30 (album)

30 is the fourth studio album by the English singer and songwriter Adele. It was released on 19 November 2021 by Columbia Records. Her first studio album in six years following 25 (2015), 30 was inspired by Adele's experiences and anxiety following her divorce and its impact on her son's life, along with motherhood and fame. Adele had begun working on the album in 2018 and collaborated with producers such as Greg Kurstin, Max Martin, Inflo, Tobias Jesso Jr., Ludwig Göransson, Shawn Everett, and Shellback.

Musically, 30 is a pop, soul, and jazz album, which incorporates dance-pop, gospel, and R&B elements. The album was promoted with the television specials Adele One Night Only and An Audience with.... Three singles were released from the album. The lead single, "Easy on Me", reached number one in several countries, including the US and UK. The follow-up singles, "Oh My God" and "I Drink Wine", charted in the UK chart's top five simultaneously with it.

30 received acclaim from music critics, who emphasised Adele's vocal performance as well as the lyricism and subject matter. Media outlets included it in their lists of the best albums of 2021. The album was nominated for six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year, and it won the Brit Award for British Album of the Year at the Brit Awards 2022, making Adele the first solo artist in history to win the award three times, having won previously for 21 and 25.

30 reached number one in 25 countries. In the UK, it achieved the highest first-week sales for any album by a female artist since Adele's third studio album, 25 (2015). It spent five weeks at number one there and six in the US. 30 was the best-selling album of the year in both countries, as well as worldwide, with 5.54 million copies sold.

Background

During the conception of her third studio album, 25 (2015), Adele wrote enough material for what she believed could be three or four albums. She later revealed that she had four or five songs that she might revisit at a later date, among them a Greg Kurstin-produced song that she felt was more appropriate once she was older. In 2018, mainstream media outlets reported that Adele was working on her fourth studio album. Drummer Matt Chamberlain confirmed that he had been in the studio with her for her fourth studio album, along with Rick Nowels, John Legend and Raphael Saadiq, in hopes of crafting an album "full of soul, with a more eclectic sound."

Following Adele's marriage to Simon Konecki in 2018, she filed for divorce in 2019. She began taking therapy sessions and mended her estranged relationship with her father. Adele experienced anxiety which, along with her separation from Konecki and the scrutiny of fame and motherhood, inspired 30. The divorce's effect on her son plagued Adele during the following years. She decided to have regular conversations with him, which she recorded following advice from her therapist. These inspired Adele's return to the studio, and the album took shape as a body of work that would explain to her son why she left his father.

Early on in the promotion for 25, Adele revealed that she planned to stop naming albums after her age. However, on her 31st birthday, Adele published a rare social media post in which she – seemingly jokingly – referred to her next album as 30, alluding to the theme of her previous three albums' titles. On 15 February 2020, Adele announced at a friend's wedding that her fourth studio album would be out by September 2020. However, she would later confirm that the album's production and release had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 18 October 2020, Adele confirmed she would be hosting the 24 October episode of Saturday Night Live, reinvigorating fans' hope that new music would be imminent. However, during the episode, Adele confirmed that her fourth studio album was not yet finished. She later hinted via an Instagram post that she would be returning to music in 2021. Comedian Alan Carr, a close friend of Adele's, also hinted that the album would be released in 2021, describing the material he had heard from the album as "amazing" during an interview with Grazia's UK edition.

Writing and recording

Using music as an outlet post-divorce, Adele went to the studio describing it as "basically running away". Similarly to Adele's previous albums, the vocal tracks used on 30 are original demos. Adele wanted to create a "safe space" during the album's recording and opted to work with fewer people than on her previous project 25. Choosing producers Adele felt comfortable with influenced her choice in collaborators. Adele reunited with Kurstin, a long-time collaborator and friend, which allowed her to feel as though she "could say anything, sing anything, and they wouldn't judge me." Together Adele and Kurstin worked on six songs; "Easy on Me", "My Little Love", "Cry Your Heart Out", "Oh My God", "I Drink Wine" and "All Night Parking".

Originally a 15-minute song, inspired by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, "I Drink Wine" was written by Adele to express her remorse for not being present for a close friend and was later cut short following label feedback. "All Night Parking" posthumously credits American jazz pianist Erroll Garner as a featured artist, making it the first song on a standard Adele album to have a featured artist credit. Adele worked with previous collaborators and Swedish producers and songwriters Max Martin and Shellback, and Canadian singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr. "Oh My God", produced by Kurstin, was written during a period of time when Adele's anxiety was subsiding. Referencing dating post-divorce, Adele wrote the song inspired by her first time flirting after her split with Konecki.

Adele also worked with producers for the first time, including Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson, and British producer Inflo (of the music collective Sault). Heavily inspired by the Judy Garland biopic, Adele was attracted to the new sounds, chords and cadences Göransson introduced to her which led to the song "Strangers by Nature". Adele immediately gravitated towards Inflo, due to their similar age and both being raised in North London. The pair's recording sessions would often start with extensive conversations, before pin-pointing an emotion they wanted to write about. Together they wrote and produced three songs, "Woman like Me", "Hold On" and "Love Is a Game". The latter was inspired by Breakfast at Tiffany's, which was played on mute during the recording sessions. "Hold On" was written by Adele regarding the numerous times she lost hope during her divorce and features backing vocals from her friends. Recalling writing the track Adele said; "I remember I didn't belly laugh for about a year. But I didn't realize I was making progress until I wrote 'Hold On' and listened to it back. Later, I was like, 'Oh, fuck, I've really learned a lot. I've really come a long way.'" By February 2020, 30 was mostly completed, except for some orchestral elements and backing vocals.

Composition

Stereogum described 30 as a pop, soul, and jazz record. It also contains elements of R&B, gospel, and dance-pop. The album incorporates choir vocals, harmonies, voice notes, violins, strings, organs, and horns. Thematically, the album addresses Adele's divorce, anxiety, and motherhood. During an Instagram Live on 9 October 2021, Adele reiterated that 30 would centre on her divorce. Adele noted that 30 is more introspective than her previous efforts. "I feel like this album is self-destruction, then self-reflection and then sort of self-redemption", she said. "I really want people to hear my side of the story this time."

The album opens with "Strangers by Nature", a cinematic song featuring organs, strings and mournful lyrics. The song closes with the line "All right then, I'm ready", before leading into "Easy on Me". The latter is a piano torch ballad, on which Adele addresses her divorce and pleads for forgiveness and understanding from her son, ex-husband, and herself. "My Little Love" is a jazz, R&B, and soul song, which incorporates voice notes of Adele's conversations with her son as she explains the effects of her divorce on his life and apologizes. The album's fourth track, "Cry Your Heart Out" is an uptempo piano-driven song, contrasting with its lyrics about depression and anxiety, but also the feeling of relief. The production of "Oh My God" incorporates claps, keys, the organ, and bass along with an R&B groove and dance-pop–electropop sample. It lyrically details Adele's first time being flirted with after her divorce. "Can I Get It" is an upbeat acoustic guitar-driven track with a whistled chorus. Lyrically, the song is about love and desiring a true and lasting relationship. "I Drink Wine" is a gospel-oriented power ballad, addressing Adele's divorce and shedding her ego before regaining the ability to love again.