Caviar
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Post by Caviar on Nov 20, 2021 18:20:00 GMT -5
My vinyl from Target came in the mail today. YES.
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Adele – 30
Nov 20, 2021 18:41:19 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by adamalterlago on Nov 20, 2021 18:41:19 GMT -5
I went for a walk around a pedestrian-only park with my noise cancelling headphones to give this my first listen today. Here are my track by track thoughts. Strangers By Nature - why am I blown away and almost in tears with a song with no chorus that sounds like an intro????? Easy On Me - this feels the most 25-esque of all the songs on this record and actually doesn't fit well, IMHO. My Little Love - This 90s R&B throwback is devastating - she's really speaking to people going through grief, disappointment, and/or post-partum depression after becoming parents and realizing life isn't just and endless state of bliss after that. While some people may not be fond of this sound, you'd have to be a monster not to feel empathy for her solo voice memo at the end. Cry Your Heart Out - This was so unexpected and mid-20th century with 21st century subject matter. I find it more like something from Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid than a Goldfrapp number. Oh My God - I could hear this being in commercials and all over the radio. Can I Get It - The chorus and post-chorus seem pandering to radio, especially Hot AC with Top 40 crossover, BUT the guitar part and verses work. The intro reminds me of Madonna's "I Deserve It." I can see why people say it sounds like an Ed Sheeran song, it is fun though. I Drink Wine - I understand the 70s Elton John vibe now, though does this have a chorus? It's solid in the context of the album but not single-worthy. All Night Parking - What a nice interlude! It has lush production and captivating lyrics. Woman Like Me - Why is no one talking about this Latin-tinged R&B affair?????? This was so captivating and was like a sequel, sonically, to her cover of "Lovesong" Hold On - This is MUCH better than I thought it would be from the Amazon commercial. To Be Loved - WOW just WOW... the vocals are INSANE and I cried with the amount of emotion she put into the last two lines. I feel like this is closest she's come to emulating Mariah Carey in terms of stylistic choices and it reminds me of Mariah's cover of "Out Here On My Own." Love is a Game - This sounds like something from a 60s or 70s Cher solo record in the best way possible. I love how it explodes into mid-20th century production and it's a lovely way to end an album about self-healing when the journey is not complete. I had no idea what to expect going in, but this easily jockeys with 21 for her best album. As is scattered throughout above, I feel like this album is a combination of 19, Janelle Monae's The ArchAndroid, and a 60s/70s torch record with touches of 90s R&B thrown in. I nearly drove myself to Target to get the vinyl on my way home from the park. "Easy On Me" and "I Drink Wine" are the lowest points for me and even those are very solid ballads. As stated upthread, I hope she's inspired to make more experimental music much sooner after this. I really hope they push My Little Love or Cry Your Heart Out to Adult R&B after this. If that format will play EOM, there's definitely more on this record that would work there. Great review - we have almost the exact same thoughts. I just realized Cry Your Heart Out is the “Goldfrapp” song and I don’t get that reference at all. I def hear more mid-late 2000s Janelle, Lily Allen etc. Mariah also came to mind on To Be Loved - it reminds me of a mix of Out Here On My Own and something about the chord progression also reminds me of Through The Rain. I also get some early Alicia Keys on My Little Love and Woman Like Me.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Nov 20, 2021 20:19:10 GMT -5
I dunno. I just think comparing Adele to Taylor is apples to oranges (even if Taylor doesn't think so and devises her release schedule around Adele). Well-intentioned and necessary as this mammoth, marathon next 5 year slog the re-releases of 'Taylor's versions' are, they are ALSO an exercise in maximalism. In unfettered capitalism and celebrity. In the re-litigation of famous ex boyfriends. In 17 versions of a song chart-gaming in the new age of streaming. In all those senses, they're about as far removed from 30 as can be. Adele's once every five year 12 song album featuring voice notes about her depressingly mundane divorce via multiple six minute songs hardly suggest she's someone who wants to throw down the gauntlet against Olivia Rodrigo or Taylor Swift. If the woman wanted any and every top drawer record from every producer from Antoff to Max in the world, and gotten Drake the rest of her best pals etc. to feature in the music and videos and play ball, I don't think it's hard to imagine her meeting a chart statistician's wet fever dream, the kind that Taylor's fanbase and the inevitable 42 minute version of All Too Well indulge in. She can also deliver a live vocal beyond a basic-busker-on-a-bad-day's-standard, which can be more than can be said for Swift given her latest SNL performance (no matter how many well rehearsed and blocked 'head snap backs to the ceiling to illicit FEELINGS man' she worked in), which is another factor than renders the two completely beyond comparison.
