An ode to Adele

As 2015 comes to an end, it would be appropriate to list some of the great international music albums released. The first brilliant one to come out was Bob Dylan’s Shadows In the Night , a tribute to Frank Sinatra. Then, Mark Knopfler had Tracker and Don Henley of the Eagles had his solo album Cass County . For heavy metal fans, Iron Maiden’s The Book of Souls had some great tracks, especially the 18-minute epic The Empire of the Cloud .

But in the end, Adele’s 25 stands out. And the main reason is the quality of her singing. Her marvellous timbre, range and ability to switch from low to high octaves make her simply breathtaking. Catch her on songs like ‘When We Were Young’, ‘Hello’ and ‘A Million Years’, and feel the gooseflesh.

Over the past 20 years, there have been other stunning female voices like Dido and Susan Boyle. But Adele is something unique. Mumbai-based singer Vivienne Pocha, who renders her hits, ‘Set Fire To The Rain’ and ‘Skyfall’, says: “What I like about her is her unmistakable bold and individualistic style, with a beautiful timbre and grain to match.” Adds music industry veteran Parag Kamani, “It is hard to imagine anyone in recent times having her power and range. You would probably need to revisit the 1970s or an earlier era to find someone like her.”

Adele’s latest album

25 has been released in India by Universal Music. To be fair, one may feel that its predecessor, the mega-selling 21 , was a superior effort, especially because her style seemed fresh and she had hits like Rolling in The Deep , Set Fire To The Rain and Rumour Has It . One may also feel that her latest effort gets repetitive in theme, and that she overdoes her formula of starting off a verse on a lower octave, jumping an octave with a chorus back-up and then alternating the two.

Yet, her presentation and phrasing make the album special. The numbers grow slowly on the listener. Two songs: ‘Send My Love (To Your Lover)’ and ‘I Miss You’ are totally different from her standard style, because they are more up-tempo and club-oriented.

The songs are essentially about relationships, and lines vary from bitter to sweet. On ‘Hello’, she tells a former lover, ‘They say that time’s supposed to heal, yeah, but I ain’t done much healing.’ On ‘All I Ask’, she sings, ‘I don’t need your honesty, it’s already in your eyes, and I’m sure my eyes, they speak for me.’

On another note, some songs are written for her son. ‘Remedy’ has the lines, ‘But when the pain cuts you deep, when the night keeps you from sleeping, just look and you will see, that I’ll be your remedy.’ On ‘Sweetest Devotion’, she tells him, ‘You’re my life, you’re my darkness, and you’re the right kind of madness, and you’re my hope, you’re my despair, you’re my scope, everything, everywhere.’

Overall, 25 is a fantastic album. Yet, one feels something is missing, perhaps because there’s a repetition in singing style and themes. But Adele has undoubtedly proved that she’s one of a kind. Interestingly, in an interview to the Rolling Stone magazine, she had said, “My career’s not my life. It’s my hobby.” Whichever way, she rocks!

Narendra Kusnur is a freelance music writer