'25' by Adele Album Review

by Aprille Hanson
Adele can be summed up in two words: predictable and brilliant. Predictable because 99 percent of her songs are focused on relationships -- heartbreak, love, lost love, etc. But, her ability to be relatable and draw every listener in with her powerhouse vocals on topics that are virtually the same is brilliant.
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Her latest album 25, supposedly the last album to be named after her age, is a wonderful follow-up to 21, but not necessarily groundbreaking.

I will admit I have not heard much from 19, so I can only speak to her growth as an artist between her two latest albums. On 21, every song had to do with love and it absolutely was from a perspective of someone in their early 20s.

The key difference in the two albums is maturity. Sure, most of the songs are about love, but it’s from a place of understanding more about love than a young teenager or one that is in their early 20s.

The smash single “Hello” is similar in theme (not in sound) to “Someone Like You,” calling up an old lover and talking about the past and while I believe ‘Someone’ is better, “Hello” has more longing to it. She’s talking about how she “must have called a thousand times,” which makes it seem like it’s a conversation that’s played over in her head for so long. Anyone who has gone through a very hard break-up will understand. There’s more at stake in “Hello,” a need for peace and healing.

“Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” has masterful vocal choices and it’s delightfully catchy, probably the most catchy song on the album. There are a few standout songs that stretch Adele’s artistic vision more than her past work. “When We Were Young” has this build to it that just intensifies our understanding of growing up. The way she articulates the phrase, “My God this reminds me of when we were young,” is gritty and perfect, as well as the lyrics that start the chorus: “You look like a movie / you sound like a song.”

It could potentially be a good single for her. But then again, there are plenty of options, including “River Lea,” a haunting song that plays with Adele’s past, growing up near the River Lea, a tributary to the Thames River. But it’s more about how love has changed and her guilt with that through her life, but using the river imagery grips the listener, especially lyrics like, “My heart is a valley / it’s so shallow and manmade.” While the verses are steady as a river, the rapids hit at the chorus, with biting lines like “It’s in my blood and I stain every heart that I use to heal the pain.”

Another gem is “Million Years Ago” because it’s not about love and it’s unique. As secretive as Adele is about her life, this song is probably the best indication of how she personally has been affected by fame. It may be hard for the average person to feel sorry for someone who is famous, but the lack of privacy and the complete overhaul that comes with fame makes the listener truly feel for Adele. It almost sounds like a person who has committed some sort of crime has left jail and realizes how different their life is. Fame is somewhat a jail and that’s the feeling we get from this song, with no hint of sounding whiny about “rich people problems.”

“All I Ask” should be a single. With pop star Bruno Mars as a co-writer, Adele not only tugs at our emotions talking about two lovers parting ways one last time, but it’s her pleading and powerful voice that brings home lines like, “It matters how this ends / because what if I never love again.”

While there’s really not a misstep on the album, the best song by far is “Sweetest Devotion,” written about her 3-year-old son Angelo. At the beginning and end of the song, you can hear his voice, talking about wanting to swim and immediately, it’s bouncy and fun, like chasing after a toddler. You can tell the complete joy Adele has with motherhood that was unexpected, in lyrics like, “I wasn’t ready then, I’m ready now / I’m heading straight for you / you will only be eternally / the one that I belong to.” It’s a perfect way to end the 25 album because it chronicles love and heartbreak, but it’s summed up with the greatest love of her life in her son. It makes Adele singing these particular lyrics so beautiful for fans: “I find it funny that you’re the only one I never looked for / there is something in your loving that tears down my walls.”

Critics have pegged Adele as being boring for being almost too relatable, to the point where she only sings about love and does not take risks. It’s partially fair, in that I hope her next album stretches even further, but she has never been boring and 25 was a great next step for her as an artist. 

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