30 is excellent, the response is warranted, and demand/sales performance - as always - is extraordinary.
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Nov 20, 2021 20:35:08 GMT -5
So I finally listened to this album, and it kind of seemed like she experimented more on this album than she's ever done and I think it worked. From the more cinematic tracks like "Strangers By Nature" or "Love Is a Game" to the more poppier tracks like "Oh My God" and "Can I Get It", I surprisingly enjoyed the variety that this album offered. But at its core the focus is on Adele's amazing as usual vocals, so I felt like it was a nice blend of new elements and what we know from Adele (as tracks like "Easy On Me" and "To Be Loved" could sound-wise be on any of her previous albums). For me, it got a little sleepy after the interlude and the last four songs felt a little drawn out and didn't necessarily have to be that long (as opposed to "My Little Love" and "I Drink Wine" which I felt like used its 6+ minutes more effectively) and while I'm still not sure how I feel about the chorus of "Cry Your Heart Out" with the vocal effects, overall I enjoyed the album and I definitely have tracks that I would like to return to. Also, I did NOT think I was going to hear hip-hop beats in an Adele album, but the "All Night Parking Interlude" was great.
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Soundcl🕤ck
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Post by Soundcl🕤ck on Nov 20, 2021 20:54:39 GMT -5
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Mike
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Post by Mike on Nov 20, 2021 21:00:09 GMT -5
Is there anywhere to hear the Stapleton version of EOM that's not an illegal download or getting the album from Target? It seems her team has been scrubbing every instance of it from YouTube. The only version I can find has just Chris' filtered vocals.
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14887fan
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Adele – 30
Nov 20, 2021 21:17:54 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by 14887fan on Nov 20, 2021 21:17:54 GMT -5
Is there anywhere to hear the Stapleton version of EOM that's not an illegal download or getting the album from Target? It seems her team has been scrubbing every instance of it from YouTube. The only version I can find has just Chris' filtered vocals. It’s on AllAccess. Wish it was available on streaming services, too, but alas.
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Soundcl🕤ck
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Post by Soundcl🕤ck on Nov 20, 2021 21:26:29 GMT -5
Based on kworb's WW numbers (streaming and sales), Adele is currently outperforming Taylor, The Weeknd, Ed and Drake combined.
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Hefty Hanna
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Adele – 30
Nov 20, 2021 21:50:36 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Hefty Hanna on Nov 20, 2021 21:50:36 GMT -5
Bit of an odd question.
When she sings ‘Someone Like You’ live she tends to sing “don’t forget me I beg…” with a different melody in a lower register than the recording. Is this a style choice or is it because it’s fucking hard to sing the way she does it in the recording? Both?
Just wanting to know if there was ever a reason given for this as it’s distinctly different and I can’t find the answer.
