The Meaning Behind Adele's Talk with Her Son on "My Little Love"

August 17, 2024

It's all about divorce, babe.

Adele is back and breaking hearts with the release of her fourth studio album, 30. The singer previously said that the album would detail her divorce from Simon Konecki, who she was married to for three years and with whom she shares nine-year-old son, Angelo.

In "My Little Love," the third track on the album, Adele gets vulnerable like never before. A candid conversation between Adele and Angelo, as well as a solemn voice note in which the singer reflects on the grief and loneliness following her split from Konecki, offer listeners a glimpse into the notoriously private singer's interior life.

The lyrics seem to refer directly to Angelo, with the song beginning, "My little love / I see your eyes widen like an ocean / When you look at me so full of my emotions / I'm findin' it hard to be here sincerely / I know you feel lost, it's my fault completely."

The song then cuts to a recorded conversation between the mother and son, with Adele asking Angelo, "Tell me you love me." He sweetly replies, "I love you a million percent."

Further along in the song, their conversation takes a more serious route, with Adele telling her son that she's dealing with "big feelings recently."

- Like how?
- Just, like, mummy, I'm, I'm, the feeling that I have. Like, um, I feel a bit confused
- Why?
- I don't know. And I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing
- Oh, at all?
- At all

Despite splitting from Konecki, Adele later lets her son know that she still loves his father, telling Angelo, "I love your dad 'cause he gave you to me. You're half me and you're half daddy."

At the end, the song cuts to a solo voice note of Adele crying as she attempts to navigate a newfound