Adele’s “30”: Track-by-Track Review

On November 19, global music superstar Adele released her fourth studio album. Entitled 30, the album is a lyrically raw and sonically innovative exploration of her tumultuous personal life. Here, I provide a brief primer on Adele and her latest album before delving into a track-by-track review (including the album’s elusive bonus tracks.)

Adele: A Brief History

In case you have been living under a rock for the last decade and are unschooled in the wonders of Adele, here is a brief primer.

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born in the Tottenham district of London on May 5, 1988. Her father left when she was 2-years-old and she was raised by her mother. She began singing when she was 4 and had her talent nurtured at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology, which she graduated from in May 2006.

Shortly after graduation, Adele self-published a pair of songs and recorded a three-track demo that a friend subsequently uploaded to MySpace. Richard Russell, the head of the music label XL Recordings, heard the songs and eagerly signed her. She met producer Jim Abbiss while laying vocals down for a fellow artist and he produced most of her first album, 19.

The album, which started her trend of naming her collections after the age she was when she wrote them, was released in January 2008. It spawned the singles “Chasing Pavements,” “Hometown Glory,” “Cold Shoulder,” and the Bob Dylan cover “Make You Feel My Love.” The album gained initial success in the UK but broke out in the U.S. after a star-making appearance on Saturday Night Live that fortuitously coincided with an appearance by Sarah Palin that sent viewership to a 14-year high. The album won Adele her first two Grammys — one for Best New Artist and the other for Best Pop Female Vocal Performance for “Chasing Pavements.”

19 may have been a successful era, but it was 21 that truly made her a megastar. Released in January 2011, 21 spawned three massive #1 hit singles — “Rolling in the Deep,” “Someone Like You,” and “Set Fire to the Rain.” The album has sold an estimated 31 million copies worldwide to date, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. It has been certified diamond in the U.S. with sales exceeding 14 million. She won all six Grammys for which she was nominated, including Album of the Year and Record and Song of the Year for “Rolling in the Deep.” The era was fueled by a sold-out 51-show tour across the U.S. and Europe, as well as her Oscar-winning theme song to the blockbuster James Bond film “Skyfall,” which she released at the tail-end of the era.

Nearly four years after the release of 21, Adele dropped her third album. She described the album, entitled 25, as a “make-up” record following from 21’s status as a quintessential “break-up” record. The deeply nostalgic album broke global sales records upon its release thanks in large part to the blockbuster power ballad “Hello” that served as the lead single. The song skyrocketed to #1 and became a cultural phenomenon. Although the subsequent singles “When We Were Young,” “Send My Love (To Your New Lover),” and “Water Under the Bridge” failed to top the charts, they all performed very well. 25 has sold over 22 million copies worldwide to date, including 11 million certified sales in the U.S. alone. The album won all five Grammys it was nominated for including her second trophies for Album, Record, and Song of the Year (the latter for “Hello”). By that point in her career, she had won an astonishing 15 Grammys from 18 nominations. The era was accompanied by her largest tour to date, Adele Live 2016. The tour lasted 16 months and played 121 sold out shows across three continents. Just shy of 3 million people attended the shows and its box office receipts exceeded an astonishing $167 million.

As she had done following the success of her prior albums, Adele faded from the limelight after the 25 era ended. She focused on her relationship (and eventual marriage) to entrepreneur Simon Konecki and raising their son Angelo, who was born in 2012. News of her divorce from Konecki became public in 2019 and fueled speculation that her next album would be an epic divorce record. Since her divorce, she has battled depression and anxiety, lost over 100 pounds, reconciled with her estranged father, and found new love with American sports agent Rich Paul. Fans were eager to see how all these personal developments affected her creatively on her next album.

“30”: The Road to Release

Pretty much since the day Adele’s blockbuster tour in support of 25 wrapped, speculation has been rampant about her next album era. In addition to being universally beloved, Adele has also become known as a music industry savior. She and Taylor Swift seem to be the only artists who can gain sustained buzz and deliver major albums sales in the rapidly-changing music industry.

There were a few hints here and there about when the next album might come. In 2018, media outlets began reporting that she was recording material. On her 31st birthday in 2019, she posted a reference to her forthcoming album on Instagram. In February 2020, she announced at a friend’s wedding that her next album would arrive by September. But then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic occurred. Interestingly, despite being famous for staying out of the public eye in between album cycles, Adele made a very high-profile appearance by hosting Saturday Night Live for the first time in October 2020. (Her appearance received critical acclaim, but generated more buzz for her tremendous weight loss.)