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Nov 20, 2021 22:09:44 GMT -5
I dunno. I just think comparing Adele to Taylor is apples to oranges (even if Taylor doesn't think so and devises her release schedule around Adele). Well-intentioned and necessary as this mammoth, marathon next 5 year slog the re-releases of 'Taylor's versions' are, they are ALSO an exercise in maximalism. In unfettered capitalism and celebrity. In the re-litigation of famous ex boyfriends. In 17 versions of a song chart-gaming in the new age of streaming. In all those senses, they're about as far removed from 30 as can be. Adele's once every five year 12 song album featuring voice notes about her depressingly mundane divorce via multiple six minute songs hardly suggest she's someone who wants to throw down the gauntlet against Olivia Rodrigo or Taylor Swift. If the woman wanted any and every top drawer record from every producer from Antoff to Max in the world, and gotten Drake the rest of her best pals etc. to feature in the music and videos and play ball, I don't think it's hard to imagine her meeting a chart statistician's wet fever dream, the kind that Taylor's fanbase and the inevitable 42 minute version of All Too Well indulge in. She can also deliver a live vocal beyond a basic-busker-on-a-bad-day's-standard, which can be more than can be said for Swift given her latest SNL performance (no matter how many well rehearsed and blocked 'head snap backs to the ceiling to illicit FEELINGS man' she worked in), which is another factor than renders the two completely beyond comparison. 30 is excellent, the response is warranted, and demand/sales performance - as always - is extraordinary. I mean yeah Adele and Taylor are very different artists with very different strengths (Adele more being about vocals whereas Taylor's appeal was always on the songwriting side), even if they both are a big part of the mainstream pop scene. And they just so happen to be arguably the two biggest female artists around right now and they released their albums one after the other, so I suppose people are going to want to compare them. Your first part about Taylor's strategy being more maximalist certainly is true, given how Taylor released different version of "All Too Well" and signed versions of the album while Adele didn't do any of that. It definitely does make for an interesting discussion on how artists approach promotion. I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by the gauntlet comment because I doubt that Olivia or Taylor would want to "throw down the gauntlet" against Adele either. I don't think Adele "featuring voice notes about her depressingly mundane divorce via multiple six minute songs" has anything to with that though, given Taylor also has done topics that are depressing in Red such as "All Too Well" or "The Moment I Knew" - what songs are on albums themselves aren't indicative of the likelihood of wanting to throw down the gauntlet against other people, which I'm guessing it's going up/competing against someone commercially from the context but I could be entirely off-base here. Now about the vocals. "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day" does such a disservice to Taylor. Now I'm not denying that Adele can outsing Taylor any day because she can. Adele is a phenomenal singer with great vocal tones, skills, and emotiveness. She basically has one of the best voices of our generation. Taylor's vocals were never her selling point, and honestly even as a big Taylor Swift fan, her vocals can sometimes be rough and this was especially true in her early days. But I think what people sometimes forget is that vocals aren't just about power, range, and stability. There's also an emotive aspect to it; how well can you communicate the emotions in songs with your vocals? And of course Adele does that well, but I would argue that Taylor is an emotive singer as well. And that alone should be enough to put it above a "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day". I can't imagine a basic busker on a bad day to make me feel the way Taylor does in some of her songs. Now unrelated to this, I just think the whole trying to put down one or the other is unnecessary and just dampens the excitement of two great artists releasing material so close to each other. Like the whole bringing in the "'All Too Well' is still outstreaming Adele" (that would be something you'd put in a Taylor Swift thread or a Hot 100 thread, I just don't think it's necessary to put it in an Adele thread, like even if the intention was just to report stats you know what that's going to do - you can celebrate in a Taylor thread saying "look ATW is holding on so well even with Adele releasing" or in a Hot 100 thread as "this is what's happening") thing to the "Taylor really needed three versions of the same song to remain on radar?" (since when is #5 on Spotify "not remaining on radar", all our faves would be flops by that standard) and "Adele eating Taylor alive" and to some extent the "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day" comment. While we can definitely talk about those two artists and have discussions/compare the two, I personally don't feel the need for that type of language that puts one or the other down. It's your right to have those types of opinions, but you can express your disapproval in better ways that don't pit them against each other. It's actually really sad to see as someone who enjoys both Adele and Taylor Swift. But this thread isn't about Taylor Swift, so let's let 30 sink in and appreciate what Adele has blessed us with! I forgot to mention my personal standouts in my last post so here they are in no particular order: I Drink Wine My Little Love Can I Get It All Night Parking
Honorable mentions: Oh My God Love Is a Game
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Mike
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Adele – 30
Nov 20, 2021 22:59:33 GMT -5
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Post by Mike on Nov 20, 2021 22:59:33 GMT -5
Loving the album! She did not disappoint. My favorites so far:
Cry Your Heart Out Oh My God I Drink Wine Hold On Love Is A Game
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kimberly
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Post by kimberly on Nov 20, 2021 23:02:05 GMT -5
