Adele
25
(Columbia)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
The fact that Adele titles her albums based on the ages she was when they were madeĀ is somewhat ironic, because the music on them always seems like the work of someone impossibly mature and self-aware for such tender years. No 19-year-old could possibly sound so world-weary as she did on āChasing Pavements,ā right? And how could any 21-year-old have access to the bottomless well of emotions that she spilled forth on āSomeone Like You?ā
Just a look at the song titles on her new album 25 should let you know that her old-soul outlook is still running rampant: āWhen We Were Young,ā āWater Under The Bridge,ā and āMillion Years Agoā are the most obvious examples. And her lyrics sometimes make it seem like 25 would have been more accurately titled 52. Sheās ārunning out of timeā on āHello,ā or telling an ex that āwe aināt kids no moreā on āSend My Love (To Your New Lover.)ā On āRiver Lea,ā her lost-in-retrospection narrator even admits that she has to ālighten up and learn how to be young.ā
The genius of Adele, and the best moments of 25 have this genius on full display, is that the heightened moments that come to the fore in her songs, where sheās always on the precipice of breaking up or breaking down or rising above it all, are actually the staples of youth, when perspective is hard to come by and everything means everything. Yet she conveys these moments with such old-soul wisdom and insight, and, of course, with that ceaselessly stirring voice, that it manages to touch hearts of every age bracket. Sheās got all the bases covered, which is why 21 sold a gazillion records and 25 is likely to do pretty brisk business as well.
The natural tendency after an album as monumental as 21 would be to try a change of pace the next time around to avoid comparisons, and, according to various reports of scrapped songwriting and recording sessions in the four-year span between albums, it seems she almost went down that road. Yet the finished product here seems like an attempt to up the ante on the drama and showstopping that permeated 21.
When the songs are just right, thatās a great thing. āWater Under The Bridge,ā one of the few songs here with a backbeat that wouldnāt be best described as āstaggering,ā finds Adele fighting with inspiring gusto to sustain a fractious relationship. āLove In The Darkā takes the opposite approach, as the narrator realizes that the love is spent and itās time to bail. There are lyrical clichĆ©s that need to be overcome in this track (as there are throughout the album), which Adeleās clever phrasing manages to do, and when she sings, āI want to live and not just survive,ā the air is pierced with the force of her conviction and itās believable in the best way.
25 can seem like 11 singles instead of an album at times; all the big-name producers and co-songwriters muscling their way in doesnāt allow for too much restraint. And, save for atmospheric curve balls like āI Miss Youā and āRiver Leaā, the piano ballad is pretty much the fallback option here, so donāt come expecting a lot of musical diversity.
But whatās wrong with a piano ballad? Well, Adele honestly canāt do much with the forced uplift of āRemedy,ā but she salvages the Bruno Mars co-write āAll I Askā by embracing the songās Barry Manilow-worthy bombast instead of shrinking from it. And then thereās āWhen We Were Young,ā which captures that specific, exquisite kind of sadness that occurs when you see a former flame unexpectedly and has the best chance of having that āSomeone Like Youā kind of effect, making you mist up in spite of your jaded self.
Itās nigh impossible to listen to 25 without playing compare and contrast to 21, but Adele deserves a fair shake considering that sheās carrying the hopes of an entire industry on her back, at least until Taylor or Beyonce get cracking again. Expectations like that could make anyone seem old beyond their years. Since Adele has seemed right at home with that outlook since she first uncorked one of those chill-inducing crescendo notes, 25 turns out to be another very good year.