As singer/songwriter Adele collects accolades, triumphing charts and award nights globally, it is seemingly impossible to dim her bulb. Her second release, 21, so named for her age at the time of recording, is a classic break-up album. It is the anger, confusion and desperation of a young woman recovering from an important romantic relationship that makes relatable a talent that few of us could hope to possess. Ipso facto, hearing a beautifully executed vocal embody your own emotion is why break-up songs remain popular and why soul music will never die.
21 ’s track listing proves transparent, putting the album’s big “fuck you” – the fiery stomper Rolling In The Deep – first, and closing the suite with the mournfully lonely Someone Like You (google the Brit Awards’ live rendition to see it realised to devastating effect).
Not all the songs are a response to Adele’s broken heart, however – Rumour Has It (the closest in similarity to track one) is Adele’s observation of people believing tabloid reports about her; Turning Tables began as an in-joke between the lyricist and her co-writer Ryan Tedder – and some offerings are weak. The instrumention on (Rick Rubin-produced) Don’t You Remember could have become a schmaltzy alt-country cringe in the wrong hands; the feathery piano and timid percussion of He Won’t Go pluck at bad taste strings; the cover of The Cure’s Lovesong is bound to be the next bogan wedding song.
However, trying to find fault in 21 is akin to ripping up the veneer on a laneway paved in gold searching for misshapen cobblestones. Adele is a soul singer, which is not to say her compositions could rest easily in the genre; rather, it’s a defining aspect of her vocal honesty and depth. Her ability to sing pain, heartbreak and triumph, pulling down from most octaves, is world class. Witness footage of her speaking and find an endearing, smoking-while-swearing, girl-next-door: proving a star can be born anywhere.
If it were possible for a modern, white, British, middle-class woman to reach the legendary status of comparable singers, having not suffered as they did, Adele could stand beside Aretha and Etta. Hopefully, she maintains the class and fire to become timeless.
Best Track: Undoubtedly, Rolling In The Deep
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: Early BETH DITTO, DUFFY, ETTA JAMES
In A Word: Honest
