30
| Adele
30
30 is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 19 November 2021 by Melted Stone and Columbia Records. The album centers on Adele's divorce, motherhood, and the scrutiny of fame, with themes of heartache, acceptance, and hope. Adele wrote 30 between 2018 and 2021 with producers including Greg Kurstin, Max Martin and Shellback, all of whom worked on her previous record, 25 (2015); new collaborators include Ludwig Göransson, and Inflo of the English band Sault. American jazz pianist Erroll Garner is posthumously credited as a featured artist on "All Night Parking", marking the first guest performance on a standard album by Adele. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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The Guardian
waterworks turned up to 11.
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New York Post
A voice even richer, more raw and haunting.
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Pitchfork
Once again, Adele transforms her heartbreak into a searching, graceful, and incredibly moving album. But the complexity of her emotions and the nuanced production make this her most ambitious work to date.
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BBC
Adele's 30 finds her emotionally bewildered and at the top of her game.
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ABC News
Adele goes beyond heartbreak in powerful '30' album.
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DIY Magazine
‘Did Adele just do that?’ you might ask on first listen. Yeah, she did. But she didn’t have to.
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NME
Previously accused of playing it safe, Adele enters a new decade by experimenting with bolder sounds. It gives intriguing but mixed results.
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The Daily
Some argue that the best music is made through channeling negative emotion, and this album is a perfect example of that. Step aside, old Adele, “30” is the new “25.”
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Los Angeles Times
Adele is still queen of the ugly-cry ballad on '30'.
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EW
30, a surprisingly personal album that showcases how Adele has matured, both as an artist and as a person, since the middle of the last decade. She could have built on her blockbuster success in a cynical way, copy-and-pasting "Rolling in the Deep" and "Hello." Instead, she lets her emotions guide her, with triumphant results.
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USA Today
New album is an emotional gut punch, her best yet.
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Daily Trojan
It’s not the Adele we were expecting, but seeing her evolve as an artist over 10 years into her career is fulfilling and exciting. There’s no telling where she’ll go next, but, luckily, we have the emotionally complex, musically different “30” to explore in great depth until then.
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The Nicholls Worth
Throughout the entire album, you can hear a woman going through a devastating moment in her life, yet emerging from it stronger than before. “30” has triumph written all over it, as she made it through this horrible crisis while keeping her soul intact.
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Independent
Between the typical tirades against herself, Adele braids through moments of affirmation. 30 is a conversation between Adele and Adele. She is her own fairy godmother, whispering incantations of happiness in her own ear, hoping they take.
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The Ringer
Hopefully happy, self-fulfilled, and still just as good at cranking out six-minute, soul-crushing ballads.
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Epigram
It is said that when she was young, she dreamt of becoming a heart specialist; she has certainly achieved it, not with a scalpel but with a crescendo.
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PopMatters
Adele’s 30 is an impeccable album with a strong set of songs. But its impact will feel somewhat diminished because we’re getting a very familiar Adele.
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Irish Examiner
Producing an album that’s different from its predecessors, without being different enough to scare anyone off, is a not-unimpressive feat, particularly under the circumstances. Given their sales figures, you couldn’t blame Adele for declining to even tinker with a formula that clearly ain’t broke. But she does, and it makes for 30’s highlights.
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musicOMH
Despite her albums being snapshots, sometimes a little more diversity in subject matter would be a good thing. Ultimately, while some intriguing risks have been taken, 30 is probably the weakest, as well as conversely the most intimate and in many ways bravest, Adele album to date.
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Riot
Adele harnesses her otherwordly vocals to delve into experiences of guilt, self-doubt, depression and an eventually hopeful look to the future on 30.
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Clash Magazine
‘30’ is a work of personal and artistic triumph, yet it’s not without fault. For all its stylistic breadth and daring deviation, it lingers on widescreen Californian pop, while some new elements – the Max Martin country stomp – don’t gel with the overall palette. But those are small-fry compared to the heights of Adele’s achievements – her first major label album, the balance here is perfect, fusing fan service (the glorious lead single ‘Easy On Me’) with daring new ideas. An album with novelistic depth, when ‘30’ turns once more for its London-rooted conclusion, Adele seems to reach a new level in her stratospheric career.
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Evening Standard
“Mummy’s been having a lot of big feelings,” she told her son earlier on. Mummy isn’t the only one who’ll need a lie down after being thoroughly wrung out by this devastating comeback.
