Adele has finally given fans the news they've been waiting six years for – new album, 30, is set to land on November 19.
In a heartfelt Instagram post, the Rumour Has It singer also gave fans an insight into exactly what they can expect from the album, and it sounds as if it will be some of her best work yet.
Here’s what we know about 30 so far …
It will be some of her most personal music yet
In the years since Adele last released music, she has been through a divorce – from charity chief executive husband Simon Konecki, with whom she has a son. In an Instagram Live at the weekend, she was asked what the album was about, to which she replied: “Divorce, babes”.
However, in her announcement on Wednesday, the star went into more detail, saying she wrote the album as she “painstakingly rebuilt my house and my heart” and “this album narrates it”.
“I was certainly nowhere near where I’d hoped to be when I first started [30] nearly three years ago. Quite the opposite actually. I rely on routine and consistency to feel safe, I always have. And yet there I was knowingly – willingly even – throwing myself into a maze of absolute mess and inner turmoil.
It will be a mix of sounds
There has been much speculation around what Adele’s new album will sound like. Given the divorce, many expected the album to be heavy on the heartbreak tracks, with the kind of ballads that have become the star’s signature.
However, reports ahead of the release suggested that its sound would be more upbeat, with sources saying it would be "optimistic, reflective of the good times and about learning to move on from them and make new memories by yourself.”
And Adele seemed to confirm this in her announcement. She described the music as the “friend who would pick me up and take me somewhere I said I didn’t want to go, but just wanted to get me out the house for some vitamin D”.
It sounds like the album will come full circle, offering something for the heartbreak, something for the aftermath and something for the time when you are ready to get back to yourself.
The first single, ‘Easy On Me’, broke records
Easy On Me, which was released on Friday, October 15, became Spotify’s most-streamed song in a single day, beating the record previously held by BTS's Butter, achieving 24 million streams in the 24 hours after it was released. The song, which details her decision to leave her marriage, also reached number 1 on the UK top 40 the week of its release.
There won’t be another ‘Hello’
While there is no doubt that 30 is one of the most anticipated – and probably the most commercially successful – releases of the year, Adele has stated that there will not be another huge track to mimic the impact of Hello, from 2015’s 25.
“There isn’t a bombastic Hello,” she told Vogue. “But I don’t want another song like that. That song catapulted me in fame to another level that I don’t want to happen again.”
Who has Adele worked with for ‘30’?
Staying true to the format of her previous albums, 30 will not feature any other artists, including Peppa Pig, as Adele revealed during her Instagram Live.
Instead, reports say the singer has worked with producers and songwriters Max Martin and Shellback, who she worked with on previous single Send My Love (to Your New Lover), as well as singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr, who she worked with on When We Were Young.
She is also said to have collaborated with composer and producer Ludwig Goransson, who has worked with artists such as Childish Gambino and on films including Black Panther.
“I was so fragile when I was writing it that I wanted to work only with a few people,” Adele said in her Vogue interview.
30 will be released on all major streaming platforms on Friday, November 19.
The track list
Adele has now revealed that 30 will include 15 tracks – 12 main tracks and three bonus tracks, including an alternative version of first single Easy On Me, featuring US singer-songwriter Chris Stapleton.
The track list for 30:
1. Strangers by Nature
2. Easy on Me
3. My Little Love
4. Cry Your Heart Out
5. Oh My God
6. Can I Get It
7. I Drink Wine
8. All Night Parking (With Erroll Garner) Interlude
9. Woman Like Me
10. Hold On
11. To Be Loved
12. Love Is a Game
Bonus Tracks:
13. Wild Wild West
14. Can’t Be Together
15. Easy on Me (With Chris Stapleton)
