Asked about the source of the songs on her previous album, 21, Adelerepeated the same answer several times: "A rubbish romance." Backstage at the 54th GRAMMY Awards in 2012, after winning six GRAMMYs for that album, including Album Of The Year, she was asked if a sequel was already in the works. "No," she laughed. "I'm too busy being happy!"
Rather than rush into a new album, Adele took time to seed collaborations with a host of remarkable producers and songwriters around the world, and she gradually shaped her emotions and feelings into the songs that comprise 25. She also grappled with the challenge of balancing her career with being a first-time mother after giving birth to her son, Angelo James Konecki, in October 2012.
Upon its release, 25 was praised by Rolling Stone as Adele's "most self-assured LP yet." Buoyed by the hit "Hello," which has emerged as a contemporary standard, it became a blockbuster album like its predecessor, selling more than 10 million copies in the United States.
Following, several key participants on 25 provide behind-the-scenes perspectives — connecting sessions from Prague to London to Los Angeles — on how the latest chapter in Adele's career was written.
Greg Kurstin
(co-writer/producer/engineer/mixer): "Hello" started with Adele and I trying different ideas. I started playing some piano chords and Adele sang different ideas until we landed on the verse. From there I followed her melodies and tried to support them as best I could. She did all the lyrics.
*Adele: ["Hello"] is about hurting someone's feelings, but it's also about trying to stay in touch with myself, which sometimes can be a little bit hard to do. It's about a yearning for the other side of me … about wanting to be at home and wanting to reach out to everyone I've ever hurt, including myself, and apologize for it.
Rather than rush into a new album, Adele took time to seed collaborations with a host of remarkable producers and songwriters around the world, and she gradually shaped her emotions and feelings into the songs that comprise 25. She also grappled with the challenge of balancing her career with being a first-time mother after giving birth to her son, Angelo James Konecki, in October 2012.
Upon its release, 25 was praised by Rolling Stone as Adele's "most self-assured LP yet." Buoyed by the hit "Hello," which has emerged as a contemporary standard, it became a blockbuster album like its predecessor, selling more than 10 million copies in the United States.
Following, several key participants on 25 provide behind-the-scenes perspectives — connecting sessions from Prague to London to Los Angeles — on how the latest chapter in Adele's career was written.
Greg Kurstin
(co-writer/producer/engineer/mixer): "Hello" started with Adele and I trying different ideas. I started playing some piano chords and Adele sang different ideas until we landed on the verse. From there I followed her melodies and tried to support them as best I could. She did all the lyrics.*Adele: ["Hello"] is about hurting someone's feelings, but it's also about trying to stay in touch with myself, which sometimes can be a little bit hard to do. It's about a yearning for the other side of me … about wanting to be at home and wanting to reach out to everyone I've ever hurt, including myself, and apologize for it.
(producer/engineer/mixer): My friend Tobias Jesso wrote "When We Were Young" with Adele and they were having a little trouble with the arrangement. Tobias told them to hit me up. I met her in London and she played me a voice recording of it and also "Why Do You Love Me." [Editor's Note: "Why Do You Love Me" appears as a bonus track on select editions of 25.]
: This whole thing was crazy and fast. I was in London, and got this fast message from Ariel, "Are you anywhere near SoHo?" Miraculously I was, and lo and behold he was there with two Adele tracks saying, "Is there anything you want to add to these?"
: I conducted the 38-player string orchestra for the song "Love In The Dark," at Smecky [Music Studios in] Prague, Czech Republic. Samuel Dixon produced. I liked the arrangement and the sound of our orchestra in the song very much. The recording was done in a secret mode. Due to the matter of contract between producers and our contractor, we, the musicians, did not know that we were recording for Adele's album.
(co-writer/producer): ["All I Ask"] took a bare 48 hours. We all crowded around the piano until we found something that sparked. … It makes me very jealous because it doesn't happen like that all the time!
: She does not look at the camera on the covers of either 19 or 21, so for [25] Adele really wanted eye contact. She wanted it to be very direct, her face filling the frame. I always wanted black and white, because there's an authenticity to it that matches her authenticity.
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