January 23rd, 2012
Let’s revisit Adele for a moment. It is highly likely that she will be the belle of the ball come Grammy night. Well deserved, I think. No other CD released last year even lit a candle next to Adele’s magnum opus, 21. While we wait for the inevitable, let’s dig a little deeper into what makes this CD so damn good.
First, I think it is a rare combination of honesty and vulnerability. We all are aware of the story of how this CD came about because of a break up that nearly broke this woman. Instead of relenting to the pain of a broken heart, Adele poured all of the anger, all of the resentment, all of the questions into this 11-song CD. Every song is wistful and yearning; every song touches a bit of your soul. It certainly does help that Adele’s voice has a little bit of magic in it. You can feel her pain.
Second is that voice. At times, Adele’s voice is soft and purring. You want to cozy up next to it and rub your face against it. It is comforting. Other times, it is raw and guttural. It makes you take notice, makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. I read recently that Adele heard Etta James sing when she was younger and that is when she knew she wanted to be a singer. Now that is inspiration, because no one did raw and gut-wrenching singing like Etta James. There are not very many vocal tricks in Adele’s singing; it is pure. One of the things I love the most is that she doesn’t need any vocal enhancements to make her sound better. When I sing in the shower, I think I sound pretty good. When Adele sings in the shower, she sounds like Adele. Makes me want to stop singing.
Lastly, we all have experienced heartache and pain due to a failed relationship. We all know how the tears come unmitigated, sometimes by surprise, sometimes willed to appear by our wanting to get it out. Adele’s 21 is one long crying session. It is the questions of why and how; it is the uncertainty of moving on; it is love set to music.
I normally grab a hold of a CD that I love and play it until I cannot stand to hear it any longer. I’ve been playing Adele’s 21 for almost exactly a year now, and every time I listen to it, I find something else that I love about it. There are only a handful of CDs that I can say that about. 21 is definitely one of those.
Set fire to the rain,
~ M
April 25th, 2011
First of all, let me say for the record that I’m not new to the Adele train. I’ve been on this puppy since she was crowned Best New Artist at the 2009 Grammy Awards, and I loved her from the first moment I heard “Chasing Pavements.” With that said, I have a few words to share with you about how this latest CD, 21, is affecting me.
A little background…loving someone is hard business. There are ups and downs, of which you cannot even imagine. There will be tears and laughter, a feeling of losing control of everything that you believed that you stood for, and a feeling that you can’t be anything more than you are. I never imagined, though, that someone could put into songs each and every feeling (or at least the ones that hit you the hardest). Well…anyone besides Jill Scott, because she is IT for me, you hear me? IT…
But when Adele’s CD was released in January, I put on my earphones and turned it up. I read the back story on the CD before listening, and I wanted to see if she would meet my expectations of laying everything on the line and just standing in her emotions for everyone to see. I was not disappointed.
From the very first heavy strumming of the guitar of the opening song, “Rolling In The Deep,” to the wistful and emotional “I’m finally letting you go” of “Someone Like You,” Adele has created one of the best crafted CDs I’ve heard since…well since Jill’s The Real Thing Words and Sounds Vol. 3. Don’t get me wrong here; I am NOT comparing the two; what I am doing is recognizing the pure unadulterated way that both of these ladies stand naked and let you see their emotions, no matter what you think about them or what those emotions are.
Where Jill is often reasonable, Adele is naive and full of dreams. She wants to know why, and fights to understand what she is going through. Adele toes the line between conciliation and moving on during every single song on her CD. She sings full of remorse on one song, and heavy of freedom on the next, and even almost begging on another. That is the nature of the beast that is love; you never know how you will be affected until you go through it. The one thing that Adele has done for me since listening to this CD is to let me know that healing can take on many forms. Letting go is a process, and not a destination.
I know it’s been a few months since this CD was released, and you all have probably heard it. I want you to listen again and again, until you understand the place this young lady is coming from. It is a place that is known to women everywhere: losing someone does not necessarily mean that you lose yourself. And working through all of the joy and pain associated with loving someone is the only way to grow.
I listen to this CD at least once a day. As such, my favorite song changes daily. Each song means something different and represents a different aspect of a relationship. This is a 5-star CD in my opinion. There is no higher compliment that I can give to Adele and her work of art than to say that I learned things about myself listening.
This is one of those CDs that will remain in my ear for a very long time. The last time I felt this way about a collection of music was, well…
You get the idea.
- Marva