Buzz began in earnest in the early fall of 2021. On September 30, Taylor Swift announced that she was moving the release of Red (Taylor’s Version) up a week from November 19 to November 12, which sent many speculating that Adele was dropping her new album on the 19th and they didn’t want a media narrative about the two of them competing. The next day, light projections with the number “30” began appearing on landmarks throughout the world, including the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace, the Coliseum, and the Empire State Building. Nearly two weeks after that rather jaw-dropping promo, Adele finally revealed the album’s release date, artwork, and lead single.

On October 15, Adele released the album’s first single “Easy On Me.” The song shot straight to #1 in numerous countries (including the U.S.) and stayed there for several weeks. The accompanying video made a splash on YouTube. Adele then secured a primetime special entitled Adele: One Night Only. It premiered on CBS and Paramount+ on November 14, 2021 (5 days before the album’s release). The two-hour special included both a performance of 10 songs against the stunning backdrop of Los Angeles’s Griffith Observatory at sunset and a confessional interview with Oprah Winfrey. It was spectacularly mounted and was a major hit, becoming the top rated entertainment program on U.S. television in many months (it scored more viewers than the Oscars, Grammys, and Emmys did in 2021). Of note, she also had a U.K. special entitled An Audience Adele, which aired on November 21.

As a big Adele fan who counts myself very lucky to be among those who saw her live on her most recent sold-out tour, I have been eagerly anticipating the release of 30 for years. However, I found myself a bit underwhelmed with how straightforward and elegant the first single was, how obvious the title and artwork for the album were, and how safe the CBS/Paramount+ special played it in terms of both its setlist and the Oprah interview. I was worried that 30 was going to find Adele similarly playing it safe lyrically and sonically.

Thankfully, I was wrong.

Without further ado, here is my track-by-track review of 30.

“30”: Track-by-Track Review

“Strangers by Nature”

This brief and whimsical album opener may seem gentle and straightforward upon first listen but it is remarkably nuanced. The song is hauntingly produced by Ludwig Göransson, the Oscar-, Grammy-, and Emmy-winning Swedish composer responsible for the scores to Black Panther and The Mandalorian. This song marks Adele and Göransson’s first collaboration and its cinematic orchestration makes a strong case for more collaborations between them. The lyrics find Adele examining her own heartbreak and wonder if she will ever come to terms with it, culminating in her speaking the words “Alright then, I’m ready.” Those spoken words serve as a fitting introduction to the rest of the immensely revealing album and the song’s production does as well, with its blend of experimental elements and traditional pop, jazz, and soul. (Fun Fact: Adele described the track as being inspired by two very different films — the 2019 Judy Garland biopic Judy and the 1992 Goldie Hawn-Meryl Streep camp classic Death Becomes Her.)

• Favorite Lyrics: “I’ll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart/ For all of my lovers in the present and in the dark/ Every anniversary, I’ll pay respects and say I’m sorry/ For they never stood a chance as if they could/ When no one knows what it’s like to be us”

“Easy On Me”

The blockbuster lead single from 30 is this collaboration with Adele’s longtime producer Greg Kurstin. The piano-driven ballad finds Adele reflecting on her divorce. The lyrics are a mix of self-flagellation and self-forgiveness that comes off as brutally honest and poignant. For me, it is the least interesting of her debut singles but it is beautiful in terms of vocals, lyrics, and production and undoubtedly succeeds at being the tearjerking divorce ballad that so many were expecting from her.

• Favorite Lyrics: “There ain’t no gold in this river/ That I’ve been washin’ my hands in forever/ I know there is hope in these waters/ But I can’t bring myself to swim/ When I am drowning in this silence”

“My Little Love”

The sultry ’70s groove and string-heavy arrangement that dominate this sprawling 6-and-a-half minute track seems at odds with the lyrical content, which finds her trying to explain her post-divorce heartbreak and behavior to her young son. But somehow they blend seamlessly and powerfully. The boldest and most affecting element of the song is the integration of voice memos (reportedly inspired by American rapper Tyler, the Creator). Through hearing snippets of her interactions with her son and an anxiety-ridden voicemail to her friend, we get to know more about Adele’s interior life than a thousand poetic lyrics could ever give us access to. It’s a painful listen, but it’s an impressive work of confessional art.

• Favorite Lyrics: “My little love/ Tell me, do you feel the way my past aches?/ When you lay on me, can you hear the way my heart breaks?/ I wanted you to have everything I never had/ I’m so sorry if what I’ve done makes you feel sad”

“Cry Your Heart Out”

This may be the first song on 30 that increases the tempo, but it is far from a traditional pop song. It features heavy elements of Motown and reggae and distorted vocal effects, giving the song about Adele’s post-divorce depressive episode a jaunty and almost whimsical atmosphere.

