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25

Adele

25

Third album from the London-born pop / soul singer-songwriter working with a number of producers including Greg Kurstin and Danger Mouse

ADM rating[?]

6.8

Label
XL
UK Release date
20/11/2015
US Release date
20/11/2015
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  1. 10.0 |   Digital Spy

    It takes a big artist to follow-up the tremendous commercial and cultural impact of an album like 21, but an extraordinary one to do it in their own time to make it a worthy sequel
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  2. 10.0 |   The Arts Desk

    25 is remniscent of all the best things we love about Adele – the soaring, passionate powerhousing along with a fragility and honesty in her exploration of who she used to be
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  3. 10.0 |   Rolling Stone

    The nostalgic mood is the perfect fit for an artist who reaches back decades for her influences, even as her all-or-nothing urgency feels utterly modern
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  4. 9.1 |   A.V. Club

    A lot of people can sing, and sing marvelously, but it’s far more rare to find someone as authentic in their delivery as she is
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  5. 9.0 |   The 405

    25 is a saviour record for a quarter life crisis, a sing-a-long for one of life's most difficult stages
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  6. 8.2 |   Paste Magazine

    Adele proves herself to be the true vocalist of the day
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  7. 8.0 |   Under The Radar

    Nearly everything about 25 seems to operate on a grander scale than anything in this still young artist's catalogue
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  8. 8.0 |   The Music

    Million Years Ago is gorgeous in its vocal delivery and understatement, as is All I Ask, with the last jumping around with a melodic hook that Elton John at his best would swoon over
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  9. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    The retro soul that earned early Amy Winehouse comparisons has evolved into a relatively more modern sound
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  10. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Her voice remains a vehicle for her personality and is immune to the album’s few low points. It's so good to have her back
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  11. 7.8 |   Earbuddy

    If you’re a fan of Adele or pop music, there’s no reason to not hear 25 or purchase 25 no matter what criticisms I or other critics lob against it
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  12. 7.5 |   Consequence Of Sound

    25 doesn’t necessarily meet the fire of its predecessor, but it meets its mark
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  13. 7.5 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    She’s a legend in the making and an auditory comfort food, but I can’t help but hope that the next time around, Adele throws me for a loop
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  14. 7.3 |   Pitchfork

    She is, inarguably, the greatest vocalist of her generation, an artist who instinctively understands timbre and pitch, when to let some air in
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  15. 7.0 |   PopMatters

    Adele is a singular talent, and the moments of brilliance are well worth wading through the few flashes of average
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  16. 7.0 |   The Digital Fix

    It would be nice to see someone with her sheer star wattage try to add a few extra strings to their bow third time round
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  17. 7.0 |   Exclaim

    Rather than picking up where 2011's 21 left off, 25 ushers in a new era for Adele — one that hears her sounding stronger, more assured and, well, older
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  18. 7.0 |   Clash

    These are mostly decent songs but the lyrical landscape feels wearily well-trodden and it’s hard not to just want a bit more from an artist with the freedom to risk anything
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  19. 6.0 |   Crack

    These are heavily produced, radio-friendly belters built to simmer in their own vast success
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  20. 6.0 |   musicOMH

    While she’s earned the right to stick to that tried and trusted formula, a little bit of experimentation could go a long way
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  21. 6.0 |   The Observer

    The bulk of 25 is more mindful of using the correct knife and fork, with piano chords dialled up and crunchy specifics dialled down
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  22. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    Wrapped around a pervasive piano-and-strings combination that runs through the album, things soon become a little predictable, and her co-write with Ryan Tedder, Remedy, is simply boring
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  23. 6.0 |   The Independent

    Her vocals are clearly the central matter of 25, as they should be, both in deft little touches like the final title-phrase of “Remedy”, and majestic layered chorales like that on the moody, Danger Mouse-produced “River Lea”
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  24. 6.0 |   The Guardian

    25’s big issue is that, in every sense, it dwells a little too heavily on the past
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  25. 6.0 |   Slant Magazine

    Adele's voice is a powerful, versatile instrument, evocative of the era's R&B greats (Chaka Khan in the case of “I Miss You”), and it deserves arrangements that are bold enough to match
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  26. 6.0 |   NME

    You just can’t shake the feeling that the whole thing is just far too safe
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  27. 6.0 |   The List

    Sure, she can sing, but will she ever stop going on about that guy?
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  28. 6.0 |   Spin

    You’d be hard-pressed to find a more well-considered and commercially savvy release this year
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  29. 6.0 |   State

    Adele has shifted through four years of emotional muck, she has revisited pain, reassessed and contritely moved on. The only problem is she kept her Marigolds on
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  30. 6.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    It goes down easy, but there’s a reason albums like this don’t come around that often: it’s exhausting to feel this much emotion
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  31. 6.0 |   Beardfood

    Unless you've recently suffered a heartbreak, this album will drone, drag, and annoy
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  32. 6.0 |   DIY

    Adele could’ve done whatever she bloody well liked at this stage – it’s a bit of a shame to see her so content to settle into old habits
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  33. 6.0 |   Mojo

    Her third album is strikingly authoritative, tending towards the imperious even when expressing vulnerability yet rarely coming over as soullessly efficient
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  34. 6.0 |   Gig Soup

    Maybe she’s playing it safe particularly because it’s such a widely regarded return and it’s easier to do this than come back with a sound that goes against your normal modus operandi
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  35. 5.0 |   The Quietus

    It says a lot about the modern record industry that Adele’s success hasn’t properly freed her up in the directions that always seemed to be there
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  36. 4.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Safe as houses, emotionally manipulative, a touch depressing and entirely forgettable, this is a dreary lesson in how to manage expectations
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  37. 4.0 |   Time Out

    The whole album is smothered in so much monotonous and melancholy piano that all the songwriting, and all those vocal details, blur into one
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  38. 4.0 |   NOW

    Adele no longer sounds wise beyond her years, but like a songwriter searching for a raison d'être and not finding it
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  39. Back to main chart

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Adele: 25

  • Download full album for just £8.49
  • 1. Hello £0.89
  • 2. Send My Love (To Your New Lover) £0.89
  • 3. I Miss You £0.89
  • 4. When We Were Young £0.89
  • 5. Remedy £0.89
  • 6. Water Under The Bridge £0.89
  • 7. River Lea £0.89
  • 8. Love In The Dark £0.89
  • 9. Million Years Ago £0.89
  • 10. All I Ask £0.89
  • 11. Sweetest Devotion £0.89
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Latest Reviews

Public Service Broadcasting  The Last Flight

The album closes with the absolutely haunting “Howland,” named for the island where Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were supposed to stop to refuel. Clocking in at eight and a half minutes and ending with actual field recordings of the island itself, it’s a worthy and mournful ending to a tragic story Under The Radar

Kendrick Lamar  GNX

Burning down the industry with a reinvigorated competitive spirit Consequence Of Sound

Kim Deal  Nobody Loves You More

Sounds both like it could have been a long-lost session from 1996 and, somehow, perfectly of the moment Consequence Of Sound

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