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Adele Returns To the Limelight With ‘Easy on Me,’ Her First Single Following a 5-Year Hiatus

by Elizabeth Safaryn

 

After nearly five years of radio silence, Grammy-award-winning artist Adele recently announced that she is releasing her fourth studio album, 30. On October 5th, Adele dropped the teaser for her latest single, “Easy On Me.” Before confirming, many fans were speculating her return after seeing billboards plastered with the number “30” all across the globe. Adele’s previous three albums are all named after her age; from 19 in 2008, 21 in 2011, and 25 in 2015, and many of us began connecting the dots with 30. Fans even got her 21 album back on the Billboard Top 200 list to anticipate her new song. 

 Adele has seen numerous chart-toppers over the years; her new album, however, is all about creating music to heal herself. When asked about her skyrocket to fame after 2015’s “Hello,” Adele says, “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.” Reminiscent of the singer’s moody R&B essence, the preview for “Easy On Me” is filtered in black and white with Adele channeling true nostalgia in thick cat eyeliner. The car’s cassette player starts the piano melody as Adele sticks her hand carefree out of the window. Driving down country roads, car packed up, sheet music flying in the wind, we get a sneak peek at this era of Adele quite literally “moving on” from her grief. Going off of the only lyrics we have, “Didn’t get the chance to feel the world around me,” Adele is entering a new life stage where she is focusing on herself, her son, and her music. In typical fashion, Twitter is already flooded with memes:

Adele’s return is launched with two magazine cover shoots for the November issues of American and British Vogue. After her reclusive nature over the last few years, Adele got truly intimate in these interviews to unpack her divorce, weight loss, anxiety, and how it all inspired her latest body of work. After nearly seven years of marriage, Adele Adkins and ex-husband Simon Konecki called it quits in 2019. The pair have one child together, an eight-year-old son named Angelo, who has been the main inspiration behind her fourth album. Adele’s words resonate with women everywhere by expressing emotional absence towards her son during the dismantling of her marriage. This album is for herself, but also for her son in explaining how she “voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of her own happiness.”

 For years the tabloids have scrutinized Adele for her weight, speculating on the fitness plans and dietary restrictions that led her to lose nearly 100 lbs. When the singer debuted her new physiqué in a birthday post back in May 2020, social media had a frenzy. When asked about her weight loss, it was revealed that exercise became a coping mechanism for her anxiety, pushing her to work out nearly two to three times a day. As we live in a society hooked on social media, where everyone has to share everything about their personal lives, Adele felt no desire to trivialize her fitness evolution. “People are shocked because I didn’t share my ‘journey’. They’re used to people documenting everything on Instagram. I couldn’t give a flying f**k. I did it for myself and not anyone else.

 Both of Adele’s Vogue interviews delve into her journey for self-acceptance and how she rediscovered her passion for music in chronicling hardship, heartache, and healing. Over the last year, Adele has been slowly creeping back into the limelight, most notably after hosting Saturday Night Live back in October 2020 where she teased her upcoming album as a work in process. There is a rumor that Adele will be releasing a TV special in conjunction with the album’s release. As we prepare for the cultural reset of 30, set to release November 19th, all we have to bless our ears is this 21-second teaser for “Easy On Me:” 

Top Photo: Screenshot / YouTube

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