After an excruciating wait …

the definitive voice of heartbreak returns.

That’s right. Adele is back. With the album portraying an emotive struggle as she stands at the ultimate cross-roads, the new sounds of Adele is fresh, immersive and simply brilliant. Becoming written gospel at this point, it’s classic Adele at its best.

There is certainly some elements in this album that may come as a surprise to some, however. With angelic triumph of Easy On Me acting somewhat of a red herring, it sees Adele branching out to new sounds. With the distorted magic of Cry Your Heart Out and the funk-edge of Can I Get It many may see it as tonic Adele-brilliance, while others may seem it as fusion confusion. The classic Adele-prowess we’ve all grown to love from the Tottenham singer is rawer here though, with these broader sounds coming to the frame. Where she may have been accused in the past for playing it safe, all genre inspirations are on show here. The bold and brash is ultimately bolstered more-so with its gospel and string arrangements that make it such a pleasure to listen to.

For me, it’s a fantastically fresh and superbly simple on making music. Turns out that yet again, all you need to make compelling music is a piano arrangement – accompanied with an astounding voice.

Although the album is being received with mixed results, I think it’s a great idea to switch up the scene and flip the excepted into something new. It shouldn’t be written in her career to always make Rolling In The Deep-etiquette. She was only 21 when she wrote that after all.