To say that Adele’s 21 is one of the more unexpected phenomenons in pop music history isn’t a knock on her. Adele’s great! It’s a statement on the music industry as a whole, and how it’s cratered in recent years. Since 2000, only nine albums have sold more than 20 million copies. Compare that to the 1990s, when 29 managed to do it. In four short years, more people have purchased 21 than Slippery When Wet, Tapestry, and The Joshua Tree. I could do an entire post on every one of 21‘s amazing, record-breaking accomplishments, but that’s the past; let’s focus on the future.
When the hell is Adele going to release another album?
In 2011, she told MTV to expect to wait a few years before a follow-up to 21, explaining, “If I didn’t write my own songs, I’d be out next week with a new album. I have to take time and live a little bit. There were a good two years between my first and second albums, so it’ll be the same this time.” Fast forward two years later, when at the Grammys, she said, “I’m not very far along at all… I’ve been in L.A. for the whole time since the (Golden) Globes, and I will be until the Oscars. I’ve been having lots of meetings. I’ve been out of the loop really. I’ve been singing my baby nursery rhymes, so I don’t really know what’s cool and what’s not.”
Raising a child (a boy, Angelo) is a good reason to delay putting out new #content, unlike getting stoned and listening to the Grateful Dead for weeks on end. It’s also why she doesn’t have much time for Twitter, with new tweets coming in once every few months. Usually they’re something along the lines of supporting Nightcrawler or spreading the gospel of World Water Day, but in May 2014, the world quickly retweeted this message, which many took to be a clue.
Bye bye 25… See you again later in the year x pic.twitter.com/HEmY14El5s
— Adele (@Adele) May 4, 2014
“Later in the year,” still nothing, although we do know that “Phil Collins confirmed that he [started] writing with Adele.” Further reports suggested that she’d pull a Beyoncé and release a surprise album, but clearly, she didn’t, and her label, XL Recordings, squashed the gossip.
(It’s been suggested that she’s also entered a recording studio with Blur’s Damon Albarn.)
Things have been quiet this year, but a source “close to Team Adele” believe there’s a chance the album will be ready for “the second half of 2015.” Another added, it “will be released when it’s ready — [we hope] that will be at some stage in 2015.” Rumors have it the album will be called 25, despite her being 27 years old, and Adele has previously said, “It won’t be a big production. I want it to be quite acoustic and piano-led… I think it’ll take a lot longer because I want to do it this way.” I’m sure it’ll be worth the (extremely long) wait.
