It is officially Adele’s season. There is no doubt about it that English singer-songwriter is one of the biggest global icons we have ever seen. Anything she puts her hand on is golden and will continue to be that way for the remainder of her music career. The superstar has finally returned with a vengeance and the fans are loving it. There have been plenty of headlines regarding her divorce, weight loss, and new relationship with LeBron James’ sports agent, Rich Paul. Her supporters have continued to send kind words her way, but Adele has also felt the pressure to release new music. Today (Nov. 19), Adele drops off her fourth studio album 30 and it is complete fire from top to bottom.
The last time Adele released new music six years ago, it became the type of hit many in the music industry thought was no longer possible. Her third album, 25, sold nearly 3.4 million copies in a single week in the United States, smashing records at a time when CD sales were declining and streaming had not yet proved itself to be the business’s savior.
Part of the appeal of Adele’s music may lie in its consistency. “Easy on Me,” her latest single, is textbook Adele, with just piano, bass and a faint bass-drum heartbeat supporting her vocal fireworks. Like “Hello” before it — and “Someone Like You” before that — it is a classic torch ballad largely removed from the trends of contemporary pop production, yet it easily landed in heavy rotation on pop radio alongside upbeat, electronic hits like the Kid Laroi’s “Stay” and Dua Lipa’s “Levitating.”
So far, Adele seems to have a strong position. “Easy on Me” has been streamed 134 million times in the United States since its release a month ago, according to MRC Data, Billboard’s tracking arm. The album 30 will surely see even more of those numbers, given that this is what the world has been waiting for.