Between now and next Tuesday, September 30th, around 30 albums are going to be released in time for the Grammy deadline. One of them, from Aretha Franklin, is a surprise that I announced last week. The Queen of Soul is releasing a transcendent version of Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep,” in keeping with her history of extraordinary covers (think Aretha on “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” “Let it Be,” or “I Say a Little Prayer”).
But one surprise that won’t be happening from Adele herself. Even though internet is buzzing with rumors of a “25” album from Adele on September 25th, it’s not in the works. I am assured by those who know that Adele has no “Beyonce” strategy up her sleeve.
There still could be a “25” album before the end of the year. But my guess is that if she has the tracks together, Sony would launch Adele in mid January. That’s the time when “21” took off, and it didn’t do so badly (10 million copies or more). That will also be exactly four years since “21” was released.
Adele may have stoked the rumors in May when she posted this Tweet. But as she says, “later in the year.” Not this week.
Bye bye 25… See you again later in the year x pic.twitter.com/HEmY14El5s
— Adele (@OfficialAdele) May 4, 2014
