Adele, seven songs, next album
In the August 2011 issue of Q Adele revealed that she has written seven songs for her next album, which Adele promised would be more intimate and stripped-down than her first two. "It won't be a big production. I want it to be quite acoustic and piano-led", Adele said.
"I want to write it all, record it all, produce it all and master it on my own. I think it'll take a lot longer because I want to do it this way", Adele added.
Adele -- a talented singer, but also a puzzle.
A recipient of two 2009 Grammy’s (and three additional nominations) at age 20 for her debut album, 19, Adele blew away the meager wheezes of Katy Perry, Pink, and Leona Lewis, filling the halls of the music industry with her resonate voice. Critics hailed Adele as refreshingly different, a nostalgic return to the soul and style of Carnaby St.—far preferable to dreary Top 40.
I tuned into the 2011 Brit Awards in February to hear a sample from her sophomore album 21, and her stunning performance of “Someone Like You” left both the home audience and Adele herself in tears after her broken heart determinately fought for a second chance. Yet, upon hearing all of 21, my heart began to break as well, but not because of Adele’s talent for expressing emotion. Far too many of the songs—in fact, half of the album’s tracks—sound like Katy Perry and Pink and Leona Lewis.
Adele puzzles me.
But to begin positively . . . 21’s strongest pieces are those that ironically stray from her award-winning formula of intense heartbreak.
21 opens with its unquestionably best tune: “Rolling in the Deep.” Breaking Adele’s silence since 19, a quick-moving, heavily-thumbed guitar line begins, setting metronome-like time for the piece. Adding contrast, the swirls of Adele’s voice enter and swim through the auditory space. The song soon layers, adding bass drum, piano, lead guitar, and Supremes-like backing vocals that paint Adele’s frustration with an ex-lover she plans to overwhelm in a rage of revenge. Cultured Adele reveals her classical training too, including quintessential blues allusions like “roll your stone” and “reap just what you sow.” This evocation of Mississippi Delta ghosts, combined with Adele’s smooth vocals, which ooze venom, render the track sumptuously addictive.
The same percussive momentum continues into the song “Rumour Has It,” a track set to the time of a throbbing floor tom-tom mixed with cool, snappy “ooh’s,” reminiscent of the 1960s. Here Adele draws on an even darker side, shamelessly trying to draw her flame from his oh-so-proper lover. Adele and her accompanying piano are seductively vindictive, reminding her beau not only of her superior lovemaking, but also how she’s “cold to the core,” inviting both her lover and the audience to join her in sinful indulgence.
It is at this point that the album begins its decline. “Turning Tables” is a melodramatic declaration in which Adele promises to leave behind a lover who continues to trifle with her affections. While the subject matter itself is moving, Adele’s treatment is not. The piano and strings weep slowly, weighed down with rote sentimentality. The lyrics aren’t particularly innovative either. Lines like “Under your thumb, I can’t breathe” are not only derivative, but their routine sentiments undercut the emotion Adele hopes to evoke.
“Turning Tables” sounds remarkably close to “The X-Factor” product Leona Lewis’s “Run.” Unfortunately, the echoes of Top 40 on 21 grow. “He Won’t Go” trudges along in monotony to a J-Lo-like pop beat. “Take It All” fuses Christina Aguilera and Alicia Keyes with a solo piano occasionally accompanied by a gospel voices that chime in with unimaginative lyrics like “How can you walk away from all my tears?” “Lovesong” melts into a boss nova that could appear as any Aguilera or Shakira B-Side and is only slightly redeemed by the hint of an organ in the background, an instrument rarely featured in Top 40. “Set Fire to the Rain” combines all of these mainstream influences, coming off as the most generic pop song on the album.
Tell me Adele: Whhhyyy? Critics hailed you for your originality, someone to move us away from repetitive Top 40! I didn’t think seeing all those pop stars at Staples Center in 2009 would so intimidate you . . . Adele—you puzzle me!
Yet all the disappointment shrinks in the shadow of the album’s closer, “Someone Like You.” Accompanied by only a piano, Adele’s lung power works wonders on this track, finding all the anguish she left out of the earlier monotonous tracks and then purging herself of all the sadness. While the track acknowledges that her past love has happily moved onto another, she literally begs him not to forget her, an agonizing appeal. Despite her sonic range on this track, Adele’s vocals are intimate, enveloping the listener in a sweet misery.
The emotion Adele summons in “Someone Like You,” amplified further by her Brit Awards performance, should reassure faithful and discerning listeners that her reign as 2009 Best New Artist, floating regally above dispassionate Top 40 artists, isn’t over. Still, her slip into the mainstream on 21 suggests she’ll have to fight to avoid sinking into that slick world; perhaps this means choosing a producer other than Columbia Records co-president Rick Rubin, who mixed 21. Until then, even with this recent dimming, Mademoiselle Adele’s beacon of originality still shines, though Adele herself remains a puzzle.
