With 30, Adele traces her influences straight to Amy Winehouse
Though Winehouse’s influence has always been present in Adele’s work, it’s never been clearer than on new album 30
Music Features Amy Winehouse
At the start of Adele’s career in 2008, another soulful British singer was at her peak: Amy Winehouse. Winehouse won five Grammys for Back To Black in the same year Adele released her debut, 19, their careers briefly flowing into one another.
Though Winehouse’s influence has always been present in Adele’s music, it’s never been more obvious than on 30—the singer’s most soulful work thus far. From the arrangements down to the song titles, the effect that one of the most prominent voices in soul in the 21st century has had on Adele rings clear as day.
With Back To Black, Winehouse penned arguably one of the best breakup albums of all time, revitalizing old-school soul music’s presence in pop music. The five Grammys she won for the album—Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for the single “Rehab,” Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best New Artist—would become the record for Most Grammy Awards won by a British female act, a record Adele would later break in 2011 following the smash success of 21.
In 2016, during a concert in Boston, Adele spoke about her predecessor’s effect on her from the get-go, especially Winehouse’s daring 2003 debut, Frank:
I know that America really caught on to her with Back to Black, but her first album, Frank… really changed my life. I went to music school when I was 14, and when I was like 15 and a half, Frank came out. I used to see her on TV or in magazine shoots with a pink electric guitar, and I used to think she was the coolest motherfucker on the face of the Earth.
Coincidentally, the school Adele mentioned in the interview happens to be London’s BRIT School, of which Winehouse was also an alum. “Because of her, I picked up a guitar, and because of her, I write my own songs,” Adele said. “The songs that I got signed with are the songs I wrote completely on my own. If it wasn’t for her, that wouldn’t have happened. I owe 90 percent of my career to her.”
In its own way, 30 feels like a thank-you to Winehouse and the mark she made on music. Where 25 leaned into full-bodied pop, riding the same wave as fellow U.K. artist Ed Sheeran, 30 digs into arrangements that lean more toward jazz and soul. Adele lets her vocals loose more often in free-forming runs.
While Adele and Winehouse share forebears like Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill, and Etta James, 30 distinctly connects to Winehouse with its mix of retro soul and pop. On “Cry Your Heart Out,” Adele creates a high energy with gospel sounds. The instrumentation, filled with bass, organ, bongos, and a vibraslap, swings to and fro. It directly hearkens back to the Motown-infused songs found on Back To Black, such as “He Can Only Hold Her” and “Tears Dry On Their Own” (which samples Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”).
Winehouse often looked to ’60s girl groups like The Shangri-Las when developing Back To Black, for a more accessible vehicle for her jazz inclinations. Adele’s 30 similarly reaches its peak exuberance on the groovy “Oh My God,” as layered vocals create heat with the steady beat of a bass drum guiding the song—all of it paired with tambourine and clapping. While Winehouse certainly didn’t invent the sound, one of the triumphs of her career was resuscitating and synthesizing the musical spheres of soul and jazz with pop throughout the 2000s.
On “All Night Parking,” Adele inserts piano melodies from the late American jazz musician Erroll Garner. Recorded in Electric Lady Studios, the song is also Adele’s first significant foray into R&B, conjuring the potent neo-soul for which Winehouse was famous. The track’s opening crackles like vinyl, an effect Winehouse used on Frank’s “(There Is) No Greater Love.”
30 is arguably Adele’s most soul-baring album, getting into the nitty gritty of divorce, self-love, and raising a child in a split home. As Winehouse did on Back To Black, here Adele also navigates the grief that comes with breaking the ties of love, washing herself in heartache.
The final track of 30, “Love Is A Game,” feels like a direct nod to Winehouse. At the heart of Back To Black lies the heart-wrenching “Love Is A Losing Game,” which calls out the foolishness of love. On “Love Is A Game,” Adele’s vocals escape like cloak-and-dagger spies as dynamic strings take center stage. The song is cinematic in its grandiose ambitions, anchored by a jazzy, almost gospel sound.
Vocal jazz is built on the foundation of women singing about the highs and lows of love, with women like Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simone laying the groundwork. Winehouse often found herself in the trenches of devotion, and with her riveting new album, Adele meets her there. Ten years after Winehouse’s death, Adele offers a soulful work about the depths of heartbreak, one which contains multiple connections to the woman who inspired her.
