8 of the rawest, most brutally honest moments on Adele’s devastating magnum opus, 30
Adele. (Columbia)
Adele has finally released her fourth studio album 30, and fans are already feeling emotionally raw and overwhelmed over its lyrics.
The singer has always been known for her lyrics about heartbreak – and 30 delivers devastation in spades. The album sees Adele reflecting on the end of her marriage to Simon Konecki, but perhaps most movingly, she also addresses the impact of the divorce on her son Angelo.
Adele’s new album has only been out for a few hours, but one thing is already clear: it’s most definitely a tearjerker.
The wide-ranging record sees the English singer exploring new sounds and taking her music in exciting new directions while still delivering what fans were craving – an album they could cry to.
To celebrate the release of Adele’s new album 30, we took a look at some of the most heartbreaking lyrics on the record.
1. ‘Strangers by Nature’ is utterly devastating
Adele kicks off 30 with “Strangers by Nature”, a ballad that cuts straight to the chase with its heart wrenching lyrics.
The song begins with the lyric: “I’ll be taking flowers to the cemetery of my heart / For all my lovers in the present and in the dark.” Are you crying yet? If not, don’t worry – there’s plenty more to come.
On the song’s bridge, Adele sings: “Oh, I hope someday I’ll learn to nurture what I’ve done.” The tune ends with the singer saying: “Alright then, I’m ready,” setting fans up for the emotional rollercoaster that is to come.
2. ‘Easy On Me’ contains some of Adele’s finest lyrics
It would be hard not to feel moved by “Easy On Me”, the first single from Adele’s new album 30.
The song sees Adele directly addressing her ex-husband and son, asking them to go easy on her because she was “still a child” when she made the choices she made.
The opening line should be enough to leave you in a puddle of tears: “There ain’t no gold in this river / That I’ve been washing my hands in forever / I know there is hope in these waters / But I can’t bring myself to swim / When I am drowning in this silence.”
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3. ‘My Little Love’ is the emotional core of the album – and it will destroy you
Perhaps the most heartbreaking song on 30 is “My Little Love”, which sees Adele singing to her son Angelo about the aftermath of her divorce.
To make the song even more emotionally destructive, it features real-life recordings of the singer talking to her son about how she’s been feeling. “Mummy’s been having a lot of big feelings recently,” she admits. “I feel a bit confused, and I feel like I don’t really know what I’m doing.”
The song’s outro is a recording of Adele speaking about how lonely she’s been feeling since splitting from her husband. “I’m having a bad day, I’m having a very anxious say. I feel very paranoid, I feel very stressed. Um, I have a hangover, which never helps, but I feel like today is the first day sine I left him that I feel lonely and I never feel lonely, I love being on my own,” Adele declares.
4. ‘Cry Your Heart Out’ captures the experience of heartbreak perfectly
Most people will be able to relate to “Cry Your Heart Out”, which basically does exactly what it says on the tin. The song looks at how crying is a necessary, painful part of the experience of heartbreak.
In one of the song’s most poignant lines, Adele sings: “I can’t get no relief, I’m so tired of myself / I swear I’m dead in the eyes / I have nothing to feel no more / I can’t even cry.”
The rest of the track sees Adele asking when she’s going to feel like herself again, adding that she feels “paper thin”. Let’s be honest – we’ve all been there.
She also admits painfully that she feels afraid of facing the day, saying she would rather stay at home and “Drink it all away”. As the track goes on, Adele begs her ex to “stop calling”, saying it’s “exhausting there’s really nothin’ left to say”.
Adele at the BRIT Awards in 2016. (Mike Marsland/WireImage)
5. ‘I Drink Wine’ is Adele at her most relatable
Most of us have, at one point or another, picked a bottle of wine as our companion of choice when we’re going through it emotionally – and Adele is no different.
On “I Drink Wine”, Adele sings: “When I was a child / every single thing could blow my mind / Soaking it all up for fun / But now I only soak up wine.”
The song is one of the best on the album, and it contains some of Adele’s most direct, honest and devastating lyrics.
6. Adele captures the devastation of divorce on ‘Woman Like Me’
“Woman Like Me” sees Adele singing about her divorce from her ex-husband with a brutal honesty that will leave you gasping for breath.
The song sees the singer directly confront the issues that persisted in her relationship that ultimately led to its destruction.
“I begged you to let me in / Cause I only want to be the cure / if you don’t choose to grow, we ain’t ever gonna know,” Adele sings on “Woman Like Me”.
Later on the song, she songs: “But lovin’ you was a breakthrough / I saw what my heart can really do / Now some other man will get the love I had for you.”
7. ‘Hold On’ confronts the feeling of not being able to feel at all
“Hold On” sees Adele singing about the impact an emotional upheaval like a divorce can have on your psyche – and it’s not a pretty sight.
At one point in the song, she sings: “Ever day feels like the road I’m on / Might just open up and swallow me whole / How do I feel so mighty small / When I’m struggling to feel at all?”
It’s without doubt a feeling anyone who has ever experienced the turmoil of romantic devastation will relate to.
8. ‘To Be Loved’ is Adele at her most emotionally raw
On “To Be Loved”, Adele sings about how she “built a house for a love to grow” – but she goes on to painfully admit that she has made “a mess of everything”.
It’s an anthem that captures the regrets and rumination that inevitably come in the aftermath of a break-up.
“It’s about time that I face myself / All I do is bleed into someone else / Painting walls with all my secret tears / Filling rooms with all my hopes and fears.”
We’ll be right back – we just need to fetch the Kleenex.