Adorable Adele
She have amazing voice. She’s beautiful with her own style. Adele membuktikan untuk sukses sebagai penyanyi, nggak melulu harus tampil serba seksi.
Berkat single Chasing Pavement, Adele Laurie Blue Adkins meraih dua penghargaan sebagai Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 51st Grammy Awards tahun 2009. Di negara asalnya, Inggris, sejak album perdananya, 19 rilis januari 2008 lalu, Adele dapat banyak pujian. Dia disebut-sebut sebagai The Number-One Predicted Breakthrough Act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics. Sementara The Times Encyclopedia of Modern Music bilang kalau 19 sebagai “Essential Blue Eyed Soul Recording”.
Big Is Beautiful
Cewek yang lahir tanggal 5 Mei 1988 ini nggak pernah mempermasalahkan berat badannya. Adele malah mengaku gemar makan pizza dan malaysian food. “People are starting to go on about my weight but I’m not going to change my size because they don’t like the way I look,” ujarnya santai.
Adele juga berharap nih, agar publik lebih memperhatikan karyanya, bukan penampilannya. Dia nggak peduli kalau orang-orang mulai memberi saran kepadanya untuk berdiet. “I’ve always been a size 14 to 16, I don’t care about clothes, aku suka berpenampilan cantik, tapi bukan dengan jadi kurus, I make music to be a musician not to be on the cover of Playboy,” tuturnya.
Well, mungkin sikap seperti inilah yang bikin seorang Anna Wintour, Chief Editor Vogue Magazine mau jadi stylistnya Adele, supaya dia tampil glam di Grammy Awards 2009. “Anna Wintour wanted to meet me, so I was waiting in the hallway. It was just like The Devil Wears Prada. It was amazing. Aku surprise banget, dan dia menyambutku dengan baik,” tutur Adele.
Nggak sampai situ saja lhooo kejutannya, soalnya nih Adele membuat para fashion lover tambah iri karena difoto oleh fotografer ngetop, Annie Leibovitz dan hasil fotonya dimuat oleh Vogue edisi April 2009. Adele benar-benar nggak bisa menyembunyikan perasaan senangnya dan bilang “I got a really nice dress. I don’t ever wear dresses. I wear dresses with tights and flat shoes and a cardigan. It’s going to be quite a big deal.”
Good Music Taste
Jauh sebelum menang Grammy, Adele memang sudah punya cita-cita jadi singer-songwritter. Influence bermusiknya pun beragam. Waktu umurnya 13 tahun, Adele sering banget dengerin Celine Dion dan Spice Girls. Kemudian, di umur 14 tahun, Adele mulai menggemari musik jazz. Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James pun menjadi idolanya. Uniknya nih, semakin Adele beranjak dewasa, selera musiknya pun semakin old school. “I kind of got into the old legends, Roberta Flack, Johnny Cash, Diana Ross and the Supremes,” kata cewek yang lulus dari sekolah performing arts, BRIT School, Croydon, pada Mei 2006 ini.
Anyway, Adele ggak pernah lupa masa-masa awal karir bermusiknya. Setelah ia lulus SMA, pada Desember 2006, seorang kawan bernama Jack Peñate mengajak Adele untuk manggung di London’s Earls Court, dimana tempat ini hanya berkapasitas untuk 100 orang. Namun, begitu Adele mulai bernyanyi, beberapa penonton terlihat terharu dan menitikan air mata. “That was the time I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is amazing, can’t live without it.’ Nggak ada yang lebih seru selain tampil live,” kenangnya.
No wonder sejak saat itu, Adele menyukai keintiman dan interaksi dengan penonton saat perform di pangung-panggung kecil . “I like to hear people, their glasses tinkling and all that. I’d hate to play to people I can’t even see and can’t even hear. That’d be horrible,” katanya jujur.
The New Album
Seolah ingin terus membuktikan talentanya, Adele merilis album kedunya, 21 pada Februari 2011. Nggak tanggung-tanggung nih, di album 21, Adele berkolaborasi dengan beberapa produser yang sudah mencetak hits besar untuk artis-artis terkenal, seperti Paul Epworth (Kate Nash, Cee Lo Green), Ryan Tedder (Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson), Dan Wilson (Dixie Chicks), serta Fraser T. Smith (Taio Cruz).
Di minggu pertama setelah rilis, 21 berhasil menduduki peringkat teratas tangga lagu Billboard di Amrik. Hingga kini, album tersebut pun sudah terjual sebanyak 352.000 copy. Sementara di Inggris, single Rolling In The Deep berada di peringkat atas beberapa tangga lagu populer selama enam minggu terakhir.
