Why Speculation Around Adele's Next Album Could Do More Harm Than Good

Adele sort of exists in her own ecosystem. Just when the ever-changing pop charts starts having you believe that big voices and emotional ballads are dying out, Adele makes a surprise reappearance and boom! Opinion changed. But Adele does things on her own terms. It feels like the public is constantly asking when Adele will release new music, but this performer makes music at her own pace, and the results have always been pretty earth shattering — in the best, most heartbreaking and enriching way possible.

Adele stirred up some major speculation last month with an Instagram posted on May 6 to mark her 31st birthday. The singer wrote:

"This is 31... thank f**king god. 30 tried me so hard but I’m owning it and trying my hardest to lean in to it all ... 31 is going to be a big ol’ year and I’m going to spend it all on myself. For the first time in a decade I’m ready to feel the world around me and look up for once. Be kind to yourself people we’re only human, go slow, put your phone down and laugh out loud at every opportunity."

Clearly, Adele is ready to spend time focusing on self care. And good for her. If anyone deserves it, she does.

However, the singer ended the post with: "30 will be a drum n bass record to spite you." And this obviously had Twitter erupting as a result, with many believing this line signalled the arrival of new music.

If Adele follows the pattern from her last album release (25 was released when she was 26), then you could reasonably expect new music to arrive sometime in 2019. Bustle has reached out to Adele's reps to ask if there is any word about this, and I will update you if I hear anything.

Adele's Instagram post also seems to suggest a new album name: 30. And considering the singer titled her previous three albums 19, 21, and 25, it seems reasonable to assume she'll be following suit with the next one. However, on Oct. 23, 2015, Adele told Billboard that her next album "will probably be called Adele." She continued: "It will be, I’m not joking."

Despite all this, it should be noted that anything concerning Adele's next album is pure speculation at this point. And sometimes, that speculation has the potential to be quite harmful. After her divorce from longterm partner Simon Konecki, some fans began to speculate that their separation would provide the subject matter for Adele's fourth album.

This response prompted the Guardian's Yomi Adegoke to publish a piece on how "the excitement over Adele’s marriage breakdown is ugly and unkind." Adegoke wrote:

"The brazen salivating and hand-rubbing over the breakdown of a marriage is a bit icky — even more so when it is at the expense of someone as likeable and seemingly normal as Adele, whose anguish has already provided the soundtrack to the world’s despair for a decade."

These wise words should make us all pause for thought, and consider how much we expect from people in the public eye.

I'm ready for a new album, but I'm also happy for Adele to take the time and space she needs. And whether the new music is Drum'n'Bass, R'n'B, or even opera, I'll have it on repeat irregardless.