Not all of Adele’s 30 album is about divorce; there are songs about love in there too. Take, for example, “Love Is a Game,” the sweeping, orchestral ballad she debuted during the Adele One Night Only broadcast Sunday night. Though the self-aware lyrics tell us about the pain and frustration she’s endured for love, the singer ends on a somewhat hopeful note: “You know I’m gonna do it again,” she sings.
In an expansive interview, Oprah Winfrey asked Adele whether she has actually gotten better at the “game of love” now. (She divorced her husband Simon Konecki in 2019 and is now in a happy new relationship with sports agent Rich Paul.)
“I think so, because I don’t treat it like a game anymore,” Adele explained. “That thing where, ‘You’re going to hurt me so I’m gonna hurt you first,’ I’m not like that anymore.”
Adele and boyfriend Rich Paul watching the 2021 NBA finals.
Christian PetersenGetty Images
When Winfrey asked her what it is she really wants in life, Adele answered, “Peace of mind. And stability.” She added, “But I don’t have to expect someone else to give me stability; I can also be stable for myself. Be a solid house that doesn’t blow over in a storm.”
“Love Is a Game” won’t be officially released until 30 is out in the world on Friday, but you can listen to it (and watch Adele perform it at the Griffith Observatory) in Adele One Night Only, now streaming on Paramount+. (It’s at the 1:19:42 mark.)
In the middle of serenading the crowd with the new song, the superstar also shared her biggest takeaway from making her new album: “that you can’t control bloody anything. So just go with it, sit with it, have a laugh, and enjoy all of it.”
Read the full lyrics to “Love Is a Game” below, via Genius.
All your expectations
Of my love are impossible
Surely you know
That I’m not easy to hold
It’s so sad how incapable
Of learning to grow I am
My heart speaks in puzzle and codes
I’ve been trying my whole life to solve
God only knows how I’ve cried
I can’t take another defeat
Next time would be the ending of me
Now that I see
That love is a game for fools to play
And I ain’t fooling
What a cruel thing
To self-inflict that pain
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain’t fooling
What a cruel thing to self-inflict that pain
How unbelievable
Of me to fall for the lies that I tell
The dream that I sell
When heartache is inevitable
But I’m no good at doing it well
Not that I care
Why should anything about it be fair
When love is a game for fools to play
And I ain’t fooling
What a cruel thing
To self-inflict that pain
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain’t fooling again
What a cruel thing to self-inflict that pain
No amount of love can keep me satisfied
I can’t keep up
When I keep changing my mind
The feelings flood me to the heights of no compromise
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain’t fooling
What a cruel thing
To self-inflict that pain
Love is a game for fools to play
And I ain’t fooling
What a cruel thing to self-inflict that pain
[Instrumental break]
I can love me
I can love my whole again
I love me now
I can love everything
I’m a fool for that
You know I, you know I’m gonna do it
Oh-oh, oh-oh
I’d do it all again
Like I did it
‘Cause I’m addicted, I’m addicted
You know I’m gonna do it again
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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