Adele’s highly anticipated album 25 came out on November 20th. Adele has been in the public eye since 2008 when she released 19, which included heartfelt and well received songs like “Chasing Pavements”, which received a Grammy, and “Make You Feel my Love”, a cover of the Bob Dylan Song of the same name. For her next album, 21, Adele won six Grammy Awards, one of the two females ever to do so. Adele’s fans have high expectations, and 25 is very highly anticipated.
The album starts with “Hello”, a song which has been near inescapable since when it was released. It is more minimalist than some of her other piano ballads of the past and on 25, and that leaves a lot of room for her voice and lyrics to shine through. The next song “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” is an upbeat song with a background of strumming and plucking acoustic guitar. As fun and upbeat this song is, I can’t help but think that the song is not what Adele does well. I like how it changed up her style, but the song seems like it could fit better for a Sara Bareilles. But it is not an unbearable song, or anything close to that, and it is easy to picture woman of all types using this as a breakup anthem. “I Miss You” turns back a darker sound, starting out with echoes and a low organ and then enters with punchy drums that cut through the atmosphere. Backup vocals were a nice addition to this song, which enhance the lyrics about, well, what the title is. At the very end, a piano comes in and twinkles, embellishing the repeated lyrics. “When We Were Young” is next, another piano ballad, but more upbeat, with bass complementing her voice. The melody is beautiful and catchy. Lyric wise, Adele sings about love, but in a more nostalgic way, and she deals with the themes of growing old and missing her youth, which is a new theme. “Water Under the Bridge” comes in sounding very similar to “Style” by Taylor Swift, who is, surprisingly, the same age as Adele. It is one of my lesser favorite songs on the album because it just feels too dense to have Adele be the center of the listeners attention. A singer with a less strong voice could do well with this type of song, but Adele has too much of a bold voice to fit on this song. “Million Years” is one of my favorites. Only acoustic guitar and Adele start off. She is using her lower register, which is refreshing to hear after song after song of loud belts. The song sounds a little Spanish inspired, a new sound for Adele, but it is executed very nicely. The final song is what, I personally, had been waiting for in this album; a song about her new child. “Sweetest Devotion” starts with a child’s voice echoing (which reminds me of Beyoncé’s ode to her daughter Blue off of her last album). The chorus comes in booming and the song seems like the perfect song to dedicate to her child, and the perfect closure.
Adele’s album has a lot of high points. The songs make you feel exactly what Adele feels, and that is what she is good at. There is never a point on the album where her voice does not do the trick. But there are only a few songs on here that do not do anything for me, and those songs are the ones with more elaborate instrumentals. I feel that those songs have less of an effect for an artist like Adele. Her vocals outshine what is happening outside of it. “Water Under the Bridge” has a catchy melody, but the instrumentals feel almost distracting when there are such great vocals. The best songs put Adele's voice and lyrics in the spotlight, and put in embellishments and backup vocals. But that doesn’t mean these songs aren’t fun and won’t be at all popular. Adele is a great musician, and this album definitely delivers.