Every New Zealand #1 single…
4
Easy on Me by Adele
Topped the NZ chart for 6 (non-consecutive) weeks from 25 October 2021
‘Easy On Me’ is the lead single from Adele’s fourth album, 30. A gentle piano ballad, it addresses her relationship with her young son in the wake of her recent divorce.
Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins is one of the most successful recording artists of the 21st century. During an era when musical sales steeply declined, she continued to sell millions of albums.
In 2016 the Kogod School of Business at American University in Washington D.C. released a study examining Adele’s popularity. In a series of eye-popping charts, academics outlined the extent to which the Tottenham-born singer had “captured the hearts and wallets of consumers worldwide”. One chart showed that her 2015 album 25 accounted for three per cent of all albums bought across the entirety of the United States that year. The analytics project, named Adelytics, pulled no punches in its conclusions. “Adele,” the report said, “is a statistical anomaly.”
The Telegraph
Like most mega-selling artists, Adele has an uneasy relationship with critics. I’ve never warmed to her, even though I admire her powerful voice and think that ‘Rolling in the Deep’ is an excellent 1960s pastiche.
Easy On Me
Adele wrote ‘Easy On Me’ after her divorce. It’s addressed to her son and her former husband, as well as to herself.
“A lot of my friends throughout that rainy period of my life kept saying to me that, ‘You have to go easy on yourself, don’t beat yourself up too much about your decisions’. It just really, really stuck with me that, like, I have to be kind to myself.”
Adele, Variety
The album’s notable for expanding Adele’s sound – she works with cutting-edge producer Inflo. But ‘Easy on Me’ is a straightforward piano ballad.
My verdict
I’m not sold on ‘Easy On Me’. The most interesting aspect is the lyrical perspective – it’s unusual for a mega-selling single to be so introspective.
But melodically, it’s not very interesting. The most memorable part of the song strongly resembles Bryan Adams’ 1983 hit ‘Heaven’. When Adele sings “Go easy on me babe/I was still a child”, it’s very similar to Adams’ verse melody “We were young and wild and free/it was only you and me”.
I’m not a huge Adams fan, but at least ‘Heaven’ has some energy and a climactic arrangement.
The Aftermath
Adele is yet to release a fifth album – last heard, she was planning to take a big break between albums.
Read more
12 Comments
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I feel the way you do…I respect her but never really warmed to her. Her songs are pleasant but they just don’t stand out to me. I don’t actively dislike her but it’s just plain to me. I can see why some like her though just not my bag. I think some of the alternate music female singers you feature stand out more…but I have to say… 3 percent of the albums sold in 2015 in America? That is a huge chunk.
I kind of get why she’s famous – big voice, probably some emotional impact for people. I think one of the reasons to have a music blog is to get people to listen to other things that aren’t quite as popular.
She is very good at what she does I will say that.
That is the motto I go by. I do have top 10 and sometimes number 1 songs…but it seems the odd songs draw the most attention…at least in the long run. Plus I would be bored stiff posting just hits….too easy.
The good thing about hits/famous artists is there are way more interviews/articles out there for research.
I, on the other hand, love Adele.
I guess if I’m ranking every NZ #1, there are going to be dissenting opinions sometime. I respect her, and have a lot of time for ‘Rolling in the Deep’, but I don’t know if she’ll ever be a favourite.
My sentiments about Adele are similar to yours, Graham. I think there’s no doubt she’s an outstanding vocalist, but I’ve gotten a bit lukewarm about her music.
I think there’s talent there for sure.
What perplexes me is that Adele has so much personality, and is really lively and funny in interviews and on stage… But her music is dull. And this is one of her dullest.
Yeah, that’s an interesting point. I think you mentioned on your blog recently about sad girl songs – Adele clearly fits that most of the time.
I see Adele more in the Dusty Springfield classic sad girl vein (though she’s not in Dusty’s league – who is?!) than the more modern ‘I don’t care what the haters say (but I’ll write song after song about them)’ female singers.
From what I’ve heard, Adele has a pretty interesting lyrical perspective too, just not interesting enough musically.