Album Review: 21 by Adele

Something is wrong with this album.  Her debut album 19 opened with the track "Daydreamer."  It is a soft, slow song with Adele and a guitar and it works beautifully.  She has a sweet, husky, and soulful voice that she uses very effectively on songs like "Daydreamer" to bring you into the emotion of the moment.  The entire experience is very stripped down and personal. 

On 21 these moments simply do not exist.  Take for example her cover of the Cure song "Lovesong."  Again it is a soft production, but there is something off here.  The emotional pull is missing somehow and I'm not sure I can even understand what is wrong. 

When this album is at its best is when Adele is let loose and allowed to be a pop singer, like on the opener "Rolling In the Deep."  She has an amazingly powerful voice and when she's allowed to let go you get some great pop moments like we haven't heard since the heyday of Annie Lennox. 

Still it's not a bad album and would probably be good to listen to on your drive back from Lexington after your team has been knocked out of the KHSAA tournament. 

Following the Rhapsody rating method I give it 2 out of 5 stars for Not Bad.