(Columbia)Taking raw emotion to the next level, Adele relives the year her marriage fell apart on this self-flagellating powerhouse of an album
“Cry your heart out, it’ll clean your face,” Adele admonishes herself a third of the way through her fourth studio album – the first (after 19, 21 and 25) to feature an even number in the title. It’s a record in which Adele ugly-cries, then wipes off her streaked makeup, sloughing off layers of dead skin in the process: best experienced with a terrycloth flannel to hand and a goblet of something red as per track seven, I Drink Wine.
As should be clear to anyone with an internet connection, 30 deals with the year in Adele’s life when her wedding happened and her marriage fell apart. The
Singer, now 33, has explained as much to
British Vogue and
Oprah Winfrey – how, having been denied a happily-ever-after nuclear family as a child, she wanted one for her son, a regret amplified by the guilt of
BREAKING it apart. Adele has also spoken of a long battle with anxiety (ameliorated by a tough exercise regime) and how her intention on these 12 songs was to explain things to her son, Angelo, whose questions crop up on the record. “Mummy is having some really big feelings right now,” she blurts, inadequately, on one of a series of voice notes.