Adele’s career highs and lows as she releases new single Easy On Me

Adele bares her soul in comeback single Easy On Me, her first new track in six years.

The pop superstar, 33, described the period following her most recent album in 2015 as the most turbulent in her life.

It saw her split from charity boss husband Simon Konecki in 2019 and spark a new romance with US sports agent Rich Paul.

Adele said 30, the album she will release in November, was her attempt at explaining her divorce to eight-year-old son Angelo.

Easy On Me sees the singer apparently directly addressing her ex-husband and son while explaining why she left her marriage.

The stirring video, shot in black-and-white and filmed in Canada last month, features Adele taking a last look around an empty house before picking up her suitcase, putting on sunglasses and leaving.

She climbs into her car and drives off, passing a “sold” sign outside what was her family home.

“Go easy on me, baby,” Adele sings over a piano as she drives past a newly married couple.

“I was still a child, didn’t get the chance to feel the world around me, I had no time to choose what I chose to do.”

Later, seemingly speaking to Konecki and Angelo, Adele sings: “You can’t deny how hard I tried, I changed who I was to put you both first but now I give up.”

She adds: “I had good intentions, and I had these hopes, but I know it now, it probably doesn’t even show.”

The video, shot in Quebec with director Xavier Dolan, ends on a light-hearted note, with a behind-the-scenes clip showing Adele being blown by a wind machine.

It was filmed at the same house as the music video for Adele’s 2015 smash hit Hello.

Highs and lows of Adele’s career so far

2006: Adele graduates from the Brit School in Croydon, south London. The college counts Amy Winehouse, Raye and Loyle Carner among its alumni.

Later in the year she signs a record deal with XL Recordings.

2007: She receives the Brit Awards Critics’ Choice award, and tops the BBC Sound of 2008 poll.

2008: Adele becomes a household name with the release of her folk and Motown-influenced debut album 19. The record is lauded by critics and goes eight times platinum in the UK and three times platinum in the US.

Lead single Hometown Glory is tapped for a Grammy in the best female pop vocal performance category. Adele, an avid fan of Beyonce, loses out to the US star’s song Halo.

2011: After three years of radio silence, the famously private singer re-emerges with the release of 21. It is another critical and commercial success. Unlike her first album, 21 triumphs at the Grammys, winning a record-tying six gongs, plus two Brits.

The album contains the songs that will come to define her: Rolling In The Deep, Someone Like You and Set Fire To The Rain.

2012: Adele releases Skyfall, the theme to the James Bond film of the same name. The song earns her a bevy of awards including an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe.

She is pictured for the first time with charity boss Mr Konecki on holiday. In June she announces she is expecting her first child, confirming the news on her blog.

Their son Angelo is born in October.

2013: In June she is appointed an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to music.

2015: Adele returns after a three-year break from the limelight. Her third album, 25, is released in November.

Again, it is hailed by the public and critics, becoming the year’s best-selling album and breaking first-week sales in the UK and US.

2016: She embarks on her largest tour yet, playing stadiums and arenas in Europe, North America and elsewhere.

Adele and Mr Konecki tie the knot in a secret ceremony but thanks to her closely guarded private life, manage to keep the news under wraps.

Her tour culminates in a string of concerts at Wembley Stadium in late 2017.

However, she is forced to pull out of two performances after damaging her vocal cords.

Fans still gather outside the stadium to perform renditions of her songs in an event titled Sing for Adele.

She headlines Glastonbury and, despite dropping copious F-bombs, wins over the festival crowd with a 90-minute set.

2019: Adele announces she and Mr Konecki have separated.

Representatives for the star say: “Adele and her partner have separated. They are committed to raising their son together lovingly. As always they ask for privacy.”

On her 31st birthday she posts a message to fans on Instagram, telling them the last year – in which she split from her husband – “tried me so hard”.

Alongside Lady Gaga and Claire Foy, Adele is invited into the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences – the organisation behind the Oscars – as it tries to raise its female membership.

2020: Reports emerge suggesting Adele is close to finishing her fourth album but she later confirms production and release have been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In October, she makes her first TV appearance in nearly four years as host of Saturday Night Live, joking about her dramatic weight loss and poking fun at her fans’ impatience for her record.

2021: The new year sees a burst of activity from the star.

In January she reaches a divorce settlement with her estranged husband, almost two years after they separated, and marks the 10th anniversary of her award-winning album 21.

In May, she celebrates her 33rd birthday and tells fans she is feeling “Thirty Free”.

Adele confirms her new romance with American sports agent Rich Paul in September.

Paul is the founder of management company Klutch Sports Group, which represents high-profile basketball stars including LeBron James, Anthony Davis and John Wall, and the pair had been linked for a number of months.

On October 1 the number 30 appears on billboards and is projected on to famous landmarks around the world – including in Dubai, Ireland, France, Italy and the US – marking the start of her release campaign.