Searcy (LP) It’s no secret that when I first heard “Hello”, the first song off of Adele’s third album, I was a tad bit worried.



The broken-heart ballad seems like an easy route to fortune for Adele. It’s songs like that that she makes seem so effortless. However, as I listened to it repeatedly, it became an earworm that invaded my mind more and more with each listen. While it didn’t impress at a first glance, I now play it daily.

When listening to “25,” one has to keep in mind that Adele wants to be careful where she treads. Therefore, songs like “Hello” and “When We Were Young” focus on what we’ve come to expect from Adele without taking many risks.

With that being said, Adele’s execution on these songs is phenomenal. Her way of creating crowd-pleasing ballads without making it cheesy is similar to that of the late Whitney Houston. Her universal appeal is by far her best selling points.

This is, by far, the best and most consistent album of Adele’s short career. The listener can hear Adele’s confidence in the album, as the mixes in bits of edge into otherwise vanilla pop radio hits. In all, this album has many layers, like an onion, and demands the listener’s complete focus. The ballads may all blend together at first, however, give it a couple of listens and their greatness will soon be revealed to you.

This record isn’t one you can replay endlessly for a week and then never listen to again. This album will evolve the more and more you play it. With this album, Adele has delivered on her promise to drop the album she is most capable of making. Adele manages to do what most artists fail to do: live up to the hype. This album, which fans have eagerly awaited for for years now, simply delivers.

Assuming the sales projections will be right, Adele’s ’25’ will be one of the biggest selling records in some time. This is one of the very few cases in music history where sales figures and musical quality will align in perfect harmony.

All in all, ’25’ easily bests both ’19’ and ’21’, and Adele’s sheer talent and charm are nothing short of awe-inspiring. As someone who enjoyed her music, but doubted the level of hype she had received, this is the album that made me believe she has earned her place on the charts. Adele is an excellent singer and I’m fairly sure Adele will be linked to the 2010s in the same way the Beatles were linked to the 1960s.