You know “Hello” already, the first track on Adele’s new album, 25. It instantly became a viral hit and worldwide phenomenon when the single was released. With Saturday Night Live parodies, thousands of YouTube covers and Lionel Richie mashups, it quickly worked its way to the top of the charts in 28 countries, making it the first single ever to sell one million downloads in a release week in the U.S., according to Billboard Magazine.
The single foreshadowed the sales to come with 25, as early numbers reported by Billboard indicate more than 2.4 million copies have already sold. That breaks NSYNC’s 15-year-old record for most U.S. album sales in a single week, proving Adele provides the only real challenge to Taylor Swift’s chart-topping reign of 2014-15.
After a four year break between album releases — the Grammy Award-winning 21 and the now already-legendary 25 — Adele fans can rejoice over the new album. While 21 was a heartbreaking ode to a painful breakup, 25 comes after a career-threatening vocal cord surgery and the birth of her son with partner Simon Konecki. In a happy relationship with a new family, her music has changed only a little bit — and it’s for the better.
Adele is known for her power ballads, and that is certainly still the case in her third album. Since she has released so many of these ballads before and has such a distinctive sound, about five of the tracks on 25 could be knocked out for sounding so similar. Adele’s voice and lyrics have the power to move mountains, but the tracks of 25 will rarely surprise you. However, there are a few standouts among the crowd.
Immediately, I fell in love with “Million Years Ago,” a dreamy harmony akin to the background music one would hear in a Parisian cafe in the spring. Any listener is promptly transported to an old European city with flowers blooming and the heat of warm coffee rising in the crisp air as soon as the chorus swoons, “I wish I could live a little more / Look up to the sky, not just the floor.”
On “Send My Love (To Your New Lover),” the second track of the album, the melodies contrast deeply with the usual Adele ballad as a beautiful ensemble of voices join in for the upbeat chorus. Usually no one would describe Adele’s music as something to dance to, but this song provides a beat that’s hard to resist.
“Sweetest Devotion” is the kind of song you blast in your car going down the highway. It doesn’t have the old-time British feel of Adele’s usual music. Rather, it feels like an American country song. Later, the dark and haunting “River Lea” brings back the melancholy of 21, but with more of a gospel-sounding vibe.
No matter what, Adele’s voice will always draw in hordes of listeners of all ages, genders, languages and backgrounds. She will stay at the top of the charts as long as she continues to produce music.