On '30,' Adele walks among us
Watching the cozily epic concert segments of Adele's album-launching Oprah special Sunday evening, I couldn't help thinking she'd gifted reviewers with a metaphor. She stood on the steps of the Griffith Observatory in a gown that enclosed her shoulders like a black cirrus cloud, glittering Saturn-shaped baubles dangling from her ears. A tattoo of the orb with her current home, Los Angeles, at its center graced the forearm holding her microphone. In interviews, Adele has mentioned astrological reasons for this imagery — the tumultuous Saturn return that occurs at the cusp of turning 30 — but it says something about her status in the pop world, too. With her massive voice, unique charisma and enduring hit-making power, Adele is not just another star, but her own planet. Her movements shift the very tides of pop.
Can a planet come down to earth? That's the question Adele asks in her fourth studio release, , a chronicle of divorce and soul-searching recovery that is, more crucially, a thrilling redefinition of Adele's artistry. She hasn't abandoned her reliable templates — there's a dance-floor stomper, "Ohshe offers a more varied experience. It's a shift that's sometimes subtle, evident in lyrics that make more room for both self-criticism and a sense of perspective, and in the way she responds to the rhythms and background voices within each song instead of merely powering forward. She's in command, but taking chances. "Complacency is the worst trait to have, are you crazy?" she sings over a beat that bears the perfume of lovers rock on "Woman Like Me," one of several tracks produced by Inflo, the producer behind the U.K. . She's dressing down a potential new lover who's disappointed her, but she could be offering a motto for her thirtysomething self.
