The wait is finally over. After four years, Adele has finally released the highly anticipated album, “25”. The album shattered the previous record of the most album copies sold in one week, with 3.3 million sold within five days. With as much success that she had with “21”, it is of no surprise that Adele was able to do this with her new album. But is the success of “25” just because it is Adele? Or is it truly an amazing album?

As most of us do in our lives, we grow as time progresses. This shows in Adele’s writing for “25”. Four years have passed; she has matured since her last album. Her songs are still about love, for the most part, but unlike “21”, which displayed pain, anger and heartbreak from a previous relationship, “25” presents the ideas of forgiveness, reflection and moving on.

Musically, the songs are almost perfect, with the highlights being Adele’s voice and her mix of music genres throughout. There’s no way to describe her voice using any other word besides amazing. Her vocal delivery on every single track tugs forcefully on the listener’s heart strings; “Hello” is the best example of her range. The verses are sung in a tender tone, with the chorus being sung in this almost operatic belt of power that would give stone goose bumps.

One of the biggest differences, musically, between this album and “21” is that this album incorporates elements of electronic music, with “Water Under the Bridge” being one of the best examples. It should be noted that this is not featured in all of the tracks, just in case you are not one that’s fond of electronic music. The use of it on “25”, however, is executed extremely well.

The electronic elements never feel out of place and are never the most forward parts the songs. “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” is a prime example. The song is, for the most part, an acoustic tune. Yet, it uses electronic elements during its surprising chorus, and it works.

Much like “21”, “25” has a mixture of genres, from soft rock, R&B, piano ballads like “When We Were Young” and elements of gospel found in the song “River Lea”.

The song, “I Miss You”, is a type of song that I can’t recall Adele ever making in any of her previous albums. Ghost-like voices start the song off, which then leads into an incredible drum beat that pounds throughout the entire song. On top of that, it is mixed with Adele’s powerful vocal performance, giving this song a very creepy, yet incredibly beautiful feel.

This album is almost perfect. Almost. In all honesty, this album should probably be called “21 Pt. 2”. If you’re just a casual listener of Adele, you’ll notice that “25” sounds very similar to “21”. That’s not to say that this is a bad thing; “21” is amazing in its own right, but “25” is almost too similar.

But what “21” had that “25” doesn’t seem to have are hit songs. Outside of “Hello”, I can’t see any of the remaining tracks on this album getting near as much success as the tracks from her previous album. Nearly every song on “21” seemed like a hit, ones that you could picture getting to the top 10, or even top 5, on the charts. But “25” is definitely missing the “hit-making” element. There are no “Set Fire to the Rain”s, “Rumor Has It”s or “One and Only”s on this album. But just because a song isn’t a hit on the charts, doesn’t mean it’s any less amazing.

To give an answer to the question I posed earlier: Yes, Adele deserves every bit of success that this album has had in such a short amount of time. Every single song on “25” is beautifully put together, and Adele is nothing short of incredible on them.

She is not like some of today’s pop stars that will put out the same generic pop album year after year. Adele is truly unique. Is “25” amazing? Yes. Is it better than “21”? No. But I would be lying if I said that it wasn’t close. I cannot give enough praise to what Adele has managed to achieve with this album. I highly recommend any music fan to take a listen. “25” was definitely worth the four-year wait.