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Feb 23, 2011The best thing the album does is to showcase Adele's titanic vocal ability, which -- more than a few times on 21 -- is simply spine-tingling.
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Jan 27, 201121 is simply stunning. After only a handful of plays, it feels like you've always known it.
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Feb 22, 2011Mostly, though, 21 sounds as though it was built around Adele's presence.
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Feb 23, 2011It's best to focus on the sheer sonic splendor of Adele's voice set against some dramatic arrangements, especially the rumbling regret of Rolling in the Deep and the piano-based melancholy of Turning Tables.
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Jan 27, 2011Adele is sincere, poignant and affecting throughout; the emotive 'Someone Like You' closes the album magnificently.
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Apr 11, 2011On her sophomore album, 21, Adele channels real emotion and blasts through sincere ballads and angry rockers with few missteps.
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Jan 27, 2011If Adele's debut '19' marked her out as a young chanteuse with a booming voice, her follow-up '21' has shown a maturity in her songwriting that makes her the de facto authority when it comes to soundtracks to broken hearts.
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Feb 9, 2011At times, Adele's precocious talent feels prematurely aged by her material, and moments of levity are hard to find. But at its best, 21 is that rarest pop commodity: timeless.
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Apr 7, 2011Her sound is undeniably more mature than what you would typically expect from a 21-year-old, but tracks like "Don't You Remember" make you wonder if the overall vibe is more mature than it should be.
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Feb 22, 2011Overall, 21 shows that Adele, now 22, is towering in the same landscape where some of her contemporaries, beehived or not, have lost all their bearings.
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Jan 27, 201121 really is one of the great 'break-up' albums, and the first truly impressive record of 2011. Here is a timely reminder that British soul hasn't lost its mojo.
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Jan 27, 2011Adele and her team have crafted an album that's both full of songs that have the potential to reach the upper reaches of the charts, and also a collection of songs that hang together as an album.
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Mar 4, 2011There's not a slacker in the bunch on 21, which is hard enough for many an artist to pull off at 31 – or even 51 – much less at an age when they're still too young to rent a car on their own
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Mar 2, 2011On 21, she sounds refreshed and poised to attack.
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Q MagazineMar 1, 2011There's a slightly scattershot quality to 21 that suggests that Adele is not quite the mistress of her own destiny. Greatness is tantalizingly within reach, though; perhaps she just needs to grab the wheel, and quickly. [Feb 2011, p.106]
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Feb 18, 2011The woman is mutable, sometimes to a fault: Her cover of the Cure's "Lovesong" is a nice idea lost in bossa nova fluff. But when the grooves are fierce, Adele gives as good as she gets.
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Feb 7, 2011If you're looking for a record that'll make you wanna trash your beloved's belongings and have make-up sex amid the ruins, 21's your jam.
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Jun 14, 2011Hearing a voice that grows scratchy and threatens to break and has not been tampered with, has not been slicked over in a studio, a voice that reveals all that can be found within a person and also seems to hold something back, to suggest another truth just behind the veil.
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Feb 1, 2011For all of her posturing and ruminations on life, love and other such considerations, you may well ask yourself whether she is merely playing a part and recycling old themes or if she has the experience she so eloquently sings about.
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Feb 28, 2011The songs hold to simple instrumentation and simple structures that allow Adele's raspy, expressive voice to develop the story in the verses before she delivers the hook.
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Jan 27, 2011A progressive, grown-up second collection, it ought to ensure Adele is around for 23, 25, 27 and beyond.
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Feb 28, 2011Sometimes the additional flourish comes from Adele herself, who is a forceful enough singer, so confident with her agony, that she can bend words into new shapes without losing their meaning.
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Jan 27, 2011Atkins makes the material sound genuine, largely because it is perfect for her. Where previously her slight, observational songs seemed barely able to carry her powerful voice, the emotional and musical heft of these styles enables her to really spread her vocal wings.
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Mar 31, 2011Here's hoping that if Adele ever finds true love, she doesn't lose her ability to so convincingly channel heartbreak.
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Feb 25, 201121 is just a logical, major label extension of her girl-ish, diary-dream optimism.
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Feb 24, 201121 probably isn't the best album Adele has in her, but it just might make her famous enough to finally be a pain in the ass.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 804 out of 930
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Mixed: 43 out of 930
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Negative: 83 out of 930
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May 29, 2011I have absolutely no clue what all the fuss is about. 3 good songs. Overplayed TRIPE.
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Nov 20, 2011
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Apr 9, 2011