Adele's 21 works best for Crying 16-year-olds.

 When non-music enthusiasts hear the name Adele they usually exclaim, “Oh I love her!” Then you ask them what their favorite song was by her and they all say 'Chasing Pavements'. Granted, this song is very good, and very catchy. Considering that was the song that brought her into the collective of America's mind, most people should know her for this song. But will Adele Adkins from little ol' North London be able to move on from this hit and not be a one hit wonder?

Well in her new album, “21”, Adele already has hits like her song, 'Rolling in the Deep' climbing up the Billboard charts. There are good and bad points to this album though and it's about half and half so we'll start with the bad.

Bad:

Like in her last album, Adele has some songs that keep a simple background mix with boring riffs and beats. It's almost like you could erase the background music from the song all together and you wouldn't tell much of a difference. In some of the songs, all you can pay attention to is the background and you can't even really listen to the lyrics. This really washes the lyrics away and makes them forgettable to say the least. In a couple songs, it's like Adele heard from her producer that she has to hold back her voice, and almost chain it up. Compared to the last album, she used to be all over the place with her vocals. Up, down and all around the scale she went without holding notes very long, sort of like Christina Aguilera. This album doesn't have that though, which comes with a mature feeling that the album has. But holding back her vocals was not a good move and when she actually lets them go, that's when the album soars.

Good:

This album does have a more mature feeling to it. She definitely gives it an older, more distinguished feeling that has just the right hint of jazziness to it. At times her voice is reminiscent of Aretha Franklin and blows you away as it floats through the notes. When you get caught up in one of the songs, it won't let you go, and you won't be able to just stop listening. She really tries to spice up the background music. While sometimes it doesn't work out right, she is doing what she needs to to grow as an artist, and it's good to see she's going somewhere. She also uses different background instruments that make it more creative, even giving one song a sort of country twang. Most of all, when Adele sits at the piano and sings out, s*** starts going down in a good way. That is probably the best part about this album.

Footnotes

This is a sad album. Adele just got her heart broken and you can really tell it here. The mature feel really mixes with the heartbreak well so if you're looking for some songs to cry your eyes out to, then look no further.

If you liked the last album, it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to like this one. Adele changes a lot in this album and it's a totally different animal than the last one.

Finally, the best songs on this album are: 'I'll Be Waiting', 'One and Only', 'Rolling in the Deep', and 'Take it all'. I rate it overall a 6 out of 10, but it has a couple of 10's on it though. Don't buy the whole album, but definitely pick up some of the songs on it.