English singer-songwriter Adele released her single “Easy on Me” on Friday, October 15, 2021, describing her struggles living with depression after a divorce.

“Easy on Me” is part of Adele’s upcoming album, “30,” which will be released November 19 of this year. “30” will be Adele’s first album after her 6-year break from music. Her last album, “25,” was released in 2015. 

The album and this single are based on Adele’s divorce from Simon Konecki. The two were married for 2 years when they decided to divorce, leaving Adele with feelings of anxiety and depression. These themes are present in the single, and were hinted at to be the major themes of the album in Adele’s recent instagram live Q&A with fans. Adele told Vogue “I was just going through the motions and I wasn’t happy.”

The single not only reflects her divorce with Konecki, but also touches on her childhood memories, and the lessons she learned about love and abandonment

“Easy on Me” starts with innocent and nostalgic lyrics expressing her awareness that she will end up hurt, but at the same time, she begs the person hurting her to be gentle. The end of the song presents mature lyrics describing how she hopes the person who hurt her does well and has a good life. 

The ballad portrays the positive message of forgiveness. Although Adele is going through intense trauma from her divorce and from living with depression, she is still able to wish good unto the person-in this case her ex-husband-who hurt her. 

Adele also revealed to Vogue that she developed drinking habits during lockdown. She began feeling hungover every Monday morning, and grew eager to drink 7 nights a week. These habits prompted Adele to seek help and change her lifestyle. 

She started “doing rigorous weight-lifting and circuit-training sessions every day—twice a day if her anxiety [was] running high—for three years and counting.” This intense training led to Adele’s extreme weight loss which shocked the internet earlier this year.

Adele recounts how “the gym became [her] time. [Adele] realized that when [she] was working out, [she] didn’t have any anxiety,” and “it was never about losing weight.” The singer also believed that “if [she could] make [her] body physically strong…then maybe one day [she could] make [her] emotions and [her] mind physically strong.”

Because of Adele’s mental health struggles during this time, training gave her faith that once she gained enough strength, she would have the ability to handle anything life threw at her. 

Adele and Konecki share custody of their child, Angelo and schedule family movie nights frequently. Konecki also lives across the street from Adele, which makes the custody sharing easier for both of them as well as their child. Adele spoke about feeling guilty for putting her own happiness in front of Angelo’s, and having him go through the divorce with her. She hopes that “if [she could] find happiness and [Angelo saw her] experiencing that happiness, then maybe [she’ll] forgive [herself] for [the divorce].” 

Adele’s new album releases next week, on November 19th.