25 is the third studio album by the English singer-songwriter Adele, released on 20 November 2015 by XL Recordings and Columbia Records. The album is titled as a reflection of her life and frame of mind at 25 years old and is termed a "make-up record". Its lyrical content features themes of Adele "yearning for her old self, her nostalgia", and "melancholia about the passage of time" according to an interview with the singer by Rolling Stone, as well as themes of motherhood, new love, and regret.
In contrast to Adele's previous works, the production of 25 incorporated the use of electronic elements and creative rhythmic patterns, with elements of 1980s R&B and organs. Four singles were released to promote the album, with "Hello" becoming an international number one song and the fastest selling digital single in the US, with over a million copies sold within a week of its release, "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" charted within the top 10 and "When We Were Young" and "Water Under the Bridge" charted within the top 20 across Europe and North America.
25 received positive reviews from music critics, who commended its production and Adele's vocal performance. 25 debuted at number one in 32 countries and broke first-week sales records in multiple countries, including the UK and US. In the US, 3.48 million equivalent album units in its first week of sales, with 3.38 million copies in its first week of sales, marked the largest single-week sales for an album since Luminate Data began tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991 at the time, and 25 sold more than one million copies in both its second and fifth weeks. In the UK, 800,307 copies were sold in its first week of sales. According to Guinness World Records, 25 set a first-week record with 5.7 million sales worldwide. 25 was the world's best-selling album of the year for 2015, with 17.4 million copies sold within the year, and has gone on to sell over 22 million copies worldwide, making it the fourth-best selling album of the 21st century, the second-best selling album of the 2010s (behind her own 21), and one of the best-selling albums of all-time. Following 21, it was certified Diamond by the RIAA, making Adele the only artist of the 2010s to achieve this certification with two albums. 25 stands as the third best-selling album of the 21st century in the UK. It is among the best-selling albums in UK music history.
Journalists credited 25 with renewing interest in physical formats over downloads or streaming, amidst dwindling physical sales in the music industry. The album won the 2016 Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and the 2017 Grammy Award for Album of the Year. To promote the album, Adele embarked on her third worldwide concert tour, Adele Live 2016. It started on 29 February 2016 and ended on 30 June 2017. The concert broke numerous attendance records across the globe and grossed $278.4 million.
Background Following the release of 21 (2011), Adele was considering quitting music. However, in early 2012, she announced she was simply taking a hiatus from music to "take time and live a little bit".Kaufman, Gil (3 April 2012) "Adele To Release New Single This Year". MTV. Retrieved 19 October 2012 Her hiatus from music came to an end after the birth of her first child in October 2012, with Adele stating her son inspired her to start recording music again for him to "know what I do". Before the album's recording came under way, Adele made a conscious decision not to try and create another 21 and would not make another "heartbreak record".
Prior to the album's release, 25 was listed as one of the most anticipated albums of 2015. Billboard, Fuse, The Sydney Morning Herald and numerous others placed the album at number one on their most anticipated list, with the latter stating "if Adele releases her third album in 2015, she could dominate the year." Prior to the album's official announcement, music journalists and fans speculated that the album would be titled 25 continuing the age theme from Adele's previous releases 19 and 21. On the eve of her 26th birthday in May 2014, Adele posted a message via her Twitter account which prompted media discussion about her next album. The message, "Bye bye 25 ... See you again later in the year", was interpreted by outlets including Billboard and Capital FM as meaning that her next album would be titled 25 and released later in the year.
Writing and recording Early sessions and writer's block
On 10 February 2013, Adele confirmed that she was in the very early stages of her third album and was having meetings while staying in Los Angeles for the 85th Academy Awards. Initially recording sessions for 25 were unsuccessful, in which Adele suffered from writer's block. Adele rescheduled the album's recording, stating she did not feel "ready", but returned to the studio when her son was eighteen months old, which inspired her to write an album about motherhood. In an interview on BBC One, it was revealed that a whole album about being a mother was written and scrapped because she thought the material was "too boring".
Adele stated that the album took a long time to write, saying she did not think the album was ever going to be finished. During the initial recording Adele ran out of ideas and lost the ability to write songs, but her team encouraged her to go back to the drawing board and keep writing. After what seemed like a very arduous process to the singer, who feared she may have lost the inspiration for her writing, the material that eventually became 25 manifested. Adele attempted to write 25 numerous times, but struggled; after taking time off due to motherhood Adele returned to the studio but stated she was not ready to start writing. She then went on to take more time off, repeating this process "a couple of times".
