By Megan Burns
10th Nov 2021
10th Nov 2021
Adele: One Night Only / CBS
We were treated to the first single from the album last month and now the usually private star has previewed her next hit courtesy of Amazon’s 2021 Christmas ad.
Adele has just previewed another song from her upcoming album, 30, with the second track featuring as the music of choice in Amazon’s recent Christmas ad. Released just this week ahead of the festive season, it includes a snippet of the song “Hold On” – a soulful piano ballad that is very characteristically Adele.
Centred on the story of a young woman seen to be struggling in the wake of the pandemic, it follows her as she moves through her daily life. Noticing that she seems to be having a hard time, a neighbour reaches out with a small care package before the advert ends with a clip of the two sitting side by side on a park bench and the words “Kindness. The greatest gift.” flash across the screen.
Noting that this holiday season will most definitely be shaped by what we’ve experienced during the pandemic, Ed Smith, EU general manager of integrated marketing at Amazon, commented that, “The past 18 months have been challenging for people across the globe, including many young adults. Our time together cannot be taken for granted. So this year, while the world will not be totally back to normal, opportunities for kindness and connection will take on a newfound importance.” You can watch the gorgeous clip below.
After languishing for so long without her, Adele fans were only delighted to learn that she will also join Oprah for a two-hour special airing in the US this weekend. Expected to give us all a sneak preview of her upcoming album she’ll also perform a number of different hits throughout – both old and new.
The programme will take a similar format to Oprah’s interview with Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in her rose garden earlier this year (with more singing). We’re pleased to know there’ll be a chance for Adele’s hilarious personality to get some time in the spotlight, while the two might also get into some difficult discussions of the singer’s recent divorce.
Although it hasn’t yet been announced when it will be aired outside America, we have our fingers crossed that it won’t be a long wait. No doubt Twitter will fill us in on the best bits to look forward to as soon as it’s shown.
In fact, we know that the special has already been filmed because of Twitter. A fan was out hiking near LA’s Griffith Observatory yesterday and overheard the singer blasting out “Water Under the Bridge” from the album, 25. If you’ve seen La La Land, you’ll already be familiar with the iconic location and it certainly makes for a dramatic venue. Word has it that celebrity fans including Kris Jenner, James Corden and Lizzo were in attendance although it’s not clear if the entire special is being filmed in the Hollywood Hills or just one specific performance.
Casually stumbled upon Adele filming her #Adele special while hiking in Griffith Park pic.twitter.com/oSyfYr7vEp
— joey (@JoeyPucino) October 25, 2021
“Easy On Me”, the first single from her upcoming album, 30, has definitely been filling the Adele-shaped hole in our lives after six years without new music, but if you’re still itching to hear the rest of the album, here’s what we know so far.
What’s the album about?
Adele herself answered this question perfectly on her recent Instagram Live: “Divorce babe, divorce.”
https://twitter.com/adelified/status/1446923410819338240?s=20
When will it be released?
The album is out on November 19.
She’s more focused on self-reflection than slamming others in lyrics
In her interview with British Vogue, she said that she’s not interested in lambasting her exes in her lyrics, saying: “I have to really address myself now”.
She said that the album moves through the stages of self-destruction, self-reflection and then self-redemption. “I really want people to hear my side of the story this time.”
We’re being treated to a television special for the album’s release
November 14 is the date her special with Oprah will air in the US, but we’re still awaiting details of when it will be shown on this side of the Atlantic.
“Easy On Me”, and most of the album, is for her son
“It was the first song I wrote for the album and then I didn’t write anything else for six months after because I was like, ‘OK, well, I’ve said it all,’” she said in her Vogue interview.
“I just felt like I wanted to explain to him, through this record, when he’s in his twenties or thirties, 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.”
The video for “Easy On Me” contained some Easter Eggs you might not have noticed
If the music video seemed a little familiar, you were on the right track. It actually plays out as a kind of sequel to “Hello”, her first single on the album 25, and seems to be shot in the same house. While in the “Hello” video, she seems to be moving into the house, she’s leaving in “Easy On Me”.
In both videos she also starts off speaking to an unnamed someone on the phone, papers blow about the house in a similar way, and both begin in black and white, although “Easy On Me” switches to colour later.
Fans have also noticed that the chair in “Easy On Me” is very similar to the one that appears in “Rolling in the Deep”, suggesting a link between the two.
It’s been in the works for a long time
The opening vocal for “Easy On Me” came to her when she was singing in the shower one day in 2018. Which brings up the question of the timeline of events. Although it was believed she and Simon Konecki married in 2016 and split in 2019, both the marriage and separation happened in 2018, the year she was 30, hence the name of the album.
She tackles the tough world of modern dating
In the Vogue interview, she plays several, unnamed songs from the album for the interviewer. One deals with her first forays into dating after her divorce, and she isn’t impressed, deriding how one date was both lazy and closed off.
We’re just shocked that anyone had the audacity to waste the opportunity to spend one-on-one time with this hilarious and insanely talented woman and totally blew it. Their loss.
She worked with a mix of old and new collaborators
On 30, she worked with producer Greg Kurstin who also worked on 25, and she’s brought back Max Martin who worked on “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)”. Inflo and Ludwig Göransson, who won an Oscar for his Black Panther score are new collaborators for this album.
The album is her most sonically varied to date
In the Vogue interview, she plays several tracks for the interviewer, who is amazed at their musical range, from jazz bar vibes, hypnotic beats, and even one reminiscent of a “Balearic club at sundown”.
She describes the album as a friend
In an Instagram post announcing the release date of the album, Adele describes it as a friend who got her through the most turbulent period of her life.
From all the clues so far, it seems it’s going to be an emotional one. We’re going to spend the time between now and November 19 just getting ourselves mentally prepped…
Related Stories
Also Read
