To Be Loved (Adele song)
The song is about the sacrifices one must make upon falling in love and addresses Adele's divorce from Simon Konecki, attempting to justify to her son why their marriage did not succeed.
[3][4] These conversations inspired her return to the studio and the album took shape as a body of work that would explain to her son why she left his father.
[6][7] They finished an early version of "To Be Loved" in a Brentwood house without any studio equipment, with Adele recording vocal takes on her MacBook.
[14] Rolling Stone's Althea Legaspi described the rendition as "devastatingly gorgeous", and Billboard's Heran Mamo called it "casually soul-crushing".
[19] Jesso Jr. played the piano, and produced the song with Everett, who recorded it at Will's Grandma's House in California and engineered it with Ivan Wayman.
Randy Merrill mastered it at Sterling Sound in New Jersey, and Matt Scatchell and Tom Elmhirst mixed it at Electric Lady Studios in New York.
[33] Slant Magazine's Eric Mason described the song as "the internal monologue of a Broadway actor who's been unexpectedly left alone on stage".
[43] Jason Lipshutz of Billboard deemed it the most dexterous moment of the album and the "most mesmerizing powerhouse vocal performance" of Adele's career.
[37][45][46] Writing for Clash, Robin Murray thought her prolonged and dulcet vocal lines drew full strength from her throat and further compared them to vocalised pirouettes performed by Houston during her prime.
[46] McCormick described "To Be Loved" as an eye-catching ballad and opined that its final vocals were almost flabbergasting to hear, the crude emotion achieving something "beyond musical finesse".
[32] David Cobbald of The Line of Best Fit considered "To Be Loved" both lyrically and melodically strong, as well as "one of Adele's best vocal performances to date", but thought its replayability was compromised by its theatricality.
[50] Writing for MusicOMH, Graeme Marsh thought she went overboard feeling sorry for herself and came across as if she was trying to convince herself she did everything to prevent her divorce, a recurring theme on 30, but described the song as stunning nonetheless.
The Sydney Morning Herald's Robert Moran placed the song at number three and deemed it worthy of a standing ovation due to Adele's stentorian vocals reminiscent of Houston.
[52] Lindsay Zoladz of The New York Times included it at number six and stated that it was emblematic of her being "regal as ever", but freshly open to the world and daring enough to get a little sullied.
[34] The Line of Best Fit listed the song at number 37, and Cobbald stated that it was a standout on 30 and "arguably Adele's best vocal performance to date", topping off her position as the "queen of heartbroken millennials".
[55] Pitchfork's Owen Myers placed it at number 39 and praised her vocal control on it: "She pushes her voice way past the elegant restraint that is her signature, as it curdles into squalls and ragged screams.
"[29] Andrew Unterberger of Billboard included "To Be Loved" at number 45 and remarked that Adele "sinks her heart, soul and diaphragm into [the] personal anthem about refusing to regret not looking before she leaps" over its deservedly lengthy duration.
