Adele never planned on releasing 25.
In fact, right after the release of her sophomore album, 21, Adele stated that she was quitting — not just from the spotlight, but from the record industry, from the labels, and from the music scene entirely.
21 hit the charts in 2011 and ran with wild success. Powered by the angst of post adolescence and crushed by bitter heartbreak, Adele began churning out torch songs filled with wailing vocals and fiery beats. After nabbing six Grammys in one night and touring packed halls, Adele simply wanted to exit her career on a high note and leave her fans happy with her work.
When her son was born in 2012, Adele decided that she couldn’t quit. Inspired by motherhood, Adele realized that she wanted her son to “know what [she] did.” Despite having throat surgery just a year before, Adele decided to begin writing- which was easier said than done. Faced against a marathon of a challenge, Adele didn’t have much fuel left in her system.
After scrapping track after track, reworking 25 numerous times, and taking six months to write “Hello,” Adele was ready to make her comeback.
And oh, is her comeback sweet. From “Hello” to “Sweetest Devotion,” 25 swims in nostalgia — a hallmark of Adele’s music — yet introduces a distinctly mature, remorseful tone that was never heard in 21. Adele’s soaring vocals grate at the top and growl at the bottom. None of the caustic, biting wit in “Rolling in the Deep” remains; 25 is markedly bittersweet — a testament to Adele’s four years away from fame and glory.
25 simultaneously suffers and thrives from the absence of safety. In “I Miss You,” Adele takes a darker, uncertain, much less traveled path away from her adolescent pain of 21. The harsh poly rhythm that incessantly thumps in “I Miss You” is never seen in Adele’s previous album, and introduces an element of tension, as if Adele wailing “treat me soft, but touch me cruel” wasn’t already wrought with nails-on-the-chalkboard emotion.
While 25 is filled with breathless and exhilarating vocals, nothing in Adele’s musical anthology of four years seems as wistful as a “Million Years Ago,” a marriage between Adele’s vocals, her past, and a yearning guitar. The plucked strings, smooth chord shifts, and crooning voice seem to create a perfect, happy medium between what seems like a melodramatic Spanish flamenco and a classical French violin piece.
The track “All I Ask,” is the gemstone of 25. The stamp of Bruno Mars, who Adele collaborated with for this song, is prevalent throughout the song. Featuring no instrumentals save for a piano, “All I Ask” is surefire material for a movie breakup scene. With hard hitting questions like “What if I never love again?” or torchy bits like “I don’t need your honesty / it’s already in your eyes,” Adele has no choice but to soak her track with raw emotion. Bluesy seventh chords trill in the background longing for a feeling that is absent yet familiar. And nothing prepares the listener for the key shift towards the end of “All I Ask” except for the fact that 25 has been nothing but a cavern of sidesteps and switchbacks. The transition from D minor to a triumphant, positive F major brings some respite, and, at first listen, may seem hopeful.
In fact, nothing in 25 is really ever wrapped up. Whereas 21 was anchored by anger and fury, 25 seems to take a much deeper, darker — even lonelier tone.
25 isn’t going to sound welcoming at first. It isn’t even going to make much sense; a lot of Adele’s lyrics are steeped in deliberate lies, obscure metaphors, and references to rivers. Some will make a point of chalking Adele up to another young adult who complains of loneliness, regret, or nostalgia — but an undercurrent of matured emotions undeniably runs deep within the currents of 25, demanding to be felt.
25 isn’t an immediate triumph. It builds slowly, insisting the listener to devote time just to listen through it once, twice, maybe even a third time. With each listen, 25 becomes deeper, darker, and sweeter; with each listen, it becomes clear that 25 is Adele’s sweet devotion to the industry, to her fans, and to herself.
