Connector Staff

This past Friday, Adele’s new album was released online. Each song was written in cooperation with other respected musicians, including Samuel Dixon and Bruno Mars. The official release of the album has been the economic and critical success one would expect of the accomplished artist. A suspected 2.5 million copies will be sold, numbers unheard of in recent years. While definitely well written beautiful music, as good as or better than her previous albums, some believe Adele is playing it safe and did not take many risks with this new album, sticking with her signature style of music to live up to the hype of her previous albums.

The first song on the album is the song which was released prior and already has gained massive popularity, “Hello.” This song is mostly piano-based, as many of Adele’s songs are and expresses pain with ease and elegance in her classic fashion. The song is, in a sense, a perfect return for Adele. The lyrics read “I was wondering if after all these years you’d like to meet,” a witty reference to the gap her fans had to endure, waiting four years since the release of “21.” Despite being the first song and originally a single, this is definitely the centerpiece and cornerstone of her album.

With the release of this album comes the renewal of further controversy concerning artists and streaming. Adele has elected not to allow streaming of this album, at least at first, meaning that the only way to appreciate her album will be to purchase or illegally download the music. Other artists have in the past chosen to refuse streaming, including Taylor Swift, whose entire body of work cannot be found on Spotify but on other less popular sites.

While for listeners streaming is a wonderful option – free or cheap with a wide selection of music – artists find the practice controversial. Artists lose some control of their art by giving the rights to streaming companies, and there have in the past been issues with royalty payments. In the music industry today, however, allowing your music to be streamed is almost imperative to success. Adele is one of the few popular, powerful artists who can afford to defend their positions and refuse to stream their works.

Controversy aside, Adele’s new album was worth the wait. A lot of people believe her work is a little edgier rather than especially revolutionary or innovative. There is a lot to love about Adele’s signature style. “Hello” alone is a hauntingly beautiful song, and the rest of the album is just as beautiful and dramatic, everything one would expect from a talent like Adele. It is definitely worth the buy, since streaming is not an option.