Adele Scrapped A “Boring” Album About Motherhood Before ’25’

Adele made her long-awaited return today (October 23) with the spare and soaring “Hello,” the lead single off her third album 25, which drops November 20. The singer previously touched on why it’s taken her nearly five years to follow up 21 — not that she owes anyone an explanation for taking her time on her art — but in a new interview she explained part of the reason for the drought was that she wrote, and ultimately chucked, an entire album before landing on what became 25.

More:: Watch Adele's powerful "Hello" video

After introducing the single on BBC Radio 1 this morning, Adele teared up and spoke about writing the song with Greg Kurstin and the emotional process that inspired the lyrics.

“I felt like like a lot of stuff in my life has changed and not at all because of my career, but just because stuff changes as you get older. And I found myself yearning for my past for no reason other than it had gone and I missed elements of it. I didn’t want to be back there, I just missed elements. I felt all of us were moving on again. It’s not about an ex-love relationship, it’s about everyone that I love.”

She added that having a baby two years ago (understandably) took her out of the songwriting headspace, making it “a bit difficult” to get back into the habit, and revealed how it indirectly delayed her next album plans in an unexpected way.

“I did pretty much write an album about being a mum,” she told host Nick Grimshaw. “But that’s pretty boring for everyone. I scrapped that.”

Sounds like a ringing endorsement for motherhood! Listen to the whole interview below: