We asked you to review 25 with us - hard I know given the lack of streaming availability. However, thanks to those of you who submitted reviews.
My personal favourite quote from reader gretta_g convinced me to give Adele’s album a serious go. Who can resist this:
“I found myself missing people I don’t even know in places I haven’t yet traveled to and wishing I was young all over again. I am only twenty-one years old.”
Here’s a selection of reader reviews. You can share your thoughts in the comments below, or via GuardianWitness.
“This album shows Adele’s skill for writing phenomenal songs, as well as the pure talent that she has for singing. Definitely my favorite record by Adele so far and I still play 21 and 19 like they were released yesterday! She should be so proud of herself for creating such a timeless masterpiece. Beautiful production, stunning vocals and devastatingly honest lyrics” - Martin Yates
“I should point out from the outset that I am a huge Adele fan. As a musician and a person she is just fantastic. Hello was one hell of a belter and was the perfect way for her to get back into our ears and remind us of what we have been missing.
Because of the success of 21, she had an awful lot to live up to. That album was her raw, damaged heart on a plate. It was her journey from hate and resentment to acknowledgement.
Although we knew Hello harped back to her ex, you’d expect a triumphant positive ‘look at me know’ type album given how she is in a happy, stable relationship with a gorgeous little boy. Therefore it was disappointing to hear an album which is pretty much dedicated once again to her ex which she can’t get over. I’d be offended if I were her fella! This retrospective angle does make you question whether she is just milking this whole ‘nasty, heartbreaking ex’ story” – Chamain Lovett
“An album of reflection, self-evaluation and outlining priorities – all the traits you’d expect of a lady who’s outgrown the media-driven adolescence that run hands-in-hand with the music industry, and into her role as a mother, partner and role model. The album is targeted for adult listening like most artists who’ve reached the peak of their career.
With the exception of Send My Love, which feels all rather out of place on the record, this is a cleverly crafted musical journey. Is ‘25’ the huge commercial record many wanted? No. Was it ever going to be? No. It doesn’t mean it’s any less successful – 4 stars” – jfleury
“People expected this to be a masterpiece, but measured by what? 21? She doesn’t seem to have moved on much from that album which came out almost half a decade ago. The same songs more or less and the same formula in place. Her singing has also not grown. Good singer, decent songster, but stagnant” – ReadingG
“There are some instant classics here such as When We Were Young, Hello and River Lea. You can see Adele is exploring new concepts for songs, including r&b. Anything Adele touches turns to gold, you can see this will have big commercial success, but whether it saves the music industry or CD sales is another question” – Michael Hope
“A truly flawless album, every song is sang with such conviction as always. Amazing country mixed with pop undertones throughout the album. Adele truly captures the theme of yearning to be younger, with less responsibility, than that which comes with becoming an adult” – Sammy-Lee Morrow
“Powerful and emotional to describe Adele’s album would be a mere understatement! As her chilling, dark mezzo-soprano voice and sad, romantic piano ballads filled my headphones I suddenly found myself in an indescribable deep state of stirred emotion, not all of which were pleasantly felt.
Adele has this mesmerising way of getting her audience to not only re-live a bad break-up but perhaps re-live it in such a heart wrenching way that bring up new emotions and cause the overall experience to be felt ten times heavier than the actual break-up.
Listening to 25 my particular favorite was When we Were Young. Adele’s natural vibrato comes in strong during this song and the heartfelt, moving performance brought me to tears” – gretta_g
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It is over.
So that’s it. The end of 25. I hope you’ve enjoyed the record. Or hated it! Either way, your contribution is invaluable. Thank you.
Amid the vacuous EDM that occupies the top 40, Adele’s music certainly still stands alone: the minimalist orchestration, her conversational tone, her gigantic choruses. What’s most interesting about this record are the references to the fame, however; the isolation; the eerie, ghostly production on I Miss You and River Lea.
I can’t help but think of the future. There comes a point in everyone’s life when love stops being a hurricane of emotions, and instead, heartbreak is triggered by the deli counter in Waitrose running out of that extra strong cheddar. Can Adele continue to create these lovelorn ballads for the duration of her career? It is likely, I think, that we are so instinctively enamoured with Adele – the honest, charismatic pop star – that even if she did write about Waitrose running out of extra strong cheddar, it would still become a global success.
Join Guardian Music’s liveblog in five years time to find out.
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11 Sweetest Devotions
Seconds left of our #Adele25 live review - it's nail biting stuff. Tell us what you think https://t.co/62k3JYpxNb pic.twitter.com/JiIFppCXAR
— Guardian music (@guardianmusic) November 20, 2015
Paul Epworth’s collaborations certainly sound the most unique on the record so far. This is a defiant, cinematic ending for sure. There’s an optimistic atmosphere to this one, as if she’s hitchhiking across America, journeying back to her lover, carrying but a knapsack. A knapsack full of all of our money.
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10 All I Ask
Make no mistake, this is a piano ballad in its purest sense. But there is a heightened sense of glamour about this one – sung as if she is lying across a grand piano. Perhaps the Ikea Monkey is playing the piano.
The track is slightly reminiscent of this:
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9 Million Years Ago
Alexis Petridis already wrote a very accurate description of Million Years Ago, a song “audibly influenced by French chanson, its lovely melody recalling in equal parts Charles Aznavour’s Hier Encore and the old Theme from Mash, Suicide Is Painless”.
It’s a delicate track based on a singular acoustic guitar, a soft, sun-dappled kind of sorrow instead of the dark, cavernous, help-I’m-trapped-in-a-well-full-of-tears type of sorrow.
Its lyrical content also feels refreshing. Adele describes the way that her friends “can’t look me in the eye, it’s like they’re scared of me”, and some of the other sad perils of fame and ubiquity.
Special mention must also go out to her pronunciation of “Inevita-bowl”.
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8 Love in the Dark
That last track felt like an interesting avenue to go down, but we’re back to relatively predictable piano balladry here. She’s describing leaving a lover with the usual gale force intensity – “I can’t love you in the dark, it feels like we’re oceans apart” – but it is the kind of basic, browbeaten track that could be sung by any pop star.
Not everyone agrees. Reader reviewer Martin Yates thinks Love in the Dark is “a gorgeously written ballad with beautiful strings accompanying the equally beautiful lyrics”.
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It’s easy to be snarky about such a highly anticipated, record-smashing album. Let’s take a moment to hear from Adele’s hardcore fanbase. This first review might make you cry; it might even make you want to listen to the album.
gretta_g: “While listening to the song I found myself missing people I don’t even know in places I haven’t yet traveled to and wishing I was young all over again, I am only twenty-one years old. That is an example of what a true artist can do to a person. Take them on a journey throughout life and bring them back completely shaken and wanting more! The track When We Were Young does this very thing! Adele is a goddess with vocals that can move mountains! She has once again slayed us all and slayed the music industry!”
Martin Yates: “There’s no way I could have picked just one favourite. This album shows Adele’s skill for writing phenomenal songs, as well as the pure talent that she has for singing. Definitely my favourite record by Adele so far and I still play 21 and 19 like they were released yesterday! She should be so proud of herself for creating such a timeless masterpiece!”
PemaBas: “Adele’s 25 is the natural evolution of 21 and 19. Incorporating a variety of genres, the album grows on Adele’s beautiful style and stunning voice, providing an album that has been carefully crafted over several years. 25 is a fantastic and powerful album from start to finish, well worth the wait.”
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7 River Lea
This one sounds curious. It features some slightly unusual production for Adele. It’s a moody, haunted reflection on her past and present.
Key lyric: “It’s in my roots, it’s in my veins / It’s in my blood and I stayed / Every heart that I use to heal the pain …so I blame it on the River Lea.”
Potential gags:
a) Blame it on the Dairylea.
b) Blame it on the boogie?
c) Sorry everyone.
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6 Water Under the Bridge
How is everyone feeling? For those of you who are still with us it’d be great to know whether or not this album has encouraged you to call any ex-lovers. Perhaps this is the track that will do it: “What are you waiting for?” sings Adele. Do it. Make the call. Ruin your weekend.
This one starts with some late-night, drive-time guitars before bursting into a big gospel chorus. It’s an empowering, wind-machine kind of love song.
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5 Remedy
Remedy was co-written with Ryan Tedder, the man who helped shape the sound of much of contemporary music’s most successful sad-pop. He is the man behind hits like Bleeding Love and Beyonce’s Halo, and specialises in slightly skewered, sparse, heartfelt ballads.
