After nearly six years of absence in the music industry, award-winning singer Adele made a comeback with her long-awaited album, “30”. Her earlier studio albums, “19”, “21”, and “25”,  noted for their passionate, dramatic sentiments in their songs, depict the emotions she experiences in her life. The British vocalist continues to express events in her personal life in “30”. The musician gave listeners around the world a taste of the album with the hit song “Easy On Me”, which debuted as number 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and earned 24 million plays on Spotify within 24 hours of the release on October 14.  Consequently, there’s no doubting Adele’s capacity to make “30” a massive hit.

“I think the best part of the album is how open she was about her past marriage. I don’t think she has discussed it as much as she has since this album came out,” junior Annisha Brown said. 

Adele recently opened up about her divorce, which heavily influenced the tone of her new album. She claimed that she recorded the album to assist her eight-year-old son in understanding why she and his father got divorced. The third track in the album, “My Little Love,” includes a voice note explaining the divorce to her 9-year-old son, Angelo. 

“Mommy’s been having a lot of big feelings lately.

I feel a bit confused, 

I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing,” (My Little Love) Adele said.

The voice note brings an additional layer of realness to her album because it also features a heart-to-heart conversation with Angelo’s voice, revealing a certain level of intimacy. No other song on 30 embodies these sentimental emotions as much as the R&B ballad.

 “I wanted to explain to him, through this record, when he’s in his 20s or 30s, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness. It made him really unhappy sometimes. And that’s a real wound for me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to heal,” Adele said. 

Ranking as number one on the billboard, one of her concluding songs “To Be Loved” wraps up the album with a bang. The intricacy of the piece left millions mesmerized as she landed the difficult notes and detailed runs in her six-minute vocal performance.  Similar to the album’s debut hit, “Easy On Me”, the ballad alludes to a “young” mindset when she first entered the relationship. She sings about how she “can’t live a lie” and how she made the difficult decision to leave in the hopes of a greater future relationship. She not only acknowledges that she wants to protect her heart but also explains why she’s prepared to take the risk in order to love again to anybody who will listen.

Ultimately, “30” takes the lead as Adele’s top-selling album, selling 500,000 copies within the first half week of the release date. Fans thoroughly enjoyed her raw emotion, the lyrics and the diversity of each piece. Although numerous listeners prefer her previous albums, “30” exhibits a different style of music, as well as displaying a new phase of her life. 

“I love how all of the songs have meaning behind them and my favorite song was easy on me. I don’t think the album fully lived up to my expectations; it was really good, but I still think her old music is better,” junior Amanda Getz said. 

The Chant’s Grade: A-