Adele
Simon Emmett*Adele didn’t go easy on us when she released her highly anticipated, heartfelt fourth studio album 30 on Friday (Nov. 19), via Melted Stone and Columbia Records.
Throughout the 12-track album, the queen of heartbreak anthems licks the wounds from her divorce with ex-husband Simon Konecki, salvages herself with copious amounts of wine, and holds onto the one thing she’ll never lose: herself.
Lead single “Easy on Me” has spent the last four consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts. Adele performed “Easy on Me” and three more songs from 30 — “I Drink Wine,” “Hold On” and “Love is a Game” — during her CBS primetime television special Adele: One Night Only, which averaged 9.92 million viewers, per time-zone-adjusted fast national ratings from Nielsen. On social media Wednesday, Adele shared a six-minute video of herself belting “To Be Loved” from her living room, and it certainly left everyone in a puddle of their own tears.
30 is the long-awaited follow-up to 2015’s 25, which had a record-smashing first week after selling 3.38 million copies in its debut week in the U.S. That was the biggest sales week of an album since Nielsen (now MRC Data) began tracking point-of-sale music purchases in 1991. 25 spent 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and won Grammy Awards for album of the year and best pop vocal album of the year.
Listen to 30 below.
The estate of Prince has shared a previously unheard recording of “With This Tear,” a track the late icon originally wrote before passing it on to Celine Dion in the early 1990s.
The newly revealed version, released through NPG Records and Legacy Recordings, presents Prince’s own recording of the piano driven ballad, fully written, produced and performed by him. It was initially recorded at Paisley Park in November 1991 and had stayed in the vault until now.
Dion’s interpretation of “With This Tear” was included on her 1992 self titled album, highlighting one of many moments where Prince created songs for other artists while holding back his own versions. His original recording feels more minimal, putting the focus on his vocals and piano arrangement.
The newly issued version has been given an updated mix by Grammy nominated producer Chris James, who has worked on several Prince related releases before. This drop is part of the Prince Estate’s ongoing effort to open up more of his deep archive of unreleased music.
The release arrives at a meaningful moment, just ahead of the 10th anniversary of Prince’s passing. Since 2016, a consistent flow of archival material including deluxe reissues, vault recordings and rare collaborations has kept his legacy active in today’s music landscape while offering a closer look at how much he created.
“With This Tear” also highlights Prince’s long established role as a songwriter for others. Across his career, he wrote and produced tracks for a wide range of artists, often shaping songs that evolved into entirely new identities outside his own discography.
The release comes amid growing attention around Prince’s archive in recent years. In 2024, a demo of “Baby Doll,” an unreleased collaboration between Prince and Kylie Minogue, surfaced online and showed just how much material still remains unheard.
While there has been no official confirmation of a larger vault project, reports continue to suggest that more archival releases could be on the way.
