Adele – 25 (2015)

Adele is a great singer. Anyone who listens to the music that she has made has realised this. Let’s take a listen to this album, and find out how good a singer she is, along with the music.

We kick off with Hello. It begins with piano and Adele singing about love lost. It starts off subtlely, then kicks into a wonderful piece showing the pure glory of Adele’s voice. She is a truly great female singer. It is a touching number for sure and cemented Adele into pop history. Towards the end, it becomes a very intense listen with the background instrumentation and Adele singing her heart out. It fades out gently.

Next is Send My Love (To Your New Lover) which has gently acoustic guitar and is about leaving a lover with no regrets. It’s a weird piece lyrically but is way more pop than you’d expect. These sorts of songs with Adele’s brilliant singing on it are legendary in the pop sphere. Another good listen. It goes quiet in the middle, only to resume back to the singing and pop instrumentation.

I Miss You sounds ghostly at the beginning. It then launches into a real-sounding drum part looped. It then continues into a good piece about missing a lover. Simple, effective, and really quite brilliant. There is a big hint of melancholy in this music here. A good song. This one is a bit lengthy, but still good all the same.

When We Were Young sounds like Coldplay at the start. Adele kicks in with her singing about comparisons of age between being young and older. Her voice is extremely passionate and brilliant to hear on this song. A good tale delivered by Adele. It uses comparisons to compare a said person in the song to a moment in a movie or a song. Great stuff.

The next song Remedy is a more upbeat and simple piece about Adele being a remedy to a lover’s woes. It is great pop music, and the lyrics here are rather picturesque. A lovely sort of piece, and definitely more positive than most of the other songs on this album. Good stuff to hear.

Following is Water Under The Bridge which sounds a lot like U2 with the guitar playing in the background. It talks about more relationship issues at hand, much like the rest of the album. It asks for the said lover to be open and honest about their love for oneself. Another solid effort. A good descriptive term for a song and subject matter.

River Lea is a strange intro, with a funereal organ playing in the background. More love talk from Adele is here, in a generally negative sense. It talks about childhood memories and comparing them to adult actions. Adele apologises to a former lover from her childhood and remembers the River Lea. Kind of catchy too.

Love In The Dark begins with a semi-orchestral section and Adele sings powerfully about being brokenhearted by a lover. A sad tune, but delivered in a very beautiful way. Adele seemingly is the Burt Bacharach of the 21st century. A very depressing yet intense listen. It doesn’t mean it’s bad, it’s just depressing to listen to.

We next go into Million Years Ago which, once again, looks at past experiences in a melancholy way. It is really beautiful to listen to and talks about memories of lost friends and loved ones. Perhaps Adele has some troubles in her own life at this point. Nonetheless, a good song and well written.

Following is All I Ask which is another troubled sounding song, with beautiful piano to match. It is a lovely piece that is really emotionally effective here. It is a deep and meaningful sort of performance. It pleads for lovers to unite. Simple – and very effective on an emotional level. There is a key change in the middle of the song, which is different.

Sweetest Devotion is the last song on the album, continuing the theme of the other songs on the album about relationships. It is way more positive than most of the other songs on the album. It goes straight into a good pop song about eternal love. It is very happy sounding, and we end it here.

This is a good pop album with some good themes about it, particularly on the first track. However, its miserable lyrics and mixed messages musically make this album a good one, not a great one. Sadly, Adele has not made an album since then. Let’s hope she can deliver some new material soon.

7/10