Adele is back, and she’s not going easy on us. On Thursday night she dropped her first single in almost six years, “Easy on Me,” and revealed the inspiration behind her lyrics – divorce and her pursuit of happiness.
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In various interviews, Adele dug into how her divorce from Simon Konecki and her relationship to their son, Angelo, influenced her new album. Almost three years after her divorce, she’s telling her side of the story to her son and all of us through her music.
“I feel like this album is self-destruction, then self-reflection and then sort of self-redemption,” she told Vogue. “But I feel ready. I really want people to hear my side of the story this time.”
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Fans will get more insight on her upcoming album “30” on Nov. 14, a few days before its release, when “Adele One Night Only” premieres on CBS. The two hour special will feature a concert performance of the songstress’ new material as well as an interview with Oprah in her iconic rose garden.
© Simon Emmett
Adele will release her fourth studio album, “30,” on Nov. 19, 2021.
So what’s behind her new single “Easy on Me”? When she left her marriage, her life “fell apart” too, and she’s asking people to be kind to her, as seen in some of the song’s lyrics.
Go easy on me, baby
I was still a child
Didn’t get the chance to
Feel the world around me
I had no time to choose what I chose to do
So go easy on me
“It’s not like anyone’s having a go at me,” Adele told British Vogue. “But it’s like, I left the marriage. Be kind to me as well. It was the first song I wrote for the album, and then I didn’t write anything else for six months after because I was like, ‘OK, well, I’ve said it all.'”
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Adele’s son was the catalyst that pushed her to write “Easy on Me” and other singles on her album. She told Vogue after the divorce that Angelo asked her simple questions she couldn’t answer, like, “‘Why don’t you love my dad anymore?’ And I’d be like, ‘I do love your dad. I’m just not in love.’ I can’t make that make sense to a 9-year-old.”
Seemingly Adele addresses those answers for her son in these lyrics:
There ain’t no room for things to change
When we are both so deeply stuck in our ways
You can’t deny how hard I have tried
I changed who I was to put you both first
But now I give up
Back in 2018, just before Adele would start writing her album, she said this moment with her son pushed her to the studio:
“He said to my face, ‘Can you see me?’ And I was like, ‘Uh, yeah.’ And he was like, ‘Cause I can’t see you.’ Well, my whole life fell apart in that moment,” Adele told Vogue.
Adele told British Vogue each song on her upcoming album “30” is an open letter to her son when he’s older, explaining what she couldn’t answer before.
© Kevin Winter, Getty Images for NARAS
Singer Adele and her husband, Simon Konecki, ended their relationship after more than seven years together.
“I just felt like I wanted to explain to him, through this record, when he’s in his 20s or 30s, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness,” she told British Vogue.
So why is the album titled “30”? It isn’t just a number but the age when her “life fell apart, she told British Vogue. Adele was married at 30 and acknowledged that the marriage “wasn’t very long.” At the same age she got married, her life took an unexpected turn.
In April 2019, Adele and her then-husband announced their separation.
“When I was 30, my entire life fell apart and I had no warning of it,” Adele told Vogue.
Since Adele made her decision at 30, she has been on a journey to find “true happiness ever since.”
“I was just going through the motions, and I wasn’t happy,” she told Vogue. “I want my son to see me really love, and be loved. It’s really important to me.”
‘Easy on Me’: Adele drops first new music in almost 6 years
© Christian Petersen, Getty Images
Adele looks on during the first half in Game Five of the NBA Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center on July 17, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Follow Gabriela Miranda on Twitter: @itsgabbymiranda
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: ‘Adele One Night Only’ special with Oprah is coming. What the singer has said about ’30’ so far
