Fourteen months ago, Hillsong United's The I Heart Revolution was released to the United States and was embraced by fans of the worship team all over the country. Unfortunately, it wasn't so much a revolution (more of a rip off, really), as just about every song was recycled from earlier Hillsong work. Now, following Hillsong's protocol of releasing a new album year after year, United offers up another disc full of their brand of praise & worship. And also following Hillsong protocol, the songs aren't anything spectacular.
Adele began writing 21 in April 2009, when still involved in the relationship that subsequently inspired the record. Looking to deviate from the brooding sound of her first album, she had intended to compose a more upbeat and contemporary follow-up. However, studio sessions ended prematurely due to a lack of inspiration. She resumed production immediately after the breakdown of her relationship, channelling her heartbreak and depression into her songs. Adele collaborated with various songwriters and producers, including Columbia Records co-president at the time Rick Rubin, Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder, Jim Abbiss, and Dan Wilson.
Hillsong United-Tear Down The Wall full album zip
The Rick Rubin-produced fourth track "Don't You Remember", co-written by Adele and Dan Wilson, marks a shift in the album's theme, from anger and defensiveness to reflection and heartbreak. A downtempo country music-styled ballad,[14] the song was added late to the production of the album after the singer grew ashamed of her continued negative portrayal of her ex-lover throughout the album.[34][54] Its lyrics entreat a past lover to remember the happier moments at the beginning of a now broken relationship.[34] "Don't You Remember" was the most challenging song on 21 for Adele to record.[55] In "Set Fire to the Rain" the singer delineates the conflicting stages of a troubled union and wrestles with her inability to fully let go.[56] Accentuated by ornate orchestral flourishes, swirling strings, crescendos,[36] and dramatic vocal effects towards its climactic end,[33] the song stands in stark contrast to the otherwise understated production of the album, and in reviews, was characterised by critics as a pop rock power ballad.[36] To achieve a fuller sound, producer Fraser T Smith incorporated the popular "wall of sound" reverberative technique in framing the song's dense instrumentation.[33][57]
"Take It All", the seventh track, written and recorded with Francis "Eg" White and Jim Abbiss before the breakdown of Adele's relationship, is a piano and vocal ballad that borrows heavily from pop, soul and gospel.[9][58][59] In his review of 21, Allmusic's Matt Collar called the song the album's centrepiece, "an instant-classic" in the same vein as "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going", and "All by Myself" a "cathartic moment for fans who identify with their idol's Pyrrhic lovelorn persona."[58] The track precedes "I'll Be Waiting", the second of two songs produced by Epworth, which diverges from the scathing "Rolling in the Deep" in its optimistic tone and brisk, lilted melody.[49] A protagonist's mea culpa for a relationship gone wrong, she declares to wait patiently for her lover's inevitable return.[60][61] The song was compared to the work of Aretha Franklin for its "huge vocal sound on the chorus, rolling piano and boxy snare",[62] while Tom Townshend of MSN Music described its brass section as a Rolling Stones-esque "barroom gospel".[63]
Sean Fennessey from The Village Voice wrote that the album "has a diva's stride and a diva's purpose. With a touch of sass and lots of grandeur, it's an often magical thing that insists on its importance ... the line here between melodrama and pathos is wafer-thin, and Adele toes it deftly. It's what separates her from her contemporaries in the mid-'00s wave of British white-girl r&b-dom."[67] Q commented that, despite a "slightly scattershot quality ... greatness is tantalizingly within reach."[109] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles applauded the singer's emotive timbre, comparing her to Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and Annie Lennox: "[Adele] can seethe, sob, rasp, swoop, lilt and belt, in ways that draw more attention to the song than to the singer."[110] Ryan Reed of Paste regarded her voice as "a raspy, aged-beyond-its-years thing of full-blooded beauty",[41] while MSN Music's Tom Townshend declared her "the finest singer of [our] generation".[63]
Adele claimed the Guinness World Records for becoming the first female artist to have two singles and two albums in the UK top five simultaneously. 21 also became the first album in UK chart history to reach sales of three million copies in a calendar year, and set records for the most consecutive weeks with a UK number-one album (solo female) with 11 weeks,[114] and the most cumulative weeks at number one (solo female) in the UK.[125][126] 21 has been certified 16-times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments of 4,500,000 units.[127] It is also the most downloaded album in UK history,[128] the biggest-selling album of the 21st century in the UK,[129] and the 4th best selling album in the UK of all time.[130][131] In December 2019, 21 was unveiled by the Official Charts Company as the decade's best seller, with 5.17 million chart sales.[132]
21 is credited with saving the first quarter album sales of 2012 in the United States. Without 21, the first quarter of 2012 would have been down 3.4% compared to the first quarter of 2011. 21 sold more copies in the first quarter of 2012 than any album since 2005 and is the oldest album to be the best-selling album in the first quarter of the year since No Doubt's Tragic Kingdom in 1997. On 28 November 2012, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it Diamond after having sold more than 10 million copies in the United States alone, made it the first album released in the 2010s to achieve Diamond certification.[152] In December 2012, it was announced that 21 was the best-selling album on iTunes for two years in a row.[153]21 was the best-selling album of both 2011 and 2012 in the United States and Canada despite being over a year old.[154][155] It is the first album to be the best-selling album two years in a row since Michael Jackson's Thriller was the best-selling album of 1983 and 1984. Despite being over a year old, 21 sold more copies in 2012 than the best-selling albums of 2006 through 2010 sold in their respective years. It is also one of only four albums in the Nielsen SoundScan era to sell over 4 million copies in each of two calendar years. Due to these successes, Billboard declared Adele the Artist of the Year for the second year in a row, making her the first solo female artist to receive the honor twice.[156][157][158]
In February 2013, 21 reached two full years on the Billboard 200, never charting lower than number 35 on the chart. This makes 21 the best-selling album of the past 10 years and the fifth best-selling album released since January 2000.[159] In March 2013, after Adele won an Academy Award for "Skyfall", the album reentered the top 10 of the Billboard 200. This marked the album's 81st week in the top 10. Only two other albums have spent as much time in the top 10: Born in the U.S.A. and The Sound of Music.[160] In November 2013, it was announced that 21 had become the first album to sell three million digital copies in the United States and that the album is the 13th best-selling overall in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.[161] 2ff7e9595c
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