adele 25Third album. Third strong album. British songstress Adele cannot seem to make a wrong move when it comes to putting out albums. And that is what she makes – albums. A body of work rather than the usual couple of singles surrounded by a lot of filler. The lady focuses on the entirety of what she is doing and never takes her eyes off the prize – the listeners’ heart and soul. Heart and soul is what she pours into every track here. 25 is a lot lighter in tone in comparison to her previous two albums, 19 and 21. She was dealing with a broken heart on her debut and sophomore albums, now she has come through to the other side and is a woman looking forward while at the same time dealing with her past. Adele is moving on with songs like “Hello” and “Water Under the Bridge”. The looking to her past parts involves plenty of nostalgia like on the song “When We Were Young”. Nostalgia is a perfect emotional fit for her retro sound. To make sure the music does not sound old Adele has enlisted very modern and very successful producers like Max Martin (Ellie Goulding, Maroon 5, Katy Perry), Danger Mouse of Broken Bell and Gnarls Barkley and Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic. Plus fellow retro musical act, Bruno Mars, is there lending his talent on the track “All I Ask”. The themes of motherhood and moving on with her life keep cropping up. This is a more mature Adele dealing with the regret she feels about things from her past. Her voice is the instrument that makes this much more than your typical soul filled power ballad album. Listening to this makes you thankful she found her way after a battle with writer’s block and self doubt. She is one of modern day music’s bright lights who keeps shining.