Home > Baltimore Music > CD Review > Adele, '19'

Backstory: London’s Adele Adkins has just turned 20, and her debut album “19” has already been certified platinum in the U.K. this year. Her success thus far is largely due to the smash song “Chasing Pavements,” an inquisitive ballad about taking risks in life.

Why you should care: Like Amy Winehouse, Adele has an amazing voice and an old soul. But she is nowhere close to the drama of Winehouse’s crash-and-burn lifestyle and has the promise to stick around for a long time.

Verdict: No artist exiting her teens has crafted such a mature effort since Alicia Keys wrote “Songs in A Minor.” While it’s clear Adele has had her fair share of lovelorn moments, she doesn’t inspire depression or pity, especially since she tends to get the last laugh in the end. “Just a filler in the space that happened to be free,” she sings on “Best For Last." “How dare you think you’d get away with trying to play me?” Adele’s powerful tone is so arresting that she needs little else in the background, which is most obvious on “Crazy For You”: her lone electric guitar warbles in the background, but it’s hard to focus on anything other than the wonderful places she directs her voice. Likewise on “Hometown Glory,” where soaring strings and delicate piano can’t possibly upstage her.

X-Factor: One of the album’s guaranteed highlights is opener “Daydreamer.” While not an official single, it was popular enough in England that she got to perform it on television alongside Björk and Paul McCartney. Adele told the U.K. tabloid Daily Mail that the song is about how her bisexual ex-boyfriend broke up with her for another man.

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