Nothing vastly unusual about this particular track. Adele utters the phrase “I will always love you” on two occasions.
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It seems as if Guardian readers, although not strangers to heartache themselves, are slightly bored of hearing about Adele’s.
sickchip: “I know how Adele feels. I got dumped and have been whingeing about it, and pestering my ex, for several years too. I think a lot of people go through similar stuff and can relate to her incessant wailing … which is why she’s so popular innit?”
Charmain Lovett: “Although we knew Hello harped back to her ex, you’d expect a triumphant positive ‘look at me now’ type album given how she is in a happy, stable relationship with a gorgeous little boy. Therefore it was disappointing to hear an album which is pretty much dedicated once again to this ex who she can’t get over. I’d be offended if I were her fella!”
Andrew Quinn: “Reality check Adele, your life and the people you’ve broken up with are really not that interesting or important. Wonderful voice. Sing about stuff that matters!”
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Wait - does this sound like Alphaville’s Forever Young?
If anyone from Alphaville’s legal dept is reading, I’d like to wash my hands of this claim immediately.
Towards the end of the song it goes full-on fairytale. Big, bold, bleary eyed emotion.
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4 When We Were Young
Co-written with singer-songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr, this track is a classic, stoic piano ballad. Veering into the overly sentimental. So earnest and poignant are the pianos, in fact, that I can see this soundtracking some kind of montage, possibly involving dying pets.
A song based on ghostly whispers and the pounding of drums, on which Adele describes the ways in which she desires her current partner, Simon Konecki. She doesn’t specifically name, though. What rhymes with Konecki, after all? Let us know in the comments.
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3 I Miss You
The pace has dipped back into the dark and doomish. There is no lamenting for an ex lover however: Adele finally brings her songwriting into the present. Into the bedroom, to be more specific – I Miss You is a song “about intimacy on every level. It’s about sex, it’s about arguing, one of the most intimate moments in my life”.
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Co-written by Max Martin, this is the poppiest track Adele has ever created, a sloping beat, majestic harmonies. It is almost.. perhaps... danceable.
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2 Send My Love (To Your New Lover)
A spindly acoustic guitar leads this track – a big contrast to the cavernous space of Hello.
As the monthly curator of the Guardian’s indie playlist, I feel it’s my duty to point out the similarities between the intro to this song and Cold War Kids’ 2006 smash hit Hang Me Up to Dry.
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At the risk of appearing as if I am belittling the earnest nature of this listening process I just wanted to quickly mention that whenever I hear this song, I think about the Ikea Monkey.
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1 Hello
This first track is Hello, the fastest selling single of the year, with over 400million views on YouTube. As you have all heard it before, perhaps we could use these minutes to discuss some useful apparatus to further enhance the listening experience.
Adele album playback accessories:
Computer/handset/wearable
Tissues
An Egg Master (compulsory)
Slanket
Tear jar
Wind machine
Something to eat (Felicity Cloake’s perfect poached pears seems appropriate, or maybe some salt and vinegar squares)
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Let's go
OK just been filled in by my colleagues. It is 12pm. Let the listening experience commence.
Please do send any images of your current set up to us on Twitter.
Hello – Harriet Gibsone here. So that we can enjoy this journey together, I’ve abstained from listening to the album this morning so that we can enjoy the experience as one collective mess of emotions and poorly phrased metaphors. I am so dedicated to this sense of urgency and freshness, in fact, that I’ve abstained from listening to any of Adele’s previous material ever. I turn the radio off when her songs come on and immediately leave the room when she appears on TV.
Who is Adele, what is a liveblog and when can I go home?
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Global success on a scale unseen since the last time Adele released an album is “already a foregone conclusion” writes the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis. “It has already been taken as read that 25 is a masterpiece: its quality isn’t up for question.”
Harriet Gibsone will be reviewing Adele’s album track by track between 12pm and 1pm GMT Friday. But we want you to tell us what you think. Which is your favourite track? Which song brought you to tears? Did any of them leave you feeling flat?
Adele’s last album spent 23 weeks weeks at the top of the UK album charts, it topped the charts in more than 30 countries and is estimated to have sold over 11m copies in the US alone. It broke records. Does 25 live up to expectations?
Share your reviews track by track in the comments below, or via GuardianWitness – you can also share video reviews. We’ll use a selection in our coverage.
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