Adele releases new album '30'

By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya and Melissa Mahtani, CNN

Updated 2128 GMT (0528 HKT) November 19, 2021
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1:04 p.m. ET, November 19, 2021

Adele's "Easy on Me" nearing 6 million Spotify streams

From CNN's Adrienne Vogt

Adele's song "Easy on Me," from her new album "30," is approaching six million streams on Spotify, according to Spotify Charts. It's currently in the top spot for global songs, ahead of "All Too Well" by Taylor Swift and "STAY" from The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber.

Just last week, Swift's re-released album "Red (Taylor's Version)" made Spotify history for the most-streamed album in a day by a female — with nearly 91 million streams on its first day — according to Variety.

Adele's official YouTube videos for "30" currently have combined more than 169 million views.

12:21 p.m. ET, November 19, 2021

Oprah predicts this Adele song will become an anthem

Oprah is just like us: She, too, can't get Adele's new songs out of her head.

Oprah Winfrey reacted to Adele's new album by sharing an exuberant selfie of the two of them together.

"I've been signing the songs for a month now," Winfrey tweeted Friday. She added that "Hold On" will "become an anthem around the world for anybody going through a struggle" — and "I Drink Wine" is a song for anyone who, well, drinks wine.

In an interview with Winfrey that aired on Sunday, Adele opened up about her weight loss, coming to terms with the collapse of her marriage and juggling motherhood and her musical career.

The candid, wide-ranging sit-down — which took place in the rose garden where Winfrey also interviewed Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — was part of CBS' special, "Adele One Night Only," which aired on Sunday night.

You can read more about the primetime special here.

4:24 p.m. ET, November 19, 2021

Adele's hometown team gives her a shoutout

English football team Tottenham Hotspur sent their support to fellow Tottenham native Adele on her new album.

"Hometown glory. Congratulations on the new album, @Adele," the team tweeted, along with a video of Adele singing the Hotspur anthem.

She recently sang the anthem during an interview with Vogue.

11:09 a.m. ET, November 19, 2021

How Adele described "30": "This is my album"

From CNN's Marianne Garvey

Last month, ahead of the release of "30," Adele opened up about the upcoming album.

The singer appeared on the November 2021 cover of Vogue magazine and talked about returning to the studio to record her first album in six years.

She said that while her sophomore album, "21" — which contains hits "Rumor Has It" and "Rolling in the Deep" — belongs to everyone who took it to heart, "30" will always belong to her.

"It's sensitive for me, this record, just in how much I love it," Adele said. "I always say that 21 doesn't belong to me anymore. Everyone else took it into their hearts so much. I'm not letting go of this one. This is my album. I want to share myself with everyone, but I don't think I'll ever let this one go."

She talked about going through a divorce, saying self-care and the work she put into making her new music have helped her deal with anxiety in recent years.

"It was a lot of sound baths. It was a lot of meditation. It was a lot of therapy. And a lot of time spent on my own," Adele said of her efforts, adding time at the gym was also key. "It became my time. I realized that when I was working out, I didn't have any anxiety. It was never about losing weight. I thought, If I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong."

10:58 a.m. ET, November 19, 2021

Adele just tweeted for the first time since her album was released 

Adele just posted her first tweet since her eagerly awaited album "30" dropped today.

The artist linked to her album's page, and she described the journey to get to this point "as a ride" alongside a photo of her raising her hands.

The same post was also shared on her Instagram account.

10:57 a.m. ET, November 19, 2021

Tyler Perry urges anyone struggling to listen to "Hold On" by Adele

(Paras Griffin/Cliff Lipson/CBS/Getty Images)
(Paras Griffin/Cliff Lipson/CBS/Getty Images)

Filmmaker and producer Tyler Perry thanked Adele for her new song "Hold On," urging anyone going "through anything" to listen to every word.

Perry said in a tweet that he "knew this song would literally save and touch lives" when he hears Adele perform it live.

"Hold On" is track No. 10 on Adele's new album "30," which dropped today.

10:31 a.m. ET, November 19, 2021

If "Hold On" sounds familiar, you probably heard it in an Amazon ad

From CNN's Marianne Garvey

Adele's full album "30" has finally arrived — but some of the tracks you may already know.

"Easy On Me" — which we've all had stuck in our heads for a month now — dropped in October. And you may have heard "Hold On" while watching TV.

A snippet of "Hold On" can be heard in an Amazon holiday commercial that shows a young girl walking through a subway station and then into the light to her school friends. She is also seen studying and sitting alone on a park bench.

A voiceover says, "In other news, cases of anxiety in young adults are rising as experts warn of the effects on well-being caused by the pandemic."

"I swear to God I'm such a mess, the harder I try I regret / Every day feels like the road I'm on, might just open up and swallow me whole. Let time be patient / Let pain be gracious / Just hold on, just hold on / I will survive," Adele sings.
10:30 a.m. ET, November 19, 2021

MySpace and "SNL": Here's a look back at how Adele became Adele

Adele performs on Saturday Night Live on October 18, 2008. 
Adele performs on Saturday Night Live on October 18, 2008.  (Dana Edelson/NBC/Getty Images)

While we're all having some feelings over Adele's new album, it's worth remembering how Adele Laurie Blue Adkins became the first-name-only icon we know today.

Back in 2015, when the singer dropped her album "25," CNN's Lisa Respers France explained how the English singer rose to fame while breaking all of our hearts.

To start, we can thank MySpace.

“Chart music was all I ever knew,” she told The Telegraph in 2008. “So when I listened to the Ettas and the Ellas, it sounds so cheesy, but it was like an awakening. I was like, oh, right, some people have proper longevity and are legends. I was so inspired that as a 15-year-old I was listening to music that had been made in the Forties. The idea that people might look back to my music in 50 years’ time was a real spur to doing this.”

She left school at 14 but continued making music and in 2006 landed a record deal after executives found her music on MySpace. The rest is, as they say, history.

“It’s a great way of getting stuff out there,” she said of the social media site at the time. “I’d much rather 5 million people heard my music than I earned £5 million. I write bulletins and blogs, and I listen to what people say, maybe too much sometimes.”

But it wasn't until she landed a spot on "Saturday Night Live" that she became a hit in the US.

Her debut album, “19,” was a hit in the UK, and in 2008, she won the prestigious Critics’ Choice at the Brit Awards.

But it was her luck to land on “SNL” the night 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin made an appearance. Her performance sent her single “Chasing Pavements” racing up the charts, and US fans were smitten.

10:07 a.m. ET, November 19, 2021

Ritz Crackers is here for all things Adele

Ritz Crackers — yes, that Ritz Crackers — has been tweeting up a storm over Adele and her new album "30."

And it seems like the cracker giant is just as excited as we are about Adele's album.

"Anyone else think @Adele caused the eclipse? Asking for a friend…#Adele30," they tweeted, referring to last night's lunar eclipse.