North by Northwestern

Year in Media 2015

Adele

by Lucy Wang

She might be years away from her heartbreak of 19 and 21, but she can still break your heart with her falsetto words.

Never mind, we couldn't find someone like Adele.

The London-born songstress released her third studio album, 25, in November after a four-year hiatus, and from memes to viral music videos to SNL sketches, it's traveled the Internet over. Adele insists it's a "make-up record," whereas 21 was a break-up one. She's back, but this time older, wiser and a mother.

"Turning 25 was a turning point for me, slap bang in the middle of my twenties," she wrote in a Twitter open letter. "25 is about getting to know who I've become without realising."

But don't be so sure 25 will leave your eyes dry. Make-up or break-up, the album still features Adele's soaring vocals and equally emotional lyrics. Take the penultimate track, "All I Ask.” The chorus closes with, "It matters how this ends, cause what if I never love again?" And on “When We Were Young," co-written by Tobias Jesso Jr., even her attempts at reminiscing are tinged with desperation when she remarks that this reunion could be “the last time.” She might be years away from her heartbreak of 19 and 21, but she can still break your heart with her falsetto words.

Besides making history as a Billboard chart-topper and the first music video ever shot on IMAX, the Xavier Dolan-directed “Hello” stirred anticipation for 25’s release.

This might also be Adele's most divisive album yet. Amid record-breaking sales – 5.19 million copies in the U.S. alone in its first three weeks – came news that 25 wouldn't be streaming on Spotify. "Hello from the other side," indeed.

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