Today’s Random Weekend selection is the fifth cut from Adele’s blockbuster 2011 album, 21, to make the blog. And the six I haven’t featured are just as good.
This album was such an unexpected masterpiece. Adele’s first album (19) was a bore. I liked ‘Chasing Pavements’ well enough but I could barely make it through the rest. What happened in the intervening two years that prepared Adele to write and record such a stunning record?
Can we really credit the break-up that inspired this batch of songs with their quality? I know heartbreak has inspired some great albums over the years (Lyle Lovett, Beck and Bob Dylan, just to name a few, all recorded their best work following painful splits) but it doesn’t turn mediocre songwriters into great ones.
Maybe Adele just evolved as a writer as she moved from her teens into her twenties. Fiona Apple made a similar leap in quality from her first album (also released when she was 19) and her second, released three years later. But I’d argue that Apple’s debut album showcased most of the qualities that would define her best work, which isn’t the case with Adele.
Whatever the answer, the real question is how Adele will follow 21. I can only imagine the level of anticipation and expectation that will greet 24 or 25 or whatever she winds up calling it.
But they don’t know you like I do
Or at least the sides I thought I knew
I can’t bear this time
It drags on as I lose my mind
Reminded by things I find
Like notes and clothes you left behind
Wake me up, wake me up when all is done
I won’t rise until this battle’s won
My dignity’s become undone
[Hook] x2
But I won’t go
I can’t do it on my own
If this ain’t love, then what is?
I’m willing to take the risk
So petrified, I’m so scared to step into this ride
What if I lose my heart and fail declined?
I won’t forgive me if I give up trying
I heard his voice today
I didn’t know a single word he said
Not one resemblance to the man I met
Just a vacant broken boy instead
[Hook] x2
There will be times
We’ll try and give it up
Bursting at the seams, no doubt
We’ll almost fall apart then burn the pieces
To watch them turn to dust
But nothing will ever taint us
[Hook] x2
Will he… will he still remember me?
Will he still love me even when he’s free?
Or will he go back to the place where he would choose the poison over me?
When we spoke yesterday
He said to hold my breath and sit and wait
“I’ll be home so soon, I won’t be late”
He won’t go
He can’t do it on his own
If this ain’t love, then what is?
He’s willing to take the risk
So I won’t go
He can’t do it on his own
If this ain’t love, then what is?
I’m willing to take the risk
Cause he won’t go
He can’t do it on his own
If this ain’t love, then what is?
We’re willing to take the risk
[Hook]
Meet Me In Montauk 
I haven’t heard Adele’s first album, but I’m surprised you call it boring as I thought it was critically well received.
Anyway, as to evolved songwriting, I think it is worth noting that Adele did not exclusively write any of the songs on 21. She had assistance on every one. She also cowrote a number of songs on her debut album, though she wrote a handful on her own. I’m wondering if the ones she wrote solo are the ones you find boring? Maybe she needs assistance to write or at least punch up her tunes.
Regardless, with the exception of the annoying “Rumour Has It,” I have liked what I have heard from 21, including today’s random selection.
Good point about the collaborators… I didn’t realize she’d co-written all of these tracks, and with different partners than she’d written with on her debut. That alone could explain the difference in quality.
It also fits with the contrast to Fiona Apple, who has had sole songwriting credit on every one of her albums. Apple’s growth seems more like evolution while Adele’s felt sudden.