Adele has released the first track from her new album 30, and it does not disappoint.
The video for Easy on Me, posted on YouTube at midnight, has already accumulated 12 million views.
The song is about her divorce from her long-term partner, and the father of her son.
But what happened? Here’s everything you need to know.
What has Adele said about her divorce?
Adele separated from her ex-husband Simon Konecki when she was 30 – she is now 33. She is now dating Rich Paul, a 37-year-old sport agents from Cleveland, Ohio.
Konecki now lives across the road from the singer, and they share custody of their son Angelo.
It was previously thought Adele married Konecki in 2016, but she confirmed to Vogue that this was not the case, they got married in 2018. She then filed for divorce in 2019.
“The timeline the press have of my relationship, my marriage, is actually completely wrong,” she explained. “We got married when I was 30… and then I left.”
“It just wasn’t right for me any more,” she added. “I didn’t want to end up like a lot of other people I knew. I wasn’t miserable miserable, but I would have been miserable had I not put myself first. But, yeah, nothing bad happened or anything like that.”
Adele has said that she wrote the song and album to explain to her son why the divorce happened.
Discussing her new album in Vogue, Adele said: “I wanted to explain to him through this record, when he’s in his twenties or thirties, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness.
“It made him really unhappy sometimes. And that’s a real wound for me that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to heal.”
What is the song about?
Adele likes to write about her own life, and this is no different.
The stirring video for Easy on Me, shot in black-and-white and filmed in Canada last month, features Adele taking a last look around an empty house before picking up her suitcase, putting on sunglasses and leaving.
Eagle-eyed fans noticed that it is the same house that featured in the Hello video.
Adele then climbs into her car and drives off, passing a “sold” sign. “Go easy on me, baby,” she sings over a piano as she drives past a newly married couple.
“I was still a child, didn’t get the chance to feel the world around me, I had no time to choose what I chose to do.”
Later, seemingly speaking to Konecki and Angelo, Adele sings: “You can’t deny how hard I tried, I changed who I was to put you both first but now I give up.
What do we know about Adele’s new album?
Adele, now 33, looks set to drop her fourth album, this one titled 30.
She has finally announced a release date on social media and the album will be out on 19 November.
She said of the album: “I was certainly nowhere near where I’d hoped to b when I started it three years ago. 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.
“I’ve learnt 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. I’d go as far as to say that I’ve never felt so peaceful in my life.
“And so I’m ready to finally put this album out.”
The singer then described the work as her “ride or die throughout the most turbulent period of my life”.
And she then described it as a “friend” that “narrates” how she has “painstakingly rebuilt my house and heart”.
