Adele

[pain of occupation]

Fun fact: I'm 9 years older than Adele but look 9 years her junior.
(by my math, that's a whopping 18 year swing)

[Beowulf]

I think this song will be the TOP song of the charts for the Fall.  Amazing performance by Adele, once again.  Her voice is simply so powerful.  It's amazing how i can go from listening to the latest Symphony X album right to Adele's new song.  My son looks at me like i'm nuts.  But you whether you like the song or not, you can't deny Adele's talent.  Powerful, emotional song.  It made me go back and watch the video for "someone like you" from a VERY emotional performance. 

Hard to watch and NOT cry.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45A6R9L7T04

[Heretic]

Man, I love Hello, great song.

[kaos2900]

Anyone else pick up her new album? I'm underwhelmed to be honest. About 6 good songs and the rest do nothing for me. Typical Adele album I guess.

[r0cken]

What kind of cocaine is being added to her songs?
I mean, they are decent songs, but I don't see how they justify the mass hysteria (new album sold 2.3 millions in under a week). And the new single "Hello" left me cold, and even a bit annoyed.

This whole Adele thing is a mystery to me.

[Stadler]

What kind of cocaine is being added to her songs?
I mean, they are decent songs, but I don't see how they justify the mass hysteria (new album sold 2.3 millions in under a week). And the new single "Hello" left me cold, and even a bit annoyed.

This whole Adele thing is a mystery to me.

Well, at least Adele has her voice to back her up.  Her live version of "Someone Like You" at the Grammy's a couple years ago  was amazing.  That woman can SING.  I hear you, though, it's the same song (i.e. lamenting the break up with that one guy; his c*** must be a mile long, or HE has the blow, one of the two) but it resonates. 

The one that I don't get is Sam Smith.   I don't like Adele's songs, but her voice is velvet.  Sam Smith's voice makes my kidney's curdle.   I would hate to thing it is all PC nonsense, but it is hard not to.   

[Mebert78]

I listened to "Hello" last night to see what all the buzz was about.  Good song, but was this song written in the 1990s?  The lyric "But when I call you never seem to be home" is just so weird.  People use cell phones now.  They don't have to be home to use a phone.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Have you guys listened to the new album yet?

I have, and it's amazing. One of my favorites so far from 2015.

[Fritzinger]

There seem to be many Swifties here, as well as some.. Del Reyies?  Surprised no one has mentioned the new Adele album.


I'm really not an Adele fan - or should I say I really wasn't. Because of all the great pop Queens that released albums this year - Taylor, Billie, Dua Lipa, Lana - I think Adele knocked it out of the park the most. It's the first album that broke my 10 day Big Big Train listening session honoring David Longdon.

David Campbell's arrangements are subtle and on point (the same who worked on The Astonishing). Adele's voice is matured and her vocals are out of this world.

Moving album. My personal dramatic highlight is My Little Love.

Anyone heard this?

[KevShmev]

Heard it once, that was enough.  She has a great natural talent, but oversings way too much.  Easy On Me plays at work now like every day in the background and has already reached cringe status for me.  It's like she goes into these songs and thinks, "Okay, I need to demonstrate in every line how awesome my voice is," and then oversings that crap out of it.  Many love it, so that I am in the minority, I suppose.  I still dig Rolling in the Deep, though.

[faizoff]

There seem to be many Swifties here, as well as some.. Del Reyies?  Surprised no one has mentioned the new Adele album.


I'm really not an Adele fan - or should I say I really wasn't. Because of all the great pop Queens that released albums this year - Taylor, Billie, Dua Lipa, Lana - I think Adele knocked it out of the park the most. It's the first album that broke my 10 day Big Big Train listening session honoring David Longdon.

David Campbell's arrangements are subtle and on point (the same who worked on The Astonishing). Adele's voice is matured and her vocals are out of this world.

Moving album. My personal dramatic highlight is My Little Love.

Anyone heard this?

I've been listening to it since release day, it's hauntingly beautiful. The track 'To Be Loved' is probably my favorite, her vocal performance on that is phenomenal.

[LithoJazzoSphere]

Heard it once, that was enough.  She has a great natural talent, but oversings way too much.  Easy On Me plays at work now like every day in the background and has already reached cringe status for me.  It's like she goes into these songs and thinks, "Okay, I need to demonstrate in every line how awesome my voice is," and then oversings that crap out of it.  Many love it, so that I am in the minority, I suppose.  I still dig Rolling in the Deep, though.

Maybe she overdoes it at times, but still has a ton of dynamics and color shading, so I love it.  This seems to be a case where the mainstream digs her, and the underground considers her overhyped.  In this case I concur with the mainstream.  I don't get why her albums have such low ratings on Rate Your Music, especially compared to say, Taylor Swift's recent ones, since she was name-dropped a few posts ago, not that they're that stylistically similar.  For me this is another really solid one. 

My personal dramatic highlight is My Little Love.

The track 'To Be Loved' is probably my favorite, her vocal performance on that is phenomenal.

Love those too, though I'm worried that the cathartic soliloquy in the middle of "My Little Love" is going to become grating after a few listens.  At least half the album is really good, but I also adored "Oh My God" and "All Night Parking" in particular. 

[DoctorAction]

I've not heard it all the way through yet. I've never listened to an album of hers all the way through but have dipped in and out a few times. She has an extraordinary voice.

There was an "evening with" televised the other week and when she got to the chorus of Hello the hairs on the back of my neck went up and I broke into a sweat. Beyond great.

[Stadler]

Heard it once, that was enough.  She has a great natural talent, but oversings way too much.  Easy On Me plays at work now like every day in the background and has already reached cringe status for me.  It's like she goes into these songs and thinks, "Okay, I need to demonstrate in every line how awesome my voice is," and then oversings that crap out of it.  Many love it, so that I am in the minority, I suppose.  I still dig Rolling in the Deep, though.

No. I'm right there with you and I said almost exactly that to my daughter earlier this week. She is CLEARLY a great technical singer, but it's not for me.  I HATE that melismatic style of singing, and would much rather listen to a more legato style (Sting, Elton John, Ann Wilson, Taylor Swift, Neal Morse, etc.)

[soupytwist]

It's Adele basically you know how it's going to sound - it's just a case of how strong the songs are built behind THAT voice.  This time I think it's a weaker collection - certainly there aren't as many earworms as 21 which remains a stone cold classic.

Regarding her over singing, she's not like Mariah or Whitney who for me are classic over singers, elongating every word often into shrillness.  I just think Adele has a lovely warm tone to her voice.

[hefdaddy42]

I thought it was a good album.  Probably my favorite from Adele, TBH.  Definitely fewer "hits" than the prior albums, but I love the sound.

Unlike most pop albums, there isn't very much autotuning on her voice, or even redubs or quantizing on the instruments.  There are a lot of very small imperfections throughout, which I love.  Given the subject matter of a good chunk of the album, the imperfections make the recording more perfect, IMO.