Bit of an odd question. When she sings ‘Someone Like You’ live she tends to sing “don’t forget me I beg…” with a different melody in a lower register than the recording. Is this a style choice or is it because it’s f**king hard to sing the way she does it in the recording? Both? Just wanting to know if there was ever a reason given for this as it’s distinctly different and I can’t find the answer. probably because it's hard, and because she's had vocal surgery since when she recorded that song, when she hemorrhaged her vocal cords in 2011. she also once again damaged her vocal cords after touring for 25. I saw Harry Styles a couple days ago and was surprised to see that he only hits the high notes on "Adore You" for the final chorus—the first couple hooks he sings in a lower register. he's on tour and Adele isn't (yet), but I can definitely understand wanting to protect your voice and saving those exceptional vocal moments for big one-off performances (like a slot at the Grammys and the BRITs and such). "Someone Like You" was relatively early in her set for the CBS special, too, so she probably didn't want to risk it / tire herself out before she performed her new songs and "Rolling in the Deep" and "When We Were Young" and such. I personally don't mind it when singers change up songs to fit their vocal abilities and perform in a way in which their voice feels comfortable. I'd much rather hear Adele sing the hook in a lower register than watch her lip sync or use heavy backing tracks. in that sense, I guess it is also a stylistic choice.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2021 0:10:56 GMT -5
I dunno. I just think comparing Adele to Taylor is apples to oranges (even if Taylor doesn't think so and devises her release schedule around Adele). Well-intentioned and necessary as this mammoth, marathon next 5 year slog the re-releases of 'Taylor's versions' are, they are ALSO an exercise in maximalism. In unfettered capitalism and celebrity. In the re-litigation of famous ex boyfriends. In 17 versions of a song chart-gaming in the new age of streaming. In all those senses, they're about as far removed from 30 as can be. Adele's once every five year 12 song album featuring voice notes about her depressingly mundane divorce via multiple six minute songs hardly suggest she's someone who wants to throw down the gauntlet against Olivia Rodrigo or Taylor Swift. If the woman wanted any and every top drawer record from every producer from Antoff to Max in the world, and gotten Drake the rest of her best pals etc. to feature in the music and videos and play ball, I don't think it's hard to imagine her meeting a chart statistician's wet fever dream, the kind that Taylor's fanbase and the inevitable 42 minute version of All Too Well indulge in. She can also deliver a live vocal beyond a basic-busker-on-a-bad-day's-standard, which can be more than can be said for Swift given her latest SNL performance (no matter how many well rehearsed and blocked 'head snap backs to the ceiling to illicit FEELINGS man' she worked in), which is another factor than renders the two completely beyond comparison. 30 is excellent, the response is warranted, and demand/sales performance - as always - is extraordinary. I love you.
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Nov 21, 2021 7:46:59 GMT -5
I mean yeah Adele and Taylor are very different artists with very different strengths (Adele more being about vocals whereas Taylor's appeal was always on the songwriting side), even if they both are a big part of the mainstream pop scene. And they just so happen to be arguably the two biggest female artists around right now and they released their albums one after the other, so I suppose people are going to want to compare them. Your first part about Taylor's strategy being more maximalist certainly is true, given how Taylor released different version of "All Too Well" and signed versions of the album while Adele didn't do any of that. It definitely does make for an interesting discussion on how artists approach promotion. I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by the gauntlet comment because I doubt that Olivia or Taylor would want to "throw down the gauntlet" against Adele either. I don't think Adele "featuring voice notes about her depressingly mundane divorce via multiple six minute songs" has anything to with that though, given Taylor also has done topics that are depressing in Red such as "All Too Well" or "The Moment I Knew" - what songs are on albums themselves aren't indicative of the likelihood of wanting to throw down the gauntlet against other people, which I'm guessing it's going up/competing against someone commercially from the context but I could be entirely off-base here. Now about the vocals. "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day" does such a disservice to Taylor. Now I'm not denying that Adele can outsing Taylor any day because she can. Adele is a phenomenal singer with great vocal tones, skills, and emotiveness. She basically has one of the best voices of our generation. Taylor's vocals were never her selling point, and honestly even as a big Taylor Swift fan, her vocals can sometimes be rough and this was especially true in her early days. But I think what people sometimes forget is that vocals aren't just about power, range, and stability. There's also an emotive aspect to it; how well can you communicate the emotions in songs with your vocals? And of course Adele does that well, but I would argue that Taylor is an emotive singer as well. And that alone should be enough to put it above a "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day". I can't imagine a basic busker on a bad day to make me feel the way Taylor does in some of her songs. Now unrelated to this, I just think the whole trying to put down one or the other is unnecessary and just dampens the excitement of two great artists releasing material so close to each other. Like the whole bringing in the "'All Too Well' is still outstreaming Adele" (that would be something you'd put in a Taylor Swift thread or a Hot 100 thread, I just don't think it's necessary to put it in an Adele thread, like even if the intention was just to report stats you know what that's going to do - you can celebrate