28 Comments
If you like “Back to Black”, check out Sharon Jones and Dap Kings. It is literally the exact same musicians and studio where Amy Winehouse recorded.
everything out of daptone studios/records is stellar, if you’re into that vibe.but yes, sharon jones needs much more love. and her documentary is good viewing as well.
Ten years after Winehouse’s deathProbably off topic, but: usually this type of statement would elicit a reaction of ‘Holy hell how was that already 10 years ago?!?’But in this case it’s the opposite – my reaction was ‘that was only 10 years ago? It feels like she died a million years ago.’
It’s painful. She’s missed so very much.
This may sound ghoulish, but she frankly lasted longer than a lot of people expected her to. That woman did damage.
Probably an unpopular opinion but Back To Black sounds dated. Rehab is an annoying song. Adele is much much better.
I mean, it’s only unpopular because it’s so clearly wrong. And,ffs, BiB sounded dated when it was released, it was the whole point.
booooooo
The premise of the piece feels like when Jack White and the Black Keys argued over which act was stealing blues rock, from the other. It’s not Amy’s influence. It’s the influence of black women in soul music. Both pulled from the same sources.
By that theory, no musician could be influenced by the Beatles, the Stones, or Led Zeppelin, because all of them were influenced by Black artists. I guess that means Oasis was influenced by Little Richard.
Trying to trace intertwining influences back through music history is such a fool’s errand anyway. Every artist is inspired and influenced by everything they’ve previously heard. Was Adele influenced by Winehouse? She said so herself. Was Winehouse influenced by previous generations of soul? Obviously. Has Adele also heard those artists firsthand? Yeah, safe to say. So are we supposed to calculate some percentage allocation of influence? It’s silly.
Considering that Little Richard doesn’t get proper respect, you’re kind of proving my point, lol
Little Richard certainly made some great music, and I think he’s well respected. I don’t know the whole Oasis catalog, but I can’t say I’ve heard anything from them that sounds Little Richard-esque. They definitely were influenced by Rubber Soul-era Beatles.
So, yes, it is possible that Adele was influenced by Amy Whitehouse more than, say, the Ronettes.
the math doesn’t add up in this particular instance, though. For starters Britain’s relationship with black soul music had always been traditionalist, in nature. Particularly when it comes to white British soul singers.Second, Adele and Amy aren’t that far apart in age, which means, in order to sing the way she does, and make that style of music, Adele would have been studying classic soul music way before Amy became a thing.They’re both pastiches of the same thing. What makes a little Amy different is she updates the imagery, too include hip hop. Instead of blues joints, and chitlin crcuit bars, it’s various rap concerts. And she isn’t unique for that.Adele is a no gimmicks, straight foreard soul singer, it’s a lazy comparison cuz both are British white womenI made the jack white/black keys comparison, because a blues rock pastiche cannot lay claim to blues influence, just cuz a band of the same era was ALSO influenced by the blues.
Adele is pretty specifically cribbing, poorly, from Amy Winehouse.
You mean women like Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, and Nina Simon?
Correct
Oh cool, I thought of them as influences because this review cited them as influences.
Gawd forbid one artist be influenced by another who was influenced by other artists.
Org the Neanderthal never gets the props he deserves for rhythmically banging a stick off the ground before anyone else!
False equivalency much?
Amy Winehouse’s popularity created a market for soulful female singers with retro production, hence the immediate success of Duffy and Adele (and finally some recognition for Sharon Jones). It’s unknown whether they would’ve made the same production choices if that hadn’t happened, regardless of what other artists they were influenced by.(I’d argue the White Stripes’ success and dissolution made room for the Black Keys as well).
Everything in your first paragrpah is wrong and proves my point, but black women in soul, (especially in the 2007’s), rarely get their just due
Both acknowledge the root of their music in Black soul singers. But it’s not like 15 year old Adele necessarily had access to deep catelogues like that. It’s like when I at 15 thought Nirvana, STP, Pearl Jam, and other alternative rockers was something completely new—I was a Black female who was introduced to it when it went mainstream. It wasn’t until I listened more that I learned about New Wave, punk, and other influences.
Amy Winehouse’s death was such a tragedy. What a monumental talent who almost definitely had so much more to offer. I adore Adele and cannot wait for the new album. I’m certain that were Amy alive today she’d be cheering on her success.
To this day whenever she comes on I’m like “Dammit Amy, you should have gone to rehab”. What a fucking waste.
How can this article fail to mention Dusty Springfield. She was a white British lady that sang soul music just like Adele and Winehouse.
Yeah but Kid Rock just released a new track!