21

When Adele first appeared on the music scene with ‘Chasing Pavements’, she was hailed as a breath of fresh air. For a start, not only did she have a soulful unique voice but also wrote her own songs. Even better, she looked like she could eat at least three members of Girls Aloud in one sitting. Despite the buzz, her debut album _19_ was certainly flawed, however there was enough promise in her music and personality to mark her out as one to watch.

Her sophomore effort, _21_, therefore comes with quite a lot of expectation with her exceptional Bob Dylan cover sending her rocketing into to the public’s consciousness, and two more years of experience to hone her own songwriting. The publicity for _21_ certainly makes it look like Adele means business. Moody cover art hints that we’re dealing with an album of maturity, depth and emotion, and opening track ‘Rolling in the Deep’ is no disappointment. More than a little bluesy, the vocals resemble a less eccentric Florence Welch and suggesting a wide range of styles and further refinement of songwriting to come. The second track is even better, ‘Rumour Has It’ starts off strangely reminiscent of Kanye West’s ‘Power’ before taking off into something a bit more Patsy Cline. Not a common combination, but it really works.

Unfortunately, after such a promising start, things begin to take a turn for the worse. ‘Don’t You Remember’ is an early contender for worst song of 2011. With its maudlin sentimentality and gearbox key change, it may well be this year’s X-Factor Christmas single, and sadly, much of the album is little better. The music is ballad-style pop, more suited to the manufactured artists she was meant to be an antidote to. The lyrics are truly atrocious, taking rather more from country music cliché than personal experience. Compared with the power of Corinne Bailey Rae’s astonishing 2010 album, _The Sea_, _21_ sounds trite; whilst compared with the personality of Amy Winehouse’s _Back to Black_, _21_ sounds generic and bland. If it weren’t for Adele’s voice, it wouldn’t work at all.

And therein lies the rub. Adele’s voice is truly exceptional. She is as happy belting out a ballad as purring through a blues song. Despite an arrangement that makes it sound like a Sade single, the cover of The Cure’s ‘Lovesong’ gains fragility and beauty from the vocals. Even faced with lyrics so sentimental that Rob Reiner would cringe. It is the sheer force of Adele’s voice which gives credibility to an album which feels like it is collapsing in on itself. So when it works, such as on the opening two tracks, it’s great. ‘Someone Like You’, despite following the ballad blueprint to the letter, is particularly astounding. Whatever it is that makes this sound, well, true, needs to be bottled and sold, because that’s where the magic is. However, that is always the sure sign of a great songwriter, that unspeakable quality, makes a turn of phrase or a change of chord profound, yet Adele proves, she is still somewhat lacking in this department.

So what’s left here is another album much like her last – one which demonstrates potential but lacks real spark. Perhaps Bailey Rae and Winehouse benefit, musically if not personally, from having a wealth of experience to access in their music. At so young an age, Adele seems to want to portray herself as a world-weary cynic but it just doesn’t ring true as her lyrics and songs more often betray a wide eyed earnestness. While no one would recommend personal tragedy or a prodigious drug habit to boost creativity, Adele needs to tap into something a bit deeper and more personal than the Stock Aitken Waterman songbook. When she can do that for a full album, Adele really will be incredible, as yet we still wait.