And you can also listen second single on 21, Someone Like You, you’ll hear the tears on her voice. AMAZING!! …Overall, Adele gives as good as she gets!!
Berkat single Chasing Pavement, Adele Laurie Blue Adkins meraih dua penghargaan sebagai Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 51st Grammy Awards tahun 2009. Di negara asalnya, Inggris, sejak album perdananya, 19 rilis januari 2008 lalu, Adele dapat banyak pujian. Dia disebut-sebut sebagai The Number-One Predicted Breakthrough Act of 2008 in an annual BBC poll of music critics. Sementara The Times Encyclopedia of Modern Music bilang kalau 19 sebagai “Essential Blue Eyed Soul Recording”.
Big Is Beautiful
Cewek yang lahir tanggal 5 Mei 1988 ini nggak pernah mempermasalahkan berat badannya. Adele malah mengaku gemar makan pizza dan malaysian food. “People are starting to go on about my weight but I’m not going to change my size because they don’t like the way I look,” ujarnya santai.
Adele juga berharap nih, agar publik lebih memperhatikan karyanya, bukan penampilannya. Dia nggak peduli kalau orang-orang mulai memberi saran kepadanya untuk berdiet. “I’ve always been a size 14 to 16, I don’t care about clothes, aku suka berpenampilan cantik, tapi bukan dengan jadi kurus, I make music to be a musician not to be on the cover of Playboy,” tuturnya.
Well, mungkin sikap seperti inilah yang bikin seorang Anna Wintour, Chief Editor Vogue Magazine mau jadi stylistnya Adele, supaya dia tampil glam di Grammy Awards 2009. “Anna Wintour wanted to meet me, so I was waiting in the hallway. It was just like The Devil Wears Prada. It was amazing. Aku surprise banget, dan dia menyambutku dengan baik,” tutur Adele.
Nggak sampai situ saja lhooo kejutannya, soalnya nih Adele membuat para fashion lover tambah iri karena difoto oleh fotografer ngetop, Annie Leibovitz dan hasil fotonya dimuat oleh Vogue edisi April 2009. Adele benar-benar nggak bisa menyembunyikan perasaan senangnya dan bilang “I got a really nice dress. I don’t ever wear dresses. I wear dresses with tights and flat shoes and a cardigan. It’s going to be quite a big deal.”
Good Music Taste
Jauh sebelum menang Grammy, Adele memang sudah punya cita-cita jadi singer-songwritter. Influence bermusiknya pun beragam. Waktu umurnya 13 tahun, Adele sering banget dengerin Celine Dion dan Spice Girls. Kemudian, di umur 14 tahun, Adele mulai menggemari musik jazz. Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James pun menjadi idolanya. Uniknya nih, semakin Adele beranjak dewasa, selera musiknya pun semakin old school. “I kind of got into the old legends, Roberta Flack, Johnny Cash, Diana Ross and the Supremes,” kata cewek yang lulus dari sekolah performing arts, BRIT School, Croydon, pada Mei 2006 ini.
Anyway, Adele ggak pernah lupa masa-masa awal karir bermusiknya. Setelah ia lulus SMA, pada Desember 2006, seorang kawan bernama Jack Peñate mengajak Adele untuk manggung di London’s Earls Court, dimana tempat ini hanya berkapasitas untuk 100 orang. Namun, begitu Adele mulai bernyanyi, beberapa penonton terlihat terharu dan menitikan air mata. “That was the time I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is amazing, can’t live without it.’ Nggak ada yang lebih seru selain tampil live,” kenangnya.
No wonder sejak saat itu, Adele menyukai keintiman dan interaksi dengan penonton saat perform di pangung-panggung kecil . “I like to hear people, their glasses tinkling and all that. I’d hate to play to people I can’t even see and can’t even hear. That’d be horrible,” katanya jujur.
The New Album
Seolah ingin terus membuktikan talentanya, Adele merilis album kedunya, 21 pada Februari 2011. Nggak tanggung-tanggung nih, di album 21, Adele berkolaborasi dengan beberapa produser yang sudah mencetak hits besar untuk artis-artis terkenal, seperti Paul Epworth (Kate Nash, Cee Lo Green), Ryan Tedder (Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson), Dan Wilson (Dixie Chicks), serta Fraser T. Smith (Taio Cruz).
Di minggu pertama setelah rilis, 21 berhasil menduduki peringkat teratas tangga lagu Billboard di Amrik. Hingga kini, album tersebut pun sudah terjual sebanyak 352.000 copy. Sementara di Inggris, single Rolling In The Deep berada di peringkat atas beberapa tangga lagu populer selama enam minggu terakhir.
And you can also listen second single on 21, Someone Like You, you’ll hear the tears on her voice. AMAZING!! …Overall, Adele gives as good as she gets!!
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