richie and we all assume that your ears would have caught it by now. Even David Attenborough has spoken the lyrics on national radio. The juggernaut of press and public interest is almost unprecedented. We wonder what other artists would do for such blanket coverage.
25 arrives after a four year absence, like her previous works it covers a key milestone in her life. Her previous two concept albums portrays her movement from child to adult and 21 as we all know was about a sour relationship and her inability to cope with the ensuing heart break. Adele wastes no time in resorting to type as ‘Hello’ blasts out with sombre and melancholy verse. An acknowledgement of her return all wrapped up in a perfectly marketable song.
If any of us were under the illusion that her new album would be more upbeat and reflecting on her more stable home life, the second track ‘Send My Love (To Your New Lover)’ dispels this. This is still a retrospective look back at a relationship gone bad. She has a talent which is undeniable, but it's a shame her music is so one dimensional.
‘I Miss You’ is another look back at love. This track is classic Adele with her soaring vocals and easy to sing chorus, which we are sure will be copied and regurgitated via various contestants on TV talent shows for years to come. ‘When We Were Young’ is an even slower ballad looking back at love's young dream and the innocence of youth. With such obvious talent it's unfortunate and slightly bewildering that she rejected Damon Albarn as producer. This track in particular could have been raised beyond just another ballad belted out with her strained vocals. However that said this track displays why she is so successful. She provides simplistic and honest love songs that most can relate to.
There are signs that Adele is able to conjure up a positive, forward looking track. Unfortunately ‘Remedy’ is still over-sung with too much vocal warbling but it is at least uplifting. This theme is also continued with a different producer. ‘All I Ask’ which was co-written by the new prince of pop himself (Bruno Mars). However like previous tracks this is again warbling vocal masturbation with huge unnecessary key changes.
Where she has allowed outside production, her sound takes on a deeper more well-rounded sound that does not just rely on her vocals being the all-consuming focus of the track. Therefore the songs produced by Danger Mouse ‘River Lea’ and ‘Sweetest Devotion’ allow her vocals to co-exist within a stronger backed production. Whilst this still allows her enough freedom of expression and ticks the boxes of a love song from everyone’s favourite songbird.
There is no doubt that this album will perform several functions. It will become the perfect Christmas gift for 1000s of Mum’s and Aunties from pimple faced youths who can’t decide what to buy. She also has the fame and the exposure as an artist that everyone has heard of. None of that is Adele’s fault and she cannot be entirely blamed for her huge success, yet we can only wonder what could have been had she chosen to experiment just a bit more. As it is she does not need anyone’s help in shifting millions of copies of this album. We shall await her next key milestone and just hope something exciting happens in between.