Adele has gained critical acclaim and widespread adoration for her soulful voice and catchy songs, garnering both critical acclaim and immense popularity. But who exactly lies behind those soaring charts and heartrending lyrics?
Adele sings about female rites of passage. Raised in London, her music combines soul and blues influences, deeply personal lyrics, and vocal techniques that emphasize text above all else.
Her voice
Adele stands out in an industry where videos and spectacle dominate promotion of an act, by focusing on top quality material and her singing. While her technical issues and vocal troubles have been widely reported upon, Adele conveys her songs with incredible power.
By employing her supple phrasing and range from deep chest voice to fragile head voice, she creates an emotive soundscape which transports listeners on an emotional journey. Using it as an expressive means for her emotive lyrics.
Her blues-like vocal technique favors text over showy tricks like holding notes [Skyfall], singing melismas (First Love), or jumping octaves (Hometown Glory). Instead, she prefers allowing her songs do the work – an approach which has led to critical and commercial success – four Grammy awards in total including album of the year for 25 and record of the year for Hello; 30 explores female rites of passage like birth, marriage and loss in its themes.
Her lyrics
Adele returned with her highly anticipated fourth album 30 on Friday after four years’ absence, sparking much anticipation among her fans and critics alike. This album explores Adele’s divorce proceedings, personal growth and relationship with Angelo; one track that left listeners weeping was “To Be Loved”, an emotive ballad about heartbreak caused by failed relationships whose lyrics reveal how Adele has grown in response to failed love relationships.
Adele begins the song by describing herself as being “drowning in silence”, and seeking understanding from her son after their divorce. She states that she does not wish to revisit any pain from their marriage and its aftermath.
She continues by explaining that her former spouse has moved forward with his life, while she remains stuck in the past, unable to let go and in search of someone to relieve the emotional turmoil she is currently feeling. She desperately desires someone’s love while fearing being alone.
Her stage presence
Nina Simone comes to mind as one of the few performers able to convey the emotional complexities associated with love and loss as convincingly. And this is particularly evident during Adele’s live performances where her emotional involvement in her narrative is so deep and powerful.
She speaks in an endearing cockney accent and regales listeners with humorous tales from her life as a professional singer, making her seem like the kind of friend that always shows up when going out.
Adele takes her business seriously too: as CEO of Adele Inc, the power behind its powerful collection of world-class producers and managers that keeps her show on track, she understands what fans expect of her: standing alone on the stage at London’s O2, she looked out into the empty space with an expression of profound loneliness before saying to fans in physical format that this performance was for them; though only representing 25% of American music sales overall it forms an essential segment of Adele’s fan base.
Her music
Adele has long used her voice to transform pain into art, crafting songs that resonated with millions. Adele’s latest album 30 is an intimate and thoughtful exploration of female rites of passage such as motherhood and loss with honesty and authenticity.
Contrasting 2015’s 25 (which felt more like “21 II”), 30 features intimate studio songs with less production value and greater room for her vocal prowess and power in her voice. She takes more risks on this record, showcasing both her powerful vocalism as well as her unique ability to cram multiple notes into brief bars without losing beat.
She works with producers rooted in both hip-hop and R&B traditions – such as Jazmine Sullivan and Frank Ocean’s influence – while still remaining true to tradition (such as incorporating sampled piano from Erroll Garner’s 1954 jazz standard Misty into All Night Parking). As a result, the album is her most ambitious and emotionally complex yet.