In 2013, Adele began recording once again, contacting her friend and producer Kid Harpoon. Adele and Harpoon went to his recording studio; however, the session was unproductive, with Adele saying, "I don't know why I wasn't ready, I just couldn't access myself." A few months passed and Adele travelled to New York to begin working with long time collaborator Ryan Tedder, but the sessions with Tedder were also unfruitful. However, Adele did use one of the songs from the sessions entitled "Remedy", which was written about her best friend, her grandparents, her boyfriend, and her son, and was the easiest song on the album for her to write. Adele was excited by the song and believed she was finally creating music that she liked and felt confident about. After recording the song along with others, she flew producer Rick Rubin to the studio, who was displeased with the songs that she had written, and encouraged Adele to go back to the "drawing board". Rubin described the songs as having no depth and stated to Adele;
Breakthrough sessions Adele continued to suffer from writer's block until she met with producer Greg Kurstin. During the meeting with Kurstin, Adele had a breakthrough: "It all poured right out of me." "Hello" was written by Adele and Kurstin and produced by the latter, who also played bass, guitar, piano and keyboards, with Adele being credited as a drummer. The song was written in Chiswick, London, something not normally done by Adele, who said she likes to write her music at home. The writing process for the song was slow, taking six months to complete. Initially, Adele and Kurstin started writing the first verse. After finishing half of the song six months later, Adele contacted Kurstin to complete it with her, but he said he was not sure "if Adele was ever going to come back and finish it." The main inspiration behind the record came from her motherhood, as well as singer-songwriter Madonna's 1998 studio album, Ray of Light, and its song "Frozen". Although Adele clarified that she "wasn't exposed to Madonna's catalog earlier" in life, she loved Madonna's electronic musical foray after hearing it. "I believe everything she says on it. Some of the songs on it are an ode to her first kid, and I needed that to challenge me." Along with Ray of Light, Adele also listened to musician Moby's fifth studio album, Play.
You know what I found so amazing about [Ray of Light]? ... That's the record Madonna wrote after having her first child, and for me, it's her best. I was so all over the place after having a child, just because my chemicals were just hitting the fucking roof and shit like that ... I was just drifting away, and I couldn't find that many examples for myself where I was like, 'Fuck, they truly came back to themselves,' until someone was like, 'Well, obviously, Ray of Light.'
During the album's recording Adele travelled to Los Angeles to give the recording sessions "one last push". Adele spent two months in Los Angeles, and was determined to move forward with the album. During the sessions in Los Angeles, she also wrote "When We Were Young" alongside Tobias Jesso Jr.. The track was written at a rented house where Adele used Philip Glass' piano. Adele also worked with singer-songwriter Bruno Mars. Initially, the pair had attempted to create an uptempo song; however, they created a "dramatic ballad" entitled "All I Ask".
After unfruitful sessions with Tedder, the pair went to lunch, where Adele heard Taylor Swift's single "I Knew You Were Trouble". Tedder informed Adele that the song was produced by Max Martin, and sent her clips of his work. Shortly after this, Adele began work on the track "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)", reworking a skeleton of a song she had written when she was thirteen years old after being inspired by the release of Frank by Amy Winehouse. Kurstin also co-wrote and produced the song "Million Years Ago". The song was not scheduled for inclusion on the record, but was added three days prior to the album's mixing at Electric Lady Studios in New York.
Scrapped tracks Adele co-wrote a song called "Alive" with Jesso and Sia. Initially written for 25 along with "Bird Set Free" and another track, Adele decided not to include any of the songs on the album. Following Adele's decision, Sia asked her permission to send the track to Rihanna, which Adele agreed to as long as her vocals were taken off the record, stating: "I don't want my vocal floating around out there on a demo." Sia eventually recorded it herself for her seventh studio album This Is Acting. "Bird Set Free" was recorded by Adele, but she decided not to include it due to it being too similar to Sia's work; it too was subsequently included on This Is Acting.
Before beginning work on the album, Adele met with Phil Collins to discuss a collaboration. "I had this song in mind," she told Rolling Stone, "and I can't remember if I gave him a copy of the song or if I gave him a chorus or something, and then I just chickened out of everything." "She's a slippery little fish..." Collins remarked subsequently. "She got hold of me and asked if I would write with her. She gave me a piece of music to finish and at first I didn't know if I'd failed the audition as I didn't hear from her. Then she said, 'No, no: I'm moving house and the baby's taking up a lot of my time. I'm not actually doing anything at the moment.' And now I've heard there's a 29 [sic] coming out. I'm not on it, I know that."
Musical style and themes