"Easy on Me" by Adele, Tuesday, January 25, 2022

As the music world has moved on to Adele's next single, "Oh My God," I wanted to revisit her first single from 30 today, simply because it's so damn catchy. The inspiration for this comes from watching Rick Beato's reaction to the song (see the video section below). I wanted to revisit this great song since my initial post back in October. "Easy on Me" is easily one of the best songs of last year and it has made my 2021+ and 2022+ playlists. When so many Adele haters say that all of her songs sound the same, I can't help but scream, "Are you listening to that piano?" Finally delving a little bit more into 30, the feeling is so different from her previous work. It's literary in the sense that nobody writes an album about trying to convince their young child that divorce was the right decision.

GO EASY ON ME, BABY. Rick Beato started a YouTube channel in 2016 and has had a career in music, producing and recording with bands such as NEEDTOBREATHE and Shinedown. Born in 1962, Beato's practical approach to music theory draws a line between classic and contemporary acts. Many of his videos are reactions to the most popular songs on streaming sites, and the description and titles are kind of snarky, giving the impression that he's a crotchety boomer who hates music the kids these days are listening to. The truth is, he usually finds something positive to say about most songs as well as pointing out contentious elements. I've talked about his comments on Ed Sheeran's "Bad Habits." The truth is, Beato hates autotune as much as he hates how every song in 2019 used trap beats. The highest complement he gives when reacting to a modern song is when he says: "It's a song!" This means real instruments played on the track and the track more or less fits into a verse-chorus-verse with a bridge located somewhere. Instrumentals such as a guitar solo is a bonus. 

DIDN'T GET THE CHANCE TO FEEL THE WORLD AROUND ME. I like watching theory channels like Beato, David Bennett Piano, Mic the Snare, and others because they did the work that I gave up on. My dreams of making my own music fades every day, but the joy I find writing about others' music. But I question daily, "What gives me the right to talk about music? Who am I but a failed musician?" But then I think about how much music is more than just theory and understanding it. When I was playing classical guitar, it was reading stories about Beethoven, Bach, and the great composers that made me dig into their works. Sometimes musical theory influences a song; sometimes knowing about it helps listeners appreciate it more; and sometimes it's just extraneous information. But that's why I'm so glad that YouTube exists and that creators exist to put out this content in the world. And that challenges me to work harder in order to create a niche of content that the Internet will appreciate. Today, was much more about my thoughts inspired by the song, rather than facts about it. For a better analysis of the song, refer to my October 16th post. As for your assessment of my blog, please go easy on me.

Read “Easy On Me” by Adele on Genius

Official Music Video:

Lyric Video:

Live version:

And finally, Rick Beato reacting to "Easy on Me":