Musical Analysis pt. 2 - Adele
As I'm sure many of you know, Adele just released her new album and as expected, it's absolutely incredible. In my opinion, it's her best album yet, and the story behind why she wrote this album just makes it even more special to me. It was released as a single on October 14, 2021 before her whole album, called 30, was released just a few days ago on November 19, 2021. It was recorded at RAK Studios in northwest London. One song out of the whole album really stuck with me, and I can't stop singing it and listening to it. I find myself humming "Easy on Me" constantly throughout the day because it's so catchy while full of meaning, which is what I want to talk about first.
Here is the link to the song: Easy on Me - Adele
Meaningful lyrics:
People are drawn to songs that have lots of feeling and soul, and Adele achieves this perfectly with her song "Easy on Me" because she has stated in an interview that this album is an ode to her son, so that he can look back and listen to his mother singing to him and telling him things she can't tell him right now because he's too young. It's really beautiful to me that her son can experience that, and that Adele had the forethought to write and produce an album for her son to enjoy for the rest of his life. This song in particular is very special to me because I just went through a very rough spot in my life and listening to this song helped me through it. I'm glad it was released early because it was a big factor in helping me realize some things about myself and the people I surround myself with as well. For many people I feel this is the case with Adele's songs because she sings about real problems, not superficial things. Her lyrics are very meaningful as well, and after listening to the song as many times as I have, I can really start to understand the meaning behind the song as a whole.
One instrument:
Throughout this whole entire song, the only instrument being played behind Adele's vocals is a piano. This isn't unusual for Adele to do, but I feel like it's extremely hard for an artist to carry a song as well as Adele does when there is only one back up instrument being played through the whole song. Adele's voice by itself is incredible, and the way it is showcased in this song makes her sound a lot more vulnerable and gives a raw and soulful feeling to the song. Listeners can hear every word she says, which just showcases the fact that this is such an emotional song. Adele probably chose to do this so we, as listeners, would focus more on her voice than the instruments or the beat.
Singing style:
Adele's powerful voice matched with her singing style sends shivers down my spine every time I listen to any of her songs. I can really hear her passion in this song in particular because of the reasons I stated above, but also because her voice gets more powerful and louder as the song goes on. The first verse she sings at the opening of the song is softer sounding than one of the ending verses. I think this is a subtle nod to her growing feelings for her son as he gets older, and to herself as she mentally and physically gets stronger in facing her hardships. I'm not sure many people would pick up on this slight change in vocals, but with the amount of times I've played this song I have memorized it completely.
Other thoughts:
Every article I read about Adele's new song is saying that this is her best album yet, and according to an article by Pitchfork, which is a website that analyses music, they said that she "[...] transforms her heartbreak into a searching, graceful, and incredibly moving album." Everyone who listens to this album hears the pain and soul in her voice and can just tell this album means a lot to her, and learning that this album was specifically written for her young son makes it that much more special to the listeners. They also basically said Adele is the queen of heartbreak songs, but this album is on another level, which I completely agree with.
Another article said that this album "[...] captured the biggest week of 2021 for any album in the U.S., surpassing the debut of Drake's Certified Lover Boy," (Caulfield, 2021) which makes sense to me because one of Adele's songs on this album has more feeling and soul put into it than all of Drake's new album put together (I'm certainly not hating on Drake, he has some pretty good songs, but you have to admit I'm right). This album also beat out Taylor Swift's album Red (Taylor's Version), which does surprise me being a Taylor Swift fan and understanding the fanbase surrounding her music. Also according to Billboard, if this album makes it to No. 1 on Billboard 200, it will be Adele's third album to be in that slot, which is incredibly impressive and I have no doubt it will be.
Sources:
Caulfield, K. (2021, November 24). Adele's '30' surpasses Drake's 'certified lover boy' for year's biggest debut. Billboard. Retrieved November 25, 2021, from https://www.billboard.com/music/chart-beat/adele-30-tops-drake-certified-lover-boy-biggest-debut-1235002289/.
Mapes, J. (2021, November 22). Adele: 30. Pitchfork. Retrieved November 25, 2021, from https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/adele-30/.
30. Adele Wiki. (n.d.). Retrieved November 25, 2021, from https://adele.fandom.com/wiki/30.
4 comments:
I have never heard her sing before and I was impressed. I like how the video was in black and white and then transitioned to color towards the end. She does have an amazing voice with a great range. I was listening to this and my 10 year old daughter came running in to listen. The fact that she is using her music to provide messages to her son is also pretty amazing. Great job and thanks for sharing this artist.
My heart literally skipped a beat when I saw your blog was about Adele. I’ve listened to her new album at least a hundred times since it was released. The feeling and emotion in her voice and lyrics almost made it impossible for me to listen to at first. It brought me to tears every time! The love for her son is so apparent. I didn’t realize that the piano was the only instrument on “Easy on Me.” It makes sense to highlight her beautiful voice more. I think I’ll go listen to her again now.
-Doris
This is also probably my favorite Adele song. Like you said, her emotion is just so powerful in this song. I didn't even notice there's only a piano playing until you mentioned it. It is also amazing to see how artists use their music to portray meaningful messages. Something interesting that I heard about Adele is that she told Spotify that she did not want her music in her album to be shuffled so that listeners can hear the songs in the order she intended them to be, and Spotify removed the shuffle button just for her.
I haven't listened to an Adele song since Hello first released, and everyone else was playing it so much I got that tired feeling of doing the same thing over and over again then you just change it. This song is beautiful, the strong start and the reasoning behind making the song is wholesome. As I listen to the song, I'm hearing some beats mixed between the singing and piano, is that just added "smoke and mirrors"? It's a beautiful song nonetheless!
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