in a Taylor thread saying "look ATW is holding on so well even with Adele releasing" or in a Hot 100 thread as "this is what's happening") thing to the "Taylor really needed three versions of the same song to remain on radar?" (since when is #5 on Spotify "not remaining on radar", all our faves would be flops by that standard) and "Adele eating Taylor alive" and to some extent the "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day" comment. While we can definitely talk about those two artists and have discussions/compare the two, I personally don't feel the need for that type of language that puts one or the other down. It's your right to have those types of opinions, but you can express your disapproval in better ways that don't pit them against each other. It's actually really sad to see as someone who enjoys both Adele and Taylor Swift. Hi! Like you say, it wasn't me that drew the comparison. Thanks for taking the time to reply. It's always good to see someone thoughtfully go to bat for their fave, even if I don't agree. Which I don't on many counts. Adele isn't arguably first or second biggest female anything in music. She's the biggest artist of any gender in the world, and the biggest artist of her generation. It's likely you or others might not 'agree' but that's sort of a wayward distraction and likely to red-herring her artist thread's release week for a couple of pages. Let's just call that my opinion. I think I was pretty clear about the gauntlet comment. 30 is not a hugely commercial endeavor. It's not littered with features and remixes, buzzy videos with celebs, songs about celebrity affairs, radio/streaming fodder with Max/Antoff/Finneas etc. all trading places to give her the biggest hits of their careers. In fact, I'd argue it's the least commercial thing she's done since 19. My point was if she had WANTED to do all those things, and really compete on that level - the way that Taylor does - or the even more focus-grouped, cynical, songs-written-with-accountants for algorithms/ streaming Ed Sheeran approach, that she very well could have. And the results likely would have been even more ginormous than they are now. But Adele is very patently not playing that game. But I will look out for Someone Like You (Adele's Version) - 11 minute version [From The Vault]/Blue Girl Winter Remix featuring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya in the video, any day now. To further underscore the distinction I'm making regarding content of the songs. Adele's isn't a sexy whodunnit mystery of a few different megastar heartthrobs that SoulCycle girls can sing along to on the bike pretending THEY're singing to Harry Styles. It's a bleak, depressing look into a MUNDANE (and that's important, this is no Lemonade - there is no big cheating scandal or such, which is one of the reasons her Oprah interview was so boring. They were producing it under a false pretense) marriage with an ordinary guy nobody knows that ended just cause. It's not the stuff that shifts albums or sells papers, in isolation. Correct, Adele can outsing Taylor, but Adele is not Celine Dion. Painting the woman who wrote Hometown Glory at 16, or has split or lead writing credit on the biggest ballad of the last three decades and one of the biggest piano ballads ever, as well as a handful more of the biggest global staples in modern history to her songwriting name as 'more about the vocals' is a square peg in a round hole. Adele is so successful partly because she has an unusual and emotive voice, but chiefly because she is the vessel for her own music and a successful communicator to the world of her heartbreak. Add to that the juxtaposition of her cockney builder's personality and you have, roughly the formula. Nobody, least of all Adele, is painting her as some Whitney Houston level vocalist. I know full well that a voice doesn't need to be big and powerful to be good. I'm a huge Kacey Musgraves fan. It's a sound rule. But it's not a cudgel Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift fans can use to beat in the wake of consistently poor, weak vocals. The SNL performance actually irritated me, given that she's one of the wealthiest woman in music, one of the most commercially committed acts to ever compete in the market place, and this after fifteen years is the standard of her live vocals? Three singing lessons a week from best vocal coach money could buy would not be too much to ask to someone whose success and singing ability are as at odds as they are, but any evidence that she's put any work into improving her breath, pitch, tone, quality etc. on the live stage would be nice. I think she sounds very nice on record, and can oftentimes effectively emote on her albums, so long as she has the best engineers in the world helping her and all the time in the world to do it :) I have nothing against Taylor. Like I say, I'm starting to find this whole 'Version' release exhausting and as we're only about 20% of the way through it's likely to get much worse. Would have liked to have seen her really gone short and big and released them all in the same week, with all the vinyls and versions, all the songs, a greatest hits and a vault record. She might have been the first artist ever to land 10 albums in the top 10. Stake a claim on God knows how many of the Hot 100s places that week. Do the victory lap for the year, do stadiums, and then we can all move on. But no, we're going to be reliving this over and over for the next few years with one foot in her past. You are right! Back to Adele. To Be Loved is the one racehorsing away to my favorite, and one of her biggest chances at another of her career songs on the album. And I love spending time with YOU. ;)
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Philippe
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Adele – 30
Nov 21, 2021 10:12:04 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by Philippe on Nov 21, 2021 10:12:04 GMT -5
I have listened the album each day since Friday to be in a position to have a clear view on it. Contrary to most of you, it always takes me a while before fully appreciate her albums (exception of 25 perhaps). I remember listening 19 and 21 a lot before before loving them at their full extent. It is just not as instant as it is for some you.
