Adele: 30 (Columbia)
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Verdict: Queen of sorrow reclaims her throne
She's never been one to hide her innermost feelings from the world – whether it's in the tear-jerking lyrics to her multi-million selling records or her recent confessional TV interview with Oprah Winfrey.
Now, as she releases her first album in six years, post-divorce Adele has turned up the emotional dial in her music once more, as Adrian Thrills discovers in his sneak-peek listen to 30...
Adele wastes no time in laying her cards on the table on her eagerly anticipated fourth album. 'I'll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart,' she declares in the opening lines of the first track, Strangers By Nature, a romantic tear-jerker adorned by electric piano, subtle electronics and strings. 'Oh, I hope that someday I'll learn to nurture what I've done.'
The message is clear: fans should brace themselves for heaped helpings of heartache and guilt, with a side order of redemption and healing. 30 is titled after the age at which Adele, now 33, wrote most of its songs, and it's a rich, soulful and varied tapestry of pop, R&B and jazz. It'll sound great on a good audio system, but it might be an idea to have some Kleenex to hand.
In the promo blitz leading up to its release on Friday, the singer has explained that the record addresses the upheaval of her 2019 separation from husband Simon Konecki, and its impact on their nine-year-old son Angelo.
Adele is known for her openness and in places 30 is every bit as raw as 2011 breakthrough hit Someone Like You.
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Its 12 new songs offer a stark contrast to her cheeky offstage persona. In interviews, she can be irreverent. On record, she plays it straight, her inner turmoil no laughing matter.
At the heart of it all, of course, is that dazzling, blue-eyed soul voice – emotional without being cloying – and her phrasing is as impeccable as ever here.
The album doesn't trace the arc of a failing relationship blow by blow. Its tone is determined more by its musical cut and thrust. It opens with three ballads before becoming more uptempo. A period of jazzy introspection ensues before a show-stopping finale – the dramatic Love Is A Game – rubber-stamps its classic ebb and flow.
Adele works with some familiar behind-the-scenes faces. Six tracks are co-written with pianist and producer Greg Kurstin. The stomping Can I Get It – this album's Rolling In The Deep moment – sees her team up with Swedish producer Max Martin and his sidekick Shellback.
But two newer names also stand out. One is another Swede, Ludwig Göransson, a film composer who co-wrote that lovelorn opening track. The other is British R&B producer Inflo, who comes to the fore later on.
The opening ballads include recent single Easy On Me, a plea for understanding
