Grab the tissues and a weighted blanket: Adele’s new song, “Easy on Me,” is finally here.
The multi-time Grammy winner released the heartbreaking ballad at midnight U.K. time with a new music video, too. The cinematic black-and-white visuals were directed by Xavier Dolan, who also lensed her “Hello” masterpiece. Both new drops, equal in emotional weight, only prove that the years spent waiting for new Adele since her 2015 album, 25, has certainly paid off.
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This is the first single from her upcoming album, 30, due Nov. 19. After officially parting ways with ex-husband Simon Konecki in 2019, the theme of this new record is clear: “Divorce, babe, divorce.” (She said it herself on Instagram Live.) And that’s evident in “Easy on Me,” a sweeping composition that explores both despair and healing. “And there is hope in these waters, but I can’t bring myself to swim when I am drowning,” she sings in one verse.
Lucky journalists who got an early listen of the track described it as “gut-wrenching” with a “euphoric tone,” and a “meditative arrangement” that recalls “her fraught childhood, her lost marriage and the lessons learnt and unlearnt about family, love, and abandonment along the way.” After hearing it for ourselves, those sentiments all ring true.
Adele first teased the song earlier this month, sharing a moody but vague clip on social media. She even played a bit on IG Live, likely to the chagrin of her label. In recent weeks, the usually-private singer has been promoting the rollout of 30 with both grand gestures (the number “30” was projected on landmarks across the globe) and sentimental ones (she recently wrote a letter to fans explaining her journey of creating the album).
“I learned a lot of blistering home truths about myself along the way,” she wrote on Instagram. “I’ve shed many layers but also wrapped myself in new ones. Discovered genuinely useful and wholesome mentalities to lead with, and I feel like I’ve finally found my feeling again. I’d go as far as to say that I’ve never felt more peaceful in my life. And so, I’m ready to release this album.”
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Listen to “Easy on Me” above and read through the full lyrics, courtesy of Genius and Apple Music, below.
[Verse 1]
There ain’t no gold in this river
That I’ve been washing my hands in forever
I know there is hope in these waters
But I can’t bring myself to swim
When I am drowning in the silence
Baby, let me in
[Chorus]
Go easy on me, baby
I was still a child
Didn’t get the chance to
Feel the world around me
I had no time to choose
What I chose to do
So go easy on me
[Verse 2]
There ain’t room for things to change
When we are both so deeply stuck in our ways
You can’t deny how hard I’ve tried
I changеd who I was to put you both first
But now I give up
[Chorus]
Go easy on me, baby
I was still a child
Didn’t gеt the chance to
Feel the world around me
Had no time to choose
What I chose to do
So go easy on me
[Bridge]
I had good intentions
And the highest hopes
But I know right now
It probably doesn’t even show
[Chorus]
Go easy on me, baby
I was still a child
Didn’t get the chance to
Feel the world around me
Had no time to choose
What I chose to do
So go easy on me
Erica Gonzales
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more.
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