Adele’s 25: Interesting Facts About Adele’s 25

25 is British singer and songwriter Adele’s third studio album. The album was released by Adele’s label XL Recordings on November 20, 2015 and has since gone on to sell millions of copies in the United States, Europe, and all over the world. 25 has so far received mainly positive reviews by music critics and pundits – many of whom have praised Adele’s powerful vocals and songwriting skills on the album.

If you are a fan of Adele, you have probably bought your copy of 25 and are enjoying the beautiful songs on it. But as you listen to the songs on this record-breaking album, there are certain interesting things about the album that I think you should be aware of. I have therefore taken it upon myself to compile a list of some interesting facts about 25 for your reading pleasure.

• According to Adele, the title of her comeback album 25 is a reflection of her frame of mind when she was at the age of 25 and really growing into adulthood. She has said of that time in her life as a “turning point”.
• Upon its release, 25 debuted at the number one position on the UK Albums Chart.
• Two days after the release of 25, it sold a mesmerizing 1.9 million copies. On its third day of being available to the public for purchase, the album sold a total of 2.3 million making it the fastest-selling album of the 21st century.
• 25 sold over 800,000 copies in the United Kingdom alone during its first week of release making the album the fastest selling album in the entire history of the UK chart.
• In the United States, the album also debuted at the number one position on the US Billboard 200 having sold over 3.8 million copies in the first week of its release.
• About a week after the release of 25, it surpassed American singer Taylor Swift’s record-breaking album 1989 to become the best selling album of 2015. Readers should note that as of the time that 25 surpassed Swift’s 1989, 1989 had sold 1.8 million copies.
• According to Adele, 25 is a sharp contrast to her previous album 21 which was a “break-up album” in the sense that 25 has moved away from topics such as failing relationships and break-ups to a theme of moving on. She described 25 as a “make-up album”.
• 25 has been credited with encouraging music lovers to go back to the old tradition of buying the physical copies of albums instead of downloading them via the internet. For example, out of the 800,307 copies 25 sold in its first week in the United Kingdom, 548,000 of these copies were physical album copies. Many experts have praised Adele’s 25 for single handedly saving the music industry from being destroyed by downloading and streaming of music.
• 25 has a total of eleven songs, all of which were co-written by Adele.
• Adele played the drums, guitar, and piano on 25. I guess not too many fans of Adele were aware she was capable of playing the drums.
• Adele started writing and recording songs for 25 between 2013 and 2015. The writing and recording process was indeed a very long one.
• American singer Bruno Mars co-wrote the song “All I Ask” with Adele and two other songwriters named Philip Lawrence and Christopher Brody Brown.
• One of the popular songs on the album entitled “Send My Love To Your New Lover” was described by Adele to be about an ex-boyfriend. She said of the song as a “happy you’re gone” song.
• The lead and first single to be released from 25 was the song “Hello” which was released on October 23, 2015. The single also made history after receiving over 100 million views on YouTube within just 5 days of being uploaded to the site.
• The song “Sweetest Devotion” from the album was written by Adele and Paul Epworth. According to Adele, the song is a tribute to her son Angelo.

• Adele initially enlisted the help of legendary British singer and songwriter Phil Collins to help her write some material for 25. Collins agreed to collaborate with Adele hoping he would be on the album. But he received a big shock when without any warning Adele cast aside his work leaving him very disappointed and furious at her. A furious Collins later called Adele a “slippery little fish”.
• Adele also collaborated with American singer and songwriter Pharrell Williams but later scrapped the material they had been working on. Williams therefore did not appear on the album.
• Damon Albarn, the frontman of the British band Blur, was another major artist Adele contacted to help her write material for 25. According to Albarn, he made out time for her and worked on some material which he hoped would appear on her album. Unfortunately for him, this was not to be. Adele decided not to use any of his stuff on her album.
• Another major artist who didn’t make the cut on Adele’s 25 is the famous songwriter Diane Warren whom Adele also contacted for help in writing new material for the album. Warren is said to have made out time to participate in writing sessions with Adele. After working on a number of songs, Adele felt these songs were not right for the album and therefore wasted no time in casting aside Warren’s work. It is worth noting that Warren is a seasoned songwriter who has worked with so many big names in the music industry such as such as Rihanna, Christina Aguilera and the late Whitney Houston.

• According to Adele, she wrote a lot of songs for 25, but these songs didn’t make the album simply because of the fact that she believed they were not good enough for the album. During an interview with BBC One, Adele said that she initially wanted 25 to be an album about motherhood. She therefore wrote songs about being a mother but later found out that the songs were “too boring” so she scrapped them.
• During the process of writing new material for 25, the singer suffered a great deal from writer’s block (the problem writers often face of not being able to come up with new ideas during the process of writing). During interviews, Adele said her writer’s block was so severe that it got to a point where she couldn’t write songs anymore.
• It was during her battle with writer’s block that she personally contacted a lot of big names in the music industry for help with the album, one of whom was Phil Collins. According to Collins, Adele gave him a piece of music she had already been working on so he could finish it. He worked on it but never heard from her again.
• The writing of the album was an extremely long and difficult process for Adele. According to her, she tried writing the album several times – frequently taking time off only to come back to writing and taking additional time off. A breakthrough kept eluding Adele until she started working with a producer named Greg Kurstin in Chiswick, London. The pair ended up writing the lead single “Hello”.

All in all I think Adele’s 25 is a decent album. My favorite tracks on the album are the lead single “Hello”, “When We Were Young”, “Remedy”, and “Love in the Dark”. I also like the song “Sweetest Devotion”. I think it is a nice song. I think Adele did a great job with 25. Her singing is brilliant and so is her songwriting. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the album a 7. What about you? Have you listened to Adele’s new album? How would you rate it?