Breakup albums come in all genres and styles. There’s always one to suit your mood, whether it’s Frank Sinatra (Sings Only For the Lonely), Radiohead (A Moon Shaped Pool), Kanye West (808s & Heartbreak) or Liz Phair (Exile in Guyville).
And if you want your separation with a shot of fire, try Alanis Morisette’s hot and blistering Jagged Little Pill. The internet, of course, offers sundry lists of heartache records — lists which could all be named after Bob Dylan‘s classic breakup manifesto: Blood on the Tracks.
But all those lists are about to become obsolete, many think, with the news that superstar singer Adele has split with her partner since 2011, philanthropist Simon Konecki. As a performer, Adele naturally goes deep emotionally, foregoing the easy pop route to mine feelings about love and life that are hard to articulate — even if you have her voice. It’s that strain and struggle that make her music so haunting.
The extraordinary Adele oeuvre contains massive, iconic, anthemic tearjerkers — and those songs are mostly from when she was in love. (see quote below) Now there is, so to speak, even more Blood on Adele’s Tracks. Because everyone knows that even an amicable split leaves behind the what ifs for exploring. And Adele is a great musical explorer of life’s what ifs.
Indeed, Adele has attributed her songwriting success to her ex-partner’s support, once telling 60 Minutes that “being in such an amazing relationship with someone that’s so there for me and so loyal and is really part of my core now. That’s what made me write about everything I’ve ever done, because I’ve got his love.”
Those heartbreak breakup album lists are all going to have to create a new spot for the next Adele album. Even if Adele delivers a buoyant paean to singleness and self, even if she creates a whole new cartography for moving forward alone or with someone new, Adele is simply too nuanced to leave the past unacknowledged and unexplored. This next Adele record is going to hurt. In the best way.
Here’s Adele doing a cover of a Bob Dylan song, which puts together two of the great emotional explorers:
And listen to the utter heartbreak (and hope) in this, the hugely touching “Someone Like You”:
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