Adele had this to say about the writing process of the new album:
“When I was writing it, it was my friend who came over with a bottle of wine and a takeaway to cheer me up,” she wrote. “My wise friend who always gives the best advice. Not to forget the one who’s wild and says ‘It’s your Saturn return babes f— it, you only live once’. The friend who’d stay up all night and just hold my hand while I’d sob relentlessly not knowing why. The get up and go friend who would pick me up and take me somewhere I said I didn’t want to go but just wanted to get me out the house for some vitamin D. That friend who snuck in and left a magazine with a face mask and some bath salts to make me feel loved while inadvertently reminding me not only what month it actually was but that I should probably exercise some self-care! And then that friend who no matter what, checked in on me even though I’d stopped checking in with them because I’d become so consumed by my own grief. I’ve painstakingly rebuilt my house and my heart since then and this album narrates it.”