Adele: 21 Review

Artist: Adele
Album: 21
Label: XL Recordings

21 is the follow-up album to 2008′s 19 by London-born singer-songwriter Adele Adkins. At just 22 years old, Adele is often lumped into the category with other soulful singers like Amy Winehouse, Lily Allen, and Duffy. On 21, she separates herself in a way that lets us know that while she might sometimes be hurting, she can stand on her own just fine.

At first listen to 21, it’s hard to imagine that so much pain could come out of someone so young. When Adele’s heart breaks, everyone else can feel it too. Emotions range from anger to sadness, to a final hopefulness that everything is going to be okay after all. Songs like “Rolling in the Deep” and “Rumour Has It” exude sass and soul, while “Turning Tables” and “Someone Like You” are stripped down instrumentally so that when Adele sings, her voice comes at you like a wrecking ball to the chest.

The album feels a bit ambitious at times, as if a singer as strong as Adele is still trying to find her voice. “Don’t You Remember” sounds like contemporary country, and “Set Fire to the Rain” could be a single by Rihanna; both seem a bit dissonant on an album so otherwise melodic. But sometimes the experimenting works, as in the gospel-heavy “Take it All”. And when she covers The Cure’s “Lovesong”, it seems fresh, original, and fits right at home on 21.

In today’s world of Autotune and American Idols and just all-around bad singers, it’s refreshing to know there is someone with as an amazing a voice as Adele. If 2008′s “Chasing Pavements” is what brought Adele to fame, 21 is what is going to make her a household name.

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Adele: 21 on iTunes

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