An Exploration into Adele’s ‘30’

 by Faye Rustell

At age 33, Adele Adkins has released her most successful debut album to date, ‘30.’ Graduating in Arts from BRIT school in 2006, the fourth studio album by the English singer-songwriter was released mid November this year and is arguably her most ambitious work, due to the complexity of her emotions and nuanced production. Adele has had over 120 million records sold, 15 grammy wins and this album contains songs that have broken huge records. ‘30’ contains pop, jazz and soul ballads addressing Adele's divorce, motherhood, and the scrutiny of fame, with themes of heartache, acceptance, and hope. The album is based around a storytelling of unexpected love, what it means to inflict the pain on your family, to rebuild yourself and to try to love again. 

The album starts out with the opening song of ‘Strangers by Nature’ Adele mourns her past relationship in a dramatic and forlorn manner. Then comes ‘Easy on Me’ , probably her most famous song on the album which broke the all-time record for the most streamed song in a single day on Spotify, with 24 million global streams as well as the most streamed song in a single week with 84.9 million streams. The song contains a grounding piano ballad whose swooping eee’s underscore once again that our most expressive singers can make magic from a single syllable. ‘Easy on Me’ represents the first time the singer asks for grace from herself, the lord and her son Angelo and it appears as though she is singing to some certain higher power in a sense of defenselessness. Adele has said she prompted the end of her marriage to Simon Konecki because she wasn’t happy, and her guilt and hope to be understood by Angelo yields some of the record’s richest material. “My Little Love” includes private recordings of tender bedtime conversations between Adele and Angelo as they adjusted to the divorce. She took inspiration for the voice notes from Tyler the Creator and Skepta. This song is her probably her most intimate and personal on the album as not only does it exceed the six minute mark retelling her son’s story, but it also contains a note from Adele at the very end where she hits rock bottom, a voice note left on her friends voicemail where she admits for the first time in many years she feels really and truly lonely. It’s uncomfortable for fans to hear this as she is someone who is so easily able to tap into a superhuman exterior yet here she leaves herself incredibly exposed and vulnerable, plainly admitting she's broken, something incredibly surprising to her fans. 

‘To Be Loved’ is Adele's emotional climax for the album as she reveals that she won’t perform it live as the subject matter is too devastating, and has only sung it back to front a few times. The piano ballad is sung to an adult version of her son Angelo as she explains to him why her marriage didn’t work. Containing the line, ‘To be loved and love at the highest count means to lose all things I can’t live without,’ Adele explores what happens when you willingly walk off a cliff and live to tell about it. She demonstrates that this takes patience and honesty. She has discovered what she wants by realising what she doesn’t want. Adele’s parents divorced when she was 3 years old, and her birth father, Mark Evans, was absent for most of her childhood. The Grammy winner promised herself that this is something she never wanted for her family, however Adele said that very early on in her marriage to Konecki she knew the relationship would not last and their divorce was finalised as Adele turned 30. The collection of 12 songs leaves Adele vulnerable and open to the world, her son and her family as she takes the listener on an extremely intimate journey through the highs and lows of her experience with love. I found there was a sense of hope and relatability in ‘30’ as she teaches not to live with regret, to try everything, take risks and reflect on the things one truly ‘can’t live without.’