Adele made headlines a few weeks ago with the release of the first single from her new album, 25. The single, “Hello,” was everything we expected of an Adele song – everything about it was beautiful, yet miserable. The announcement of the album wasn’t much more uplifting. She referred to it as a make-up album, saying she was “Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. But I haven’t got time to hold onto the crumbs of my past like I used to. What’s done is done.”

That is the most Adele description of an album I have ever read.

As is the case many times, the first single is not the best. “Hello” is a beautiful song, and is reminiscent of the Adele we heard in 21, but 25 has so much more depth in many of the other songs. The second track on the album, “Send My Love (To Your New Lover),” is upbeat and a little funny. It shows a much different woman than we saw in previous albums – one confident in herself and dismissive of the man who was too weak to remain faithful.

“Send My Love” is one of the best songs on the album because it is the most transformative of the singer while remaining truthful to her style. However, several songs may not present a new side to Adele, but still show growth in who she is as a performer. “River Lea” describes a woman who hesitates to let others in, saying that it’s something in flowing through her. Whatever it is flows through the River Lea, the river she grew up near as a child.

The album has broken a record in first-week sales, selling 3 million copies and shattering records held by Britney Spears and NSYNC (proving that, yes, there is a just and loving God), and it has done so for good reason. It is an emotionally evocative album and well worth its price.