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Stereoboard
Stylish and brave, Adele's melancholic ‘30’, reveals an artist at her most vulnerable. Creating a therapeutic body of work, Adele has invested the regret, pain and anguish she experienced during the breakdown of her marriage into the album’s creation.
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Meaww
Singer’s self-reflecting project is ‘album of the decade’.
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Music Record Shop
‘Coming of age’ is a term usually saved for teens becoming adults, but 30 sees Adele settle into the maturity and wisdom that the album presents, and truly is a coming of age. It is a well-considered progression for her, and while there are some missteps along the way, it is so good to see her moving forward.
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Renowned for Sound
The LP feels more like a confessional piece, as if she has been asked by a therapist to make a diary as a coping mechanism; Adele has done this the only way she knows how, by recording her feelings and musings alongside idyllic musical ideas.
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ThomasBleach
The journey this album takes you on is mutually heartbreaking and empowering. She shatters your heart to only piece it together while holding your hand. She allows you to know that it’s okay to go through pain and that you’re not alone in this process. It’s a very cohesive listen that begs you to experience it from start to finish as the tracklisting is very thought out as it represents her own personal experience since ’25’.
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The Arts Desk
She draws you in and holds you tight. This blade and authenticity is her superpower.
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AllMusic
Meeting titanic expectations, this linear journey of the heart is Adele's most cohesive statement to date, pairing her inimitable voice with a dozen engrossing vignettes, reminding us that all we can do is keep trying.
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The Indiependent
Amongst Adele’s trademark weepy piano ballads and soaring vocals, there is an important message – even when everything has been ripped away from you, there is still hope. In an era defined by a pandemic that took so much away from so many people, it’s exactly what we need to hear.
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NME
Previously accused of playing it safe, Adele enters a new decade by experimenting with bolder sounds. It gives intriguing but mixed results.
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The Upcoming
With 30, Adele offers an album that her devoted fans will undoubtedly adore and, despite an over-produced snare drum here and an over-edited lyric there, this is a substantial record that holds its own regardless of intrigue, press coverage or external narratives. At base, the artist walks us through a journey that shouldn’t be undertaken alone, a journey absolutely deserving of patience, care, attentive listeners – and at least one piano.
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The Irish Times
Songs to cry in the bath and give up on love to.
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Spectrum Pulse
I envy those who like this more, and it’s definitely worth a listen especially if you need those big affirming moments. Maybe with all the critical acclaim I was expecting more, that’s all.
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NPR
'30' is a complicated album that shows just how broad Adele's appeal is.
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The Atlantic
The pop star’s new album, 30, is a work of dazzling ambition.
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The Globe and Mail
Adele’s new album, 30, is a world-class confession session.
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Rolling Stone
She’s never sounded more ferocious than she does on ’30 ‘— more alive to her own feelings, more virtuosic at shaping them into songs in the key of her own damn life.
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The 13th Floor
Massively popular without a doubt. Full of heart and soul and Adele continues to live and breathe in that most rarefied atmosphere.
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Stereogum
That’s another element to 30 that makes this an instant-classic Adele record. No matter what age she’s reached, Adele has a remarkable ability to learn, and hopefully grow, from her experiences. She isn’t afraid to tell us that she’s judged herself plenty of times, and made plenty of mistakes, but she’s working on it. Making it an even sweeter experience for us, the audience, she communicates her findings articulately and with tenderness. If 25 had Adele gazing in the rearview, its long-awaited follow-up has the singer in a period of rebirth. After a blood-and-guts grieving process, the only thing for Adele to do now is hoist herself up, take a deep breath, and look to the future.
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Sputnik Music
30 might not be a true divorce album, lacking the fire and blame game attitudes that we could assume from a modern pop record—it is however a frank, candid unloading from a person experiencing some real feelings. Something to which we can relate to, at least in part. 30 might not have been the cleanest of breakups, but it more than translates in lyrical form. Maybe in a few years we’ll be hearing “Hello (from the other side) Part 2.”
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Skiddle
Adele's 30 is a stunningly open glimpse into the inner trauma that can be caused by divorce. The voice notes within add a sense of real authenticity and as usual, this is an Adele album with the potential to emotionally ruin you. There are moments of experimentation that don't quite get pulled off but there is a clear intention to evolve as an artist. 30 is an album that is well worth a listen and was definitely worth the wait.
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Buzzfeed News
“30” Is The Record Adele Was Born To Make.
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The Lantern
Adele confidently sings of love and heartbreak on '30'.