This is a very solid album. For some reason, the flow feels better if I skip My Little Love. Musically, it reminds me a lot of Amy, which is the best compliment I could give. Lyrically, she's right on point. I'm also 33. I guess it helps to connect. The whole album is well though out. The production supports the songs, and not the other way around.
The album has enough good songs to have a nice run. Can I get it and I drink wine are front leaders to be singles.
Adele is a breath of fresh air in an area where people don't care about albums anymore and artists care more about how many versions of the same song can be put out there for purely commercial/ego purposes. She's above that and I love her for that.
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spiritboy
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Post by spiritboy on Nov 21, 2021 11:37:07 GMT -5
I don't know why people need to compare Adele and Taylor, both extremely talented women who make great music. And i'm glad both artists are doing very well.
Back to 30, today it was 20 degrees here so i grabbed my coffee, chair and went to park and listened to 30. While it's nowhere close to 25(my fave Adele album), the songs are slowly growing on me.
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bat1990
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Post by bat1990 on Nov 21, 2021 11:41:47 GMT -5
Is it just me or do the harmonies on "Strangers By Nature" sound Christmas-y?
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Jack
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Post by Jack on Nov 21, 2021 11:50:11 GMT -5
Is it just me or do the harmonies on "Strangers By Nature" sound Christmas-y? I know what you mean! But I think the 50s era Disney cartoon (Sleeping Beauty/Cinderella) parallel is more apt. But actually they in turn remind me a bit of Christmas so maybe I'm arguing myself into a circle.
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Nov 21, 2021 11:52:20 GMT -5
I mean yeah Adele and Taylor are very different artists with very different strengths (Adele more being about vocals whereas Taylor's appeal was always on the songwriting side), even if they both are a big part of the mainstream pop scene. And they just so happen to be arguably the two biggest female artists around right now and they released their albums one after the other, so I suppose people are going to want to compare them. Your first part about Taylor's strategy being more maximalist certainly is true, given how Taylor released different version of "All Too Well" and signed versions of the album while Adele didn't do any of that. It definitely does make for an interesting discussion on how artists approach promotion. I'm not sure if I understand what you mean by the gauntlet comment because I doubt that Olivia or Taylor would want to "throw down the gauntlet" against Adele either. I don't think Adele "featuring voice notes about her depressingly mundane divorce via multiple six minute songs" has anything to with that though, given Taylor also has done topics that are depressing in Red such as "All Too Well" or "The Moment I Knew" - what songs are on albums themselves aren't indicative of the likelihood of wanting to throw down the gauntlet against other people, which I'm guessing it's going up/competing against someone commercially from the context but I could be entirely off-base here. Now about the vocals. "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day" does such a disservice to Taylor. Now I'm not denying that Adele can outsing Taylor any day because she can. Adele is a phenomenal singer with great vocal tones, skills, and emotiveness. She basically has one of the best voices of our generation. Taylor's vocals were never her selling point, and honestly even as a big Taylor Swift fan, her vocals can sometimes be rough and this was especially true in her early days. But I think what people sometimes forget is that vocals aren't just about power, range, and stability. There's also an emotive aspect to it; how well can you communicate the emotions in songs with your vocals? And of course Adele does that well, but I would argue that Taylor is an emotive singer as well. And that alone should be enough to put it above a "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day". I can't imagine a basic busker on a bad day to make me feel the way Taylor does in some of her songs. Now unrelated to this, I just think the whole trying to put down one or the other is unnecessary and just dampens the excitement of two great artists releasing material so close to each other. Like the whole bringing in the "'All Too Well' is still outstreaming Adele" (that would be something you'd put in a Taylor Swift thread or a Hot 100 thread, I just don't think it's necessary to put it in an Adele thread, like even if the intention was just to report stats you know what that's going to do - you can celebrate in a Taylor thread saying "look ATW is holding on so well even with Adele releasing" or in a Hot 100 thread as "this is what's happening") thing to the "Taylor really needed three versions of the same song to remain on radar?" (since when is #5 on Spotify "not remaining on radar", all our faves would be flops by that standard) and "Adele eating Taylor alive" and to some extent the "basic-busker-on-a-bad-day" comment. While we can definitely talk about those two artists and have discussions/compare the two, I personally don't feel the need for that type of language that puts one or the other down. It's your right to have those types of opinions, but you can express your disapproval in better ways that don't pit them against each other. It's actually really sad to see as someone who enjoys both Adele and Taylor Swift. Hi! Like you say, it wasn't me that drew the comparison. Thanks for taking the time to reply. It's always good to see someone thoughtfully go to bat for their fave, even if I don't agree. Which I don't on many counts. Adele isn't arguably first or second biggest female anything in music. She's the biggest artist of any gender in the world, and the biggest artist of her generation. It's likely you or others might not 'agree' but that's sort of a wayward distraction and likely to red-herring her artist thread's release week for a couple of pages. Let's just call that my opinion. I think I was pretty clear about the gauntlet comment. 