After 6 long years, Adele has taken her spot back at number one for breakup ballads. Our favorite British alto has released her new single “Easy On Me” just in time for sad girl fall. In 2015 Adele released “Send My Love” which was the last single we had from her for a while. The song was an upbeat power move about Adele’s relationship ending. She was clearly having fun with some petty jokes referring to “send my love to your new lover”. Adele has done more slow ballads in the past. However, “Send My Love” was anything but, which was a nice switch up. Over the 6 years Adele has been gone, she has gotten married, had a child, and got divorced. All these emotions lead us to “Easy On Me”.

“Easy On Me” is a lovely piece about Adele’s marriage/divorce. Opening with “There ain’t no gold in this river/That I’ve been washing my hands in forever” you can already tell this is going to be a sad yet stunning song. Throughout the first verse, Adele brings us through how she didn't have the energy to fight for the marriage any longer. She ends the first verse with “Baby let me in” and leads us into the chorus with a strong belt on “Go easy on me, baby” which is just heartbreaking. Decrescendoing to give the chorus some movement, she sings “I was still a child”. This lyric is very interesting because it creates an unexpected parallel from her last single in 2015. In “Send My Love” Adele sings “we both know we ain’t kids no more” and now in 2021 she’s singing “I was still a child”. This is showing a sense of understanding between Adele and her ex husband. When listening to this heart shattering song, you might notice it sounds as if Adele is on the verge of tears. Other artists, when emotional during a song, sound less powerful and maybe even have to take a break to catch their breath. While there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, Adele uses her emotions to her advantage. You can tell she is upset so the song stays authentic but her musicality still stays top notch. Her breath support on “e-e-e-e-e-e-easy on me baby” gliding between notes is so strong. The intervals all throughout the song are impeccable. There is nothing she can’t do.

While we are all sad for Adele and her relationship problems, we know this calls for a gut wrenching album. And she definitely started off with a bang releasing “Easy On Me”.