MUSIC MOVES
I
t was the biggest event in pop last
year, and probably this year, too: the
release of Adele’s third album, 25.
broke records with her hit song Hello
and the album, make her officially the
biggest-selling artist of 2015.
The International Federation of the
Phonographic Industry (IFPI), said that
the British singer was the top-selling
musical act last year based on worldwide
sales of recordings.
Adele achieved the feat for the full year
even though she did not release 25 until
20 November and declined to put the
album on streaming sites, a rare move at
a time when such on-demand services are
growing rapidly.
Adele’s third album which came more
than four years after its predecessor –
broke records for first-week sales in both
the United States and Britain.
The first track Hello, an introspective
ballad, was the first single to be
downloaded more than one million times
in the United States in one week. With
three years gone by since last smash hit
single Skyfall, the singer/songwriter
blew away any completion with Hello
– the dramatic song from its mournful
piano chords that build into that
searing, soaring climax together with her
powerhouse vocal workout is testament
to Adele’s incredible talent.
The second track on the album, Send My
Love (To Your New Love), “falls into that
classic pop tradition of transforming a
turn-down into a lover’s rebuke”, when
she sings “We both know we ain’t kids no
more I forgive it all – you set me free,”
she is vocalising a sentiment shared by a
zillion broken hearts the world over.
The third track, I Miss You is a retro soul
number which “pushes Adele to delve
deep and channel the inner Winehouse”
and is a track that will grow on you and
you’ll find yourself listing to it more and
more. On the 4th track When We Were
Young, Adele belts out “You look like
a movie, you sound like a song in that
tender, rousing piano fashion that she
is so brilliant at doing. Heart-felt and
touching a nerve Adele manages to get
in touch with her audience in a personal
emotional way. The emotion continues
with Remedy co-written with Ryan
Tedder. Adele’s in solo piano mode for
perhaps her most earnest expression of
devotion to date. It’s hard to resist the
bone-chilling vocal delivery – as she
pledges to be her lover’s Remedy for most
of the world’s woes.
By now the record’s slow pace is starting
to drag ever