30 is not a hugely commercial endeavor. It's not littered with features and remixes, buzzy videos with celebs, songs about celebrity affairs, radio/streaming fodder with Max/Antoff/Finneas etc. all trading places to give her the biggest hits of their careers. In fact, I'd argue it's the least commercial thing she's done since 19. My point was if she had WANTED to do all those things, and really compete on that level - the way that Taylor does - or the even more focus-grouped, cynical, songs-written-with-accountants for algorithms/ streaming Ed Sheeran approach, that she very well could have. And the results likely would have been even more ginormous than they are now. But Adele is very patently not playing that game. But I will look out for Someone Like You (Adele's Version) - 11 minute version [From The Vault]/Blue Girl Winter Remix featuring Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya in the video, any day now. To further underscore the distinction I'm making regarding content of the songs. Adele's isn't a sexy whodunnit mystery of a few different megastar heartthrobs that SoulCycle girls can sing along to on the bike pretending THEY're singing to Harry Styles. It's a bleak, depressing look into a MUNDANE (and that's important, this is no Lemonade - there is no big cheating scandal or such, which is one of the reasons her Oprah interview was so boring. They were producing it under a false pretense) marriage with an ordinary guy nobody knows that ended just cause. It's not the stuff that shifts albums or sells papers, in isolation. Correct, Adele can outsing Taylor, but Adele is not Celine Dion. Painting the woman who wrote Hometown Glory at 16, or has split or lead writing credit on the biggest ballad of the last three decades and one of the biggest piano ballads ever, as well as a handful more of the biggest global staples in modern history to her songwriting name as 'more about the vocals' is a square peg in a round hole. Adele is so successful partly because she has an unusual and emotive voice, but chiefly because she is the vessel for her own music and a successful communicator to the world of her heartbreak. Add to that the juxtaposition of her cockney builder's personality and you have, roughly the formula. Nobody, least of all Adele, is painting her as some Whitney Houston level vocalist. I know full well that a voice doesn't need to be big and powerful to be good. I'm a huge Kacey Musgraves fan. It's a sound rule. But it's not a cudgel Selena Gomez and Taylor Swift fans can use to beat in the wake of consistently poor, weak vocals. The SNL performance actually irritated me, given that she's one of the wealthiest woman in music, one of the most commercially committed acts to ever compete in the market place, and this after fifteen years is the standard of her live vocals? Three singing lessons a week from best vocal coach money could buy would not be too much to ask to someone whose success and singing ability are as at odds as they are, but any evidence that she's put any work into improving her breath, pitch, tone, quality etc. on the live stage would be nice. I think she sounds very nice on record, and can oftentimes effectively emote on her albums, so long as she has the best engineers in the world helping her and all the time in the world to do it I have nothing against Taylor. Like I say, I'm starting to find this whole 'Version' release exhausting and as we're only about 20% of the way through it's likely to get much worse. Would have liked to have seen her really gone short and big and released them all in the same week, with all the vinyls and versions, all the songs, a greatest hits and a vault record. She might have been the first artist ever to land 10 albums in the top 10. Stake a claim on God knows how many of the Hot 100s places that week. Do the victory lap for the year, do stadiums, and then we can all move on. But no, we're going to be reliving this over and over for the next few years with one foot in her past. You are right! Back to Adele. To Be Loved is the one racehorsing away to my favorite, and one of her biggest chances at another of her career songs on the album. And I love spending time with YOU. Hi! Thanks for your points and I'm not going to go on further about Taylor because again, this is an Adele thread. But like you mentioned, Adele really is a fresh breath of air in her musical style and the way she seems to approach musical releases (she doesn't seem super eager to "play the game" like some others do, not saying Adele doesn't because it's not like she drops something and walks away without any promo whatsoever but you get what I mean) and I'm glad that she's such a big presence in the pop music landscape right now because I truly think she brings something unique.
