My week was officially made on Monday when I found that Adele's new album 21 was streaming on NPR.com (http://www.npr.org/2011/02/06/133496838/first-listen-adele-21). I have literally been counting down the days until it releases. My week was then FURTHER made when I was able to preorder my copy of 21! I'm so excited!
21 surpassed my expectations for the album by a long shot. The whole album is based off of a love that Adele recently experienced. It runs the whole gamut of emotion, which is so great. This album is the most cathartic, gut wrenching, tear jerking, joy filling album I've ever listened to because I feel that I have such an emotional connection with Adele. I have TOTALLY been in her exact situation in every song. I've felt all those things, said all those things, thought all those things. And to hear someone else saying them, especially as beautifully as Adele, it is an amazing, indescribable feeling.
21 kicks off with a bang with "Rolling In The Deep", which is definitely one of my favorite tracks. A break up ballad that will go down in history, "Rolling In The Deep" is filled with fiery emotion and sass, backed by an infectious drum and tambourine beat. Lyrics like "We could have had it all" and "You had my heart and soul, but you played it to the beat" show Adele's pain and anguish and the loss of a love." But lyrics like "Think of me in the depths of your despair. Make a home down there 'cause mine sure won't be shared" and "Turn my sorrow into treasured gold. You'll pay me back in time and reap just what you've sown" show he strength and courage to move on to something better. Even if it is false strength that she's using to convince herself that she's fine without him when she's really not, she has me fooled.
Next is the equally sassy "Rumor Has It". With this drum beat, you can't help but whip your hips around and wag your finger in the air like a diva. In this song, Adele plays a vixen, telling her ex-lover that the girl he has now will never love him like she can. But guess what? She doesn't want him anymore! Such a fun song to listen to.
"Turning Tables" is the first more somber track on the album--a description of a suppressive, volatile relationship that Adele must protect herself from. "So I won't let you close enough to hurt me. No, I won't ask you, you to just desert me. I cant give you what you think you gave me.
It's time to say goodbye to turning tables, to turning tables"
"Don't You Remember" is another sorrowful track where Adele pleads for her love to not give up and to remember how they used to be. "Don't you remember the reason you loved me before?
Baby, please remember me once more." It's definitely a tear jerker.
"Set Fire To The Rain", another one of my favorites from the album, is a song that rings almost too true for me. She describes how she had given up on love and life until a man had come to save her. She fell in love with who she thought he was, but he turned out to be someone totally different and ended up using her and breaking her heart. "But there's a side to you that I never knew, never knew. All the things you'd say, they were never true, never true. And the games you'd play, you would always win, always win."It is filled with so much intensity and emotion, it's incredible.
"He Won't Go" sounds to me like some strange, tacit agreement that she and her love had when circumstances separated them. It sounds like they are both planning on waiting for each other to come back and love again, saying that it's worth the risk. "He won't go. He can't do it on his own. If this ain't love, then what is? He's willing to take the risk, so I won't go. He can't do it on his own. If this ain't love, then what is? I'm willing to take the risk"
"Take It All"...man...definitely cried a few times to this one. If there was ever a song written for me, it's this one. I seriously just wanted to have a cry fest with Adele when I first heard this haha. It is the end of a relationship, and Adele is just trying to figure out what went wrong, like so many of us end up doing. "Didn't I give it all? Tried my best, gave you everything I had, everything and no less. Didn't I do it right? Did I let you down? Maybe you got too used to having me around. Still, how can you walk away from all my tears? It's gonna be an empty road,
without me right here."
"I'll Be Waiting" definitely shifts the tone a bit. In this song, Adele had wronged her love and they split due to fate and time and what forces there may be. But she assures him, she's waiting for him. "I'll be waiting for you when you're ready to love me again. I put my hands up, I'll do everything different. I'll be better to you."
The final track on the CD, and possibly my favorite, is "Someone Like You." In stark contrast to the strong woman portrayed in "Rolling In The Deep", a heartbroken, hopeless Adele pours her heart out in this last song. It tells the story of losing a love and seeing that they've moved on to someone else who makes them happier than you did. "Sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead." It's something we definitely can all relate to. It is truly heartbreaking to listen to. You can feel Adele's pain in the song clearly, and it definitely hits home with me.
21 is absolutely incredible. Adele is seriously one of the gems of my generation. Talent like hers doesn't come around every day, and I'm so glad that I get to revel in it. I really hope that Adele finds true love soon so that she can make an album of amazing love songs.
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