This past Friday, British singer-songwriter Adele set the music industry ablaze with the release of her new single, “Hello.” Always private, the singer has emerged from a years-long period of artistic quiet, having focused largely on family life since the birth of her son Angelo in 2012. This gave fans all the more reason to celebrate her latest release, accompanied by a full-length music video and an open letter published on the singer’s Facebook page. Even more thrilling for Adele acolytes is the official confirmation that her next album, “25,” is slated for release in late November. “’25’ is about getting to know who I’ve become without realising,” the singer wrote in a candid message to fans. “And I’m sorry it took so long, but you know, life happened.”
So who has Adele become – and what can we expect from her first full album after four years of life outside the spotlight? “Hello” might give us some clues. Soaring, poignant, and anthemic, it’s rich with the musical and thematic qualities that characterize her other hits. Blunt expressions of longing, pain, and regret are relayed in her unmistakable vocal style. (It’s clear that her immense talent has remained intact during her time away.) Just as smoothly as she shifts from acknowledgment of her own hurt to ardent apology, she lilts from bold, brassy bellows to delicate, higher-pitched passages, demonstrating both power and vulnerability. Spare production takes a backseat to her vocal and lyrical mastery, and the results are stunning. If you’re not reaching for a box of tissues by the end of the song, I admire your emotional resolve.
After you’re done absorbing the tour de force that is “Hello,” you might find yourself wondering what inspired Adele to paint yet another power-pop masterpiece. The answers might surprise you. Throughout the song, she refers repeatedly to a mysterious figure from her past – “I must have called a thousand times,” she laments, “To tell you I’m sorry for everything that I’ve done.” What’s more, the music video, shot in spare, dramatic black-and-white, features multiple scenes from the singer’s perspective as she watches a man laughing, talking, and eventually leaving her behind. But believe it or not, Adele is done singing about heartbreak. “Hello” is addressed not to a specific ex-lover, but to a litany of other important figures in the singer’s life. “It’s about friends, ex-boyfriends, it’s about myself, it’s about my family,” she explains. “It’s also about my fans as well. I feel like everyone thinks I’m so far away and I’m not.”
“25” is far from a break-up record. Instead, Adele writes, it’s “a make-up record. I’m making up with myself… making up for everything I ever did and never did.” Turning 25, she says, marked an important twist on her path to personal growth, a tipping point where she was forced to decide whether – and how – she wanted to grow up. “Hello” clearly reflects the progress she’s made on this journey. Instead of funneling all her anger and unrest towards a specific event or person – “hold[ing] on to the crumbs of the past,” as she put it in her open letter – she’s taking a clear, hard look at herself and where she stands, settling the score with lovers, friends, and past selves alike. Seen through this lens, her latest single is evidence of an artist approaching both musical and personal maturity.
If “Hello” is any indication, Adele’s latest album will pack all the emotional punch of her previous releases, but not without a good dose of hard-earned perspective. After four years of musical hibernation, she’s ready to shed the heartbreak that characterized her previous hits and show us what she’s learned. Knowing Adele, she’ll relay the tales and lessons of her early 20s with a blend of drama, talent and power all her own. Get the tissues ready – “25” drops on Nov. 20.
Contact Clare Flanagan at ckflan ‘at’ stanford.edu.