--- description: Your guide to the long-awaited follow-up to '21,' which is reportedly coming this November. title: 5 Things to Know About Adele's New Album image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3421b46cb63014a0/6988692a524fc076e5df51cb/adele-25.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 5 Things to Know About Adele's New Album  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 12:08 AM CUTPublished: Oct 21, 2015 4:56 PM CUT  Adele, seen here in 2013, has shared details of her new album. Adele, seen here in 2013, has shared details of her new album.Ian West—PA Images  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Updated: Dec 14, 2023 12:08 AM CUTPublished: Oct 21, 2015 4:56 PM CUT The return of Adele is a _big_ deal—few artists move as many albums as she does. Her last album, _21_, spawned three _Billboard_ No. 1 singles and sold more than 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. (It also inspired [this infamous _Saturday Night Live_ skit](http://jezebel.com/5859064/emma-stone-reveals-the-secret-to-a-good-cry-on-snl?utm%5Fexpid=66866090-57.d%5Fq189ffSh-X-rSxzXHfdg.0&utm%5Freferrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F "undefined") starring Emma Stone.) Now, Adele just might do it again when she comes back this fall with her long-awaited follow-up, which the now-27-year-old just [confirmed in a note to fans](http://time.com/4081003/adele-new-album-make-up-record/ "undefined") will be called _25_ (named for her age when she wrote it). Here’s the low-down on the album, which she [just announced is coming out November 20](http://time.com/4083224/adele-25-new-album-release-date "undefined"): **It’s not a break-up album** Some of Adele’s biggest hits—like “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You”—deal with failed relationships. The new album will take a different approach. “My last record was a break-up record and if I had to label this one I would call it a make-up record,” [she wrote on Twitter](http://time.com/4081003/adele-new-album-make-up-record/ "undefined") on Wednesday. “I’m making up with myself. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did…_25_ is about getting to know who I’ve become without realising.” **It has some top-notch collaborators** When you’re an artist as successful as Adele, you get to pick from [the cream of the crop](http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/magazine-feature/6678365/adele-new-album-fall-preview "undefined"). The list of people who have worked on the album includes names like Max Martin (who’s produced 21 No. 1 singles, most recently for Taylor Swift and the Weeknd), Tobias Jesso Jr. (who made TIME’s [best-of-2015-so-far list](http://time.com/3927166/best-songs-2015-so-far-music/ "undefined")), Danger Mouse (who was one half of Gnarls Barkley) and Sia. Mark Ronson of “Uptown Funk” fame also [strongly hinted](http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/mark-ronson-admits-plans-work-6663274 "undefined") that he worked on new music with the singer. **It’s very good…depending on whom you ask** Over the summer Ed Sheeran [told Capital FM](http://www.capitalfm.com/artists/adele/news/new-album-2015/ "undefined") that while he hadn’t heard the Adele record personally, second-hand knowledge suggested great things are in store. “Everyone I know who’ve worked on it is just like, ‘Dude… that record!’ Apparently, it’s really good.” But tell that to Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz), who said the material Adele and Danger Mouse worked on was [“very middle of the road.”](http://www.contactmusic.com/damon-albarn/news/damon-albarn-slams-adele-s-new-album-tracks%5F4912554%20 "undefined") (Albarn also worked with the singer, but seemed unsure of whether the fruits of their sessions would ever see the light of day.) **There’s a lot on the cutting room floor** Sia is one of pop’s most in-demand songwriters—in recent years she’s written for Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Kylie Minogue and Carly Rae Jepsen. You’d think, then, that nobody would let a Sia song go to waste, but the enigmatic pop star says Adele passed on music she worked on for the album. One of those songs, “Alive,” which Adele and Tobias Jesso Jr. co-wrote with her, was just released by Sia herself as the first song from _This Is Acting_, an upcoming album of songs Sia originally intended for other artists. (And don’t worry, Sia believes she has a song [that did make the cut](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl8TZwzV-4Y "undefined") for Adele’s album—after Rihanna passed on it.) If “Alive” is the kind of song that’s not right for an Adele album, imagine how many other songs must be sitting around on a hard drive somewhere. **You can already hear some of it** Over the weekend, fans got the first taste of new Adele music in [a mysterious TV spot](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=%5F%5FFag%5FV4veA "undefined") that aired during _X Factor_ in the U.K. OneRepublic, whose frontman Ryan Tedder worked with Adele on her last album and returned for _25_, confirmed it was really her [in a tweet](https://twitter.com/OneRepublic/status/655823960089755648 "undefined"), suggesting that the track may be yet another addition to the Adele-Tedder canon alongside “Rumour Has It” and “Turning Tables.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4081461/adele-new-album-25/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4081461/adele-new-album-25/"},"headline":"5 Things to Know About Adele's New Album","datePublished":"2015-10-21T16:56:46.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-14T00:08:49.000Z","description":"Your guide to the long-awaited follow-up to 21","url":"https://time.com/4081461/adele-new-album-25/","keywords":["Music","Adele"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3421b46cb63014a0/6988692a524fc076e5df51cb/adele-25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3421b46cb63014a0/6988692a524fc076e5df51cb/adele-25.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Adele's new album","caption":"Adele's new album","creditText":"Ian West—PA Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4081461/adele-new-album-25/","name":"5 Things to Know About Adele's New Album"}}]}] ```