• Favorite Lyrics: “When I wake up, I’m afraid of the idea of facin’ the day/ I would rather stay home on my own, drink it all away/ Please stop callin’ me, it’s exhausting, there’s really nothin’ left to say/ I created this storm, it’s only fair I have to sit in its rain”

“Oh My God”

30 somewhat jarringly transitions into full-blown 21st century dance floor pop with this track that has wisely been chosen as the album’s 2nd single. Although the lyrics aren’t particularly profound, they do fit in with the album’s thematic progression as it finds her snapping out of the major depressive episode chronicled by the prior songs. Synthesizers, vocal effects, hand claps, and bass drops fuel what is one of the catchiest pop songs she has ever produced.

• Favorite Lyrics: “I’m a fool, but they all think I’m blind/ I’d rather be a fool than leave myself behind/ I don’t have to explain myself to you/ I am a grown woman and I do what I want to do”

“Can I Get It”

Some critics dismissed this track as “pop filler,” but I embrace it as pop perfection. The album’s sole collaboration with super-producers Max Martin and Shellback (who have written and produced modern pop classics for artists like Britney Spears, P!nk, Ariana Grande, and Katy Perry) expertly incorporates a strumming guitar and rhythmic whistling into a sonically interesting and immensely satisfying track. The lyrics find Adele looking for a relationship after breaking free from the hold her depression had on her, but adamant that it not devolve into casual sex. The track also has perhaps the album’s most thrilling bridge.

• Favorite Lyrics: “I have promised I will love you ’til the end of time/ Through it all, the good, the bad, the ugly and divine/ I will be the melody, the rhythm, and your rhyme/ All I want is for you to be mine”

“I Drink Wine”

Adele fittingly described this anthem as evoking a 1970s Elton John-Bernie Taupin vibe. Coming in at over six minutes long, the song blends tragedy and humor as Adele tries to put the pieces together and move forward after all of the tumult and heartbreak. It starts off as a restrained piano ballad and builds into a more heavily orchestrated affair replete with rich, soulful backup vocals. In a particularly interesting creative decision, Adele and Kurstin opted to cap the the song with an organ-driven outro and a voice memo from Adele.

• Favorite Lyrics: “When I was a child, every single thing could blow my mind/ Soaking it all up for fun, but now I only soak up wine/ They say to play hard, you work hard, find balance in the sacrifice/ And yet I don’t know anybody who’s truly satisfied”

“All Night Parking” Interlude (Featuring Erroll Garner)

It may be labeled as an interlude, but this song is more fully realized and impactful than most full tracks on modern pop albums. I suspect it was designated as an interlude less because of its brevity and more because of what it represents in the autobiographical trajectory of the album — a brief but passionate love affair that served as a respite in the aftermath of her divorce. It has sultry backup vocals and interpolates the jazz piano of the brilliant Erroll Garner, who died in 1977.

• Favorite Lyrics: “I don’t know how you got through to me (I’m so cold)/ It’s all happenin’ so easily (Like, oh, my God)/ It’s so hard to digest, usually, I’m best alone/ But every time that you text, I want to get on the next flight home”

“Woman Like Me”

Compared to her other collaborators on the album, Inflo (of the R&B music collective project Sault) is relatively unknown by mainstream audiences. This seems unlikely to remain the case after his three high-profile collaborations with Adele on this album. The first of the three is this restrained, haunting, guitar-driven ballad that decries her ex for being lazy, insecure, and complacent. However, it goes well beyond being a diss song and is ultimately about what she learned about her self by being with a disappointing lover.

• Favorite Lyrics: “We come from the same place, but you will never give it up/ It’s where they make you feel powerful/ That’s why you think I make you feel small/ But that’s your projection, it’s not my rejection/ I put my heart on the line for the very first time/ Because you asked me to/ And now you’ve gone and changed your mind/ But lovin’ you was a breakthrough/ I saw what my heart can really do/ Now some other man will get the love I had for you/ ’Cause you don’t care”

“Hold On”

Adele described this track as a “joyous anthem” and while it does evolve into one eventually, it’s a pretty heartbreaking journey to get there. The song finds Adele finally taking in the advice from her loved ones to engage in acceptance and perseverance through the heartbreak in order to make it through to the better days ahead. It is an epic, 6-minute slow burn that culminates in a heavily orchestrated coda backed by an “amateur chorus” of Adele’s friends.

