Upon receiving a bundle of iTunes Gift Cards for Christmas, I decided to finally purchase Adele’s highly anticipated third album, “25.” I couldn’t help but impatiently tap my fingers as I waited for the 11 songs to download. With the perfect mixture of powerful vocals and moving lyrics, this album was definitely worth the three-year wait.

Although her first single “Hello” had me anticipating another emotional heartbreak album, I was beyond pleased to discover that “25” was not a “break-up” album; it was a “make-up” album. In a letter to her fans, Adele writes, “My last record was a break-up record and if I had to label this one I would call it a make-up record. I’m making up with myself. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. But I haven’t got time to hold on to the crumbs of my past like I used to. What’s done is done. Turning 25 was a turning point for me, slap bang in the middle of my twenties. Teetering on the edge of being an old adolescent and a fully-fledged adult, I made the decision to go into becoming who I’m going to be forever without a removal van full of my old junk.”

While the songs on “25” are just as heart-rending as her iconic ones, my two favorites, “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” and “Water Under The Bridge” are both uptempo and much more optimistic. Whenever I find myself listening to Adele’s previous ballad-heavy albums, I am in dire need of a good old cry fest. On the other hand, both of these new songs put me in more of an “everything’s gonna be okay” mood. My only request to Adele is that the ratio of broken-hearted ballads to uplifting tunes be distributed more evenly for her next album.

The album is available on iTunes, Amazon, and Google Play.