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ADELE
“30”
(Album Review)

20th November 2021

Review by Sabrina Sutton

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Dear Adele,

Ow.

How dare you not set foot in a recording studio for almost four years and then have the audacity to be so harrowingly honest in your return that it’s almost cruel.

I love it.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Everyone x

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30 is the rawest, unfiltered version of Adele yet. The singing sensation’s fourth studio album is all the messy stages of grief and growth, put to just plain ole’, good music. So, without further ado, let’s usher in the new age of Adele.

I was convinced I would need a bottle of wine to get through this album (Hey Adele, I Drink Wine too. Let’s be friends). And yes, overall, the album is incredibly bittersweet. But, by God, she’s done it in such a musically diverse way that not once was I bored of her pain (sorry, not sorry).

Don’t get me wrong – Adele has produced an emotional battlefield. Listening to this album is like thinking you just got shot in the heart, then realising that actually, you just got shot to the left of it and now? Now, you’re being forced to stitch yourself back together. But, the stitches aren’t holding as well as you thought they would and, it’s taking its bloody time to heal. (Me? Dramatic? Never.)

The album’s opening number lulls you into this almost docile sense of calm with a jazz-standard inspired tune called Strangers by Nature – a dreamy, hazy affair with swelling strings and vintage backing vocals. Then we’re taken to an even safer place with the hit single Easy On Me. It’s the plea for patience and understanding, accompanied by a memorable piano melody that we’ve been hearing for a little over a month now.

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Then the gun goes off. Adele hits us right in the bleeding chest with the monster of emotions she’s been holding. My Little Love is a public confession of guilt wrapped in a love note to her son, Angelo. This song forces us to face Adele’s inner chaos with a devastatingly candid account of her grief through voice memos. Woven throughout the already melancholic lyrics are snippets of tender conversations between mother and son – “You know Mummy doesn’t like…anyone else like I like you, right?” However, the hardest to hear is the message Adele records to herself – a personal tear-soaked divulgence of anxious days, loneliness, and grief.

Thus far, it’s already clear how this album musically diverges from her previous sound. Her last album, 25, heavily rode and capitalised on the pop wave, with almost every song relying on “big” moments with huge vocals. Although a fantastic album, there’s no denying that 30 is her sweet spot. It’s a risky and brave thing to do — to change the formula that isn’t broken. But this album’s jazz-infused, blues-coloured soul with some secular gospel flavour for good measure takes Adele’s musicality and the volcanic instrument that is her voice to new levels.

Often crediting Amy Winehouse for being the reason she picked up a guitar at 15, Adele’s new project has Ms Winehouse’s musical fingerprints all over it. Cry Your Heart Out, in particular, strikes that blend of retro soul and pop, with doo-wop-y style backing vocals and a Motown groove. Just like her inspiration, however, Adele still hits us where it hurts with self-aware arrows such as “I created this storm, it’s only fair I sit in this rain.”

Similarly, the last track on the album, Love is a Game, feels like a warm nod to Winehouse’s Love Is A Losing Game. A full timbre that implements classic call-and-response vocals and stunning dynamic strings creates a cinematic soundtrack that belongs to the closing sequence of your favourite romance film (come on, I know you’ve got one).

Continuing the jazz-infused flavour is All Night Parking Interlude. It’s a lo-fi beats-esque experience, pairing the work of late jazz pianist Erroll Garner with a trap beat and trumpet interjections. It’s a sonic pique-of-interest, creating something charming and fun with a touch of sweetness that the album needed.

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So, we have lament, reflection, melancholy and a touch of charm – is that all? Most certainly not, folks. Adele brings some edge into the mix with R&B dancehall coloured Oh My God, and OMG indeed. A fuller-bodied production with a dipped toe into some electronic vocal manipulation, this track (and it is a track) gives the album some heat and sass. Still true to the album’s overarching theme, the lyrics hold nuggets of self-reflection while welcoming us onto a new street of the healing process. For me, this is Adele’s “I am woman, hear me roar” (although, through my mistakes) moment.

Continuing down this street, we have Can I Get It, a Max Martin and Shellback production (the very same who brought us Send My Love (To Your Little Lover)). This 30, flirty and fun anthem has big radio-hit potential with its whistle hook, simple chord structure and pop-rock drums. For a good time, follow the acoustic guitar.

At this moment, Adele leads us back to her roots with I Drink Wine. This song would have felt right at home amongst I’ll Be Waiting and Take It All on her second studio album, 21; following the familiar structure of a piano and vocal duet intro that builds into a fuller chorus with a killer hook. However, what makes this song different is the organ keyboard with the interjecting gospel-like “bring me to church” backing vocals. Although buoyant in its accompaniment, the lyrics still hold firm in their self-criticism. Perhaps, the pairing of the music and lyrics are indicative of a shedding of old skin into a better version of herself. A fun fact about this tune is that the original recording clocked in at close to 15-minutes long. Who knows? Maybe in nine years time Adele can follow in Taylor Swift’s footsteps and re-release this fan-favourite’s original version.  

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Interestingly, only one song on this whole album doesn’t seem to be about… well, Adele. Woman Like Me follows on from All Night Parking, maintaining the almost hazy, static-fuzzed overlay with sorrowful finger-picked guitar accompaniment. This song cuts. Don’t be fooled by the laid-back groove and lack of fancy production – you’ll only feel the sting of Adele’s words more. This album has been a series of self-lacerations up until this point, so it’s nice to hear the singer give it back to someone. Because as we all know, it takes two to tango.

Now, I’ve held back on commenting on Adele’s vocals too much because my jaw-dropping awe needed to be saved. Adele has had major vocal health issues in the past. Being pushed to reach “money notes” in the studio led to dangerous vocal techniques (i.e. probably no technique at all) during live shows in an attempt to not disappoint fans. Throw in a world tour, 120 + shows, and a belter of a setlist (like, literally – every song on 25 required an impressive belt); there’s no wonder she suffered from damaged vocal cords, forcing her to cancel two of her four shows during her 2017 Wembley stadium residency.

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Flash forward to today, however, and Adele has never sounded so vocally healthy and secure. Take her performance at her recently televised concert Adele One Night Only, for example. Her whole presence looks effortless. There’s no strain in her face or hand going to massage her throat or excessive swallowing to ease the burn of a scratched vocal cord. Rhythmically, melodically and pitch-wise, Adele has never sounded better.

The singer’s vocal control was particularly present in her performance of Hold On. A consistently building track that speaks of hope and self-forgiveness, this song comes to a head in a glorious flurry of ascending strings and a gritty belt with soaring choir-like backing vocals. And that belt? It’s only a taste of what’s to come.

To quote myself when I heard the second last song on the album for the first time, To Be Loved – “Christ almighty on my ears.” Yes, it’s another piano and vocal ballad. But, where Easy On Me stayed relatively even in its emotional journey, this song takes those stitches we have in our chest from our hypothetical gunshot wound and plucks them like banjo strings (Yes. Ow. You’re correct). This is Adele in her rawest form, and you can hear it in the howl and the husk and the grit and the break.

To quote Adele herself, “all I do is bleed into someone else,” and it really felt like she bled herself dry into this album. As listeners, we’re left a little drained too. But I wouldn’t have it any other way. So, once again, Adele. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Me x 

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Buy/Stream “30” HERE

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Follow ADELE
Instagram – Facebook – Twitter – YouTube

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AMNPLIFY – DB