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Post by Resident_Evil on Nov 21, 2021 13:31:38 GMT -5
Can I Get is a future number #1. Other than that the album is a sleep-inducing mess.
If it were anyone else they would have been scrambling to reach the top 50 but since its Adele this is trending to 1M+.
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Envoirment
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Post by Envoirment on Nov 21, 2021 14:29:05 GMT -5
Watching her UK special now and her opening song is "Hometown Glory". Such a stunning start to the show and giving me chills already. I can already tell I'm going to like this even more than the CBS special!
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andrebra
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Adele – 30
Nov 21, 2021 14:33:01 GMT -5
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Post by andrebra on Nov 21, 2021 14:33:01 GMT -5
Watching her UK special now and her opening song is "Hometown Glory". Such a stunning start to the show and giving me chills already. I can already tell I'm going to like this even more than the CBS special! Does anyone know if there’s a way international fans can watch this?
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Envoirment
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Post by Envoirment on Nov 21, 2021 14:41:59 GMT -5
Watching her UK special now and her opening song is "Hometown Glory". Such a stunning start to the show and giving me chills already. I can already tell I'm going to like this even more than the CBS special! Does anyone know if there’s a way international fans can watch this? I'm not too sure sorry. You could try scanning twitter for links. That's how I usually find streams for US shows.
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Caviar
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Post by Caviar on Nov 21, 2021 15:52:59 GMT -5
Hopefully some HD clips show up later tonight.
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Envoirment
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Post by Envoirment on Nov 21, 2021 15:57:36 GMT -5
The ITV special was great. I liked it more than the CBS special. Great promo for the album in the UK.
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wjr15
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Post by wjr15 on Nov 21, 2021 16:26:14 GMT -5
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Caviar
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Post by Caviar on Nov 21, 2021 16:47:02 GMT -5
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fearlessarrow
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Post by fearlessarrow on Nov 21, 2021 16:47:07 GMT -5
The amount of times I would press the play button thinking it'll play the album in order, lol. I for one like this change because I don't particularly listen to albums on shuffle ever.
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Adele – 30
Nov 21, 2021 17:23:25 GMT -5
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Post by ificanthaveyou on Nov 21, 2021 17:23:25 GMT -5
The amount of times I would press the play button thinking it'll play the album in order, lol. I for one like this change because I don't particularly listen to albums on shuffle ever. And you can still create a playlist if you want to “shuffle” I would think.
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Glove Slap
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Adele – 30
Nov 21, 2021 17:58:25 GMT -5
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Post by Glove Slap on Nov 21, 2021 17:58:25 GMT -5
The amount of times I would press the play button thinking it'll play the album in order, lol. I for one like this change because I don't particularly listen to albums on shuffle ever. And you can still create a playlist if you want to “shuffle” I would think. Don’t even need to go that far. The shuffle option is present on the now playing screen so you just pick the first track and then press that. Kind of a stupid change if you can still do that but I see the appeal as far as aesthetics are concerned. Better option would have been to let people decide themselves through the settings whether to default that specific button to play in order or shuffle.
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