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AV Club
Adele reaches new heights on 30, her best album to date.
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Atwood Magazine
30 is a testament to her longevity and enduring command of her craft, on the most fundamental level. It’ll take some time to see how it affects her overall legacy, but it’s been wonderful to see it be so widely acclaimed and celebrated right off the bat the way it’s been. The odds of it lasting as a valuable feature of her pantheon are pretty darn solid.
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The Daily Aztec
Each song on “30” was a work of art. “19,” “21” and “25” are beautiful in their own way, but “30” is by far Adele’s most heartfelt album — with many tracks that will age into classics.
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Owl Radio
This album should be on everyone’s radar. Listening to it in its entirety is therapeutic. With everything going on in the world right now, everyone could use a bit of healing.
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Attitude
While Adkins's fourth studio album isn’t quite the sucker-punch we had hoped for, it does provide us with a brutal, honest account of the last six years of her life. It’s the kind of honesty that is sadly lacking in so much of what we hear on the radio today, and for that, we can only be grateful. While Adkins's relatability is ever-endearing, it does feel like 30 misses some opportunities to rip up the Adele rulebook and try something different. But after the last couple of years we’ve had, sometimes we just need to let it all out… and drink wine.
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Daily Bruin
Adele delivers emotion of motherhood, divorce through sonic variety in ’30’.
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The Post
‘30’ is Adele’s most vulnerable album yet.
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The Review Geek
Adele has done it again; 30 is a brilliant album and easily in the running for best of 2021.
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Vinyl Chapters
Revered pop and soul artist Adele has officially returned from a six-year break with 30, her most impressive and emotionally riveting album to date.
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The Washington Times
Between the typical tirades against herself, Adele braids through moments of affirmation. Like a forlorn teenager, across the length of 30, Adele plucks the petals off a daisy but asks a different question: Do I love me? Do I love me not? Where other records have asked for audience participation – for us to fill in the blanks of broad narratives with our own pain – 30 is a conversation between Adele and Adele. She’s her own fairy godmother, whispering incantations of happiness in her own ear and hoping they take.
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This is York
Adele’s new album 30 is a story like any other. It has conflicts, character development, and emotion. I can truly say that I am very happy with Adele’s return after the six years spent without new music, and I am even more happy that her comeback resulted in such amazing songs. 30 was a really great album and I highly recommend listening to it.
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HubPages
30 is probably Adele’s best-ever album due to its subject matter, style and songwriting. With relatable and heart-wrenching lyrics deep enough to make every fiber of one’s being relate with what she was going through while penning down that track, Adele succeeds in making one hell of a cohesive project which details how she got over the anguish of her divorce to her ex-husband brought her. While there might have been a few cliché lines, 30 certainly makes Adele more relatable as a mom and as a person who like everyone else craves companionship and “something real” while keeping it authentic and original. It is worth a listen and is one of the best albums I have listened to this year.
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Varsity
this record is a wonderful collage of classic ‘Adele’ (her name seemingly now a stand-alone, concise adjective for a particularly raw form of pop). Whilst departing from her previous work, 30 remains a bold addition to Adele’s timeless catalogue.
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Love London Love Culture
The overall vibe of the album might be serious and reflective, but the fact that it is understated and still makes the themes shine through powerfully is certainly more than enough to make listeners sit up and pay attention. Has it been worth the wait? I would say yes – it certainly is an album that seems to suggest that we can expect a change in direction for Adele’s music and is worth a listen or two at least.
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Spark Sunderland
30 is a story about acceptance, heartbreak, divorce and growth, and Adele has shown that in this album. The album doesn’t show the same popularity as 25 or 21, with 30 not having the hits that her older music had. What Adele gains are the values of vulnerability and the honesty which makes her music stronger.
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London News Time
Brit Superstar’s Best Work Ever.
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Yorkshire Times
30 is an unexpected musical journey, but one that it feels like the listener needed to take and not just Adele.
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Spectrum Culture
Warm and mature, fun and relatable, and just as masterfully produced and performed as ever before, it’s just very Adele.
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Phenixx Gaming
Adele was able to reel listeners into her emotional sanctum, but some abruptions broke the immersion and kicked us out of the dreamscape. The acapella songs were a huge departure from the rest of the album. They sounded almost lifeless in comparison to the emotions Adele brought out from her other tracks. All in all, I loved the experimentation and found this to be the most enjoyable Adele album yet.
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