• Favorite Lyrics: “I swear to God, I am such a mess/ The harder that I try, I regress/ I’m my own worst enemy/ Right now, I truly hate bein’ me/ Every day feels like the road I’m on/ Might just open up and swallow me whole/ How do I feel so mighty small/ When I’m struggling to feel at all?”

“To Be Loved”

Adele reunites with Tobias Jesso, Jr., with whom she collaborated on the 25 standout “When We Were Young” on this heart-wrenching barn-burner. It is a slow, piano-driven ballad that earns its sprawling 6-and-a-half minute runtime with powerful, introspective lyrics and the most raw vocal performance she has ever given. The climactic vocals are so unrestrained, soulful, and even guttural that it evokes the show-stopping Dreamgirls masterpiece “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going.”

• Favorite Lyrics: “Let it be known that I cried for you/ Even started lying to you/ What a thing to do/ All because I wanted/ To be loved”

“Love is a Game”

The third and final song in the standard album’s closing run of three epically long ballads, this lushly produced song evokes Judy Garland, the Supremes, and Amy Winehouse, all while feeling distinctly and unapologetically Adele. The lyrics depict a jaded Adele decrying the futility of love only to playfully coo in the outro, “You know I’d do it all again/ I love it now like I loved it then.” The song was inspired by Breakfast at Tiffany’s and heavily features strings and increasingly prominent backing vocals. The result is a soaring climax to the album that borders on camp but ultimately plays as a sincere and powerful close to this chapter of Adele’s life.

• Favorite Lyrics: “All your expectations of my love are impossible/ Surely, you know that I’m not easy to hold/ It’s so sad how incapable of learning to grow I am/ My heart speaks in puzzle and codes/ I’ve been trying my whole life to solve/ God only knows how I’ve cried/ I can’t take another defeat/ A next time would be the ending of me”

“Wild Wild West”

A truly unique song in Adele’s catalogue, this funky collaboration with Ludwig Göransson seems to have been relegated to being a bonus track on the Target CD not because it is lacking in quality but rather because it was hard to fit in sonically on the album. It has an uptempo, country flair that feels distinct from anything she has ever done. Lyrically, the song fits in well as Adele chronicles the heartbreak she experienced in every corner of California as she found and lost love and formed and dismantled her family. The admittedly odd lyrics of the song feature numerous curious, unfamiliar slang terms and name drops cities all over California, but this is a song that’s really about bold, inspired production.

• Favorite Lyrics: “Now I’m cutting shines in the wild wild west/ I had to bed my man down to save my self/ That’s when I got churched in the, in the wild west/ Not that I care, I find God so hard to impress”

“Can’t Be Together”

The second Target CD bonus track is a collaboration with producer Greg Kurstin that feels like it would be more at home on 21 or 25. Given how superb those two albums are, that is hardly a criticism. Rather, it’s a proposed explanation for why this excellent song did not make the final cut for 30. This aching, piano-driven ballad finds Adele contemplating rekindling a romance with an ex only to conclude that it’s time to move on.

• Favorite Lyrics: “Since we were together everybody’s changed/ Our reflections in the mirror no longer look the same/ And we’re only just beginning to live the lives we’ll make/ But I will always miss you at the end of each day”

“Easy On Me” (Duet with Chris Stapleton)

The Target CD edition closes with an alternative version of “Easy On Me” that features the addition of vocals by soulful country tenor Chris Stapleton. As always, his impressive and distinctive vocals enrich the song, but it has the distinct feel of a studio creation as opposed to an organic collaboration.

Conclusion

I am not alone in declaring 30 to be Adele’s best album to date. Its stunning Metacritic score of 88 out of 100 signals universal acclaim. Despite a few naysayers who inexplicably lament that she played it too safe, the responses have been rapturous.

The music industry is a very different place than it was even when 25 was released 6 years ago, so it seems unlikely to break the same type of records her two previous albums did. Nevertheless, it seems poised for a long and healthy commercial run with potential smash singles like “Oh My God,” “I Drink Wine,” and “Can I Get It” and at least two major concerts next summer (she is playing two shows in Hyde Park in London in July, but has yet to announce any additional shows).

Even if the album’s commercial performance is underwhelming, however, it is a major artistic triumph that both secures and enriches Adele’s legacy. The rich instrumentation and mixing of the pop, soul, jazz, rock, and country genres find her more creatively bold than she has ever been while the raw introspection of the lyrics and the seamlessly interwoven voice memos integrated into the album find her more personal than ever before. 30 is a cohesive and powerful work of art from start to finish.

Rating: 5/5 stars

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