For the past few weeks, Adele‘s been back, but she hasn’t been quite, you know, ~back~. She covered both the U.S. and British covers of Vogue and was tied to mysterious billboards that went up prominently in a few cities. All of this led to intense speculation that her fourth album would A) be dropping imminently, and B) be titled 30, following 2008’s 19, 2011’s 21, and 2015’s 25.
Yesterday, she teased a new song called “Easy on Me,” set to be released on October 15 — and now she’s made things official. Adele’s new album is indeed titled 30 and will be released November 19. “I’m ready to finally put this album out,” she wrote in a highly personal note shared along with the cover art — her profile in front of a dark turquoise background.
“I was certainly nowhere near where I’d hoped to be when I started it nearly [three] years ago,” Adele’s note begins. “Quite the opposite actually. I rely on routine and consistency to feel safe, I always have. And yet there I was knowingly — willingly even, throwing myself into a maze of absolute mess and inner turmoil!”
Her note goes on to detail what that turmoil was, in abstract terms, calling it “the most turbulent period of my life” where she would “sob relentlessly not knowing why.” The album was her constant through all of this, being a metaphorical friend who’d come over with wine and takeout, hold her hand in the night, and get her out of the house for some vitamin D.
On the other side of it, Adele writes, she has “learned a lot of blistering home truths about myself along the way. I’ve shed many layers but also wrapped myself in new ones. Discovered genuinely useful and wholesome mentalities to lead with, and I feel like I’ve finally found my feeling again. And I’d go as far as to say I’ve never felt more peaceful in my life.”
It sounds like 30 will probe both Adele’s inner strife and the resolve she flexed to overcome her Saturn return — something she mentions cheekily in the note. This may or may not take the sonic form of an actual “drum n bass record,” as she likewise cheekily mentioned a new album called 30 may sound like in a birthday Instagram post from 2019.
From its brief teaser, “Easy on Me” promises mid-tempo, scene-setting piano over which Adele can bring in her gargantuan pipes. That’s in keeping with her history, anyway. “Home is where the heart is x,” she signs her note.
Read Adele’s note in full in the Instagram post above, which concludes with the tantalizing detail that she has “painstakingly rebuilt my house and my heart since then,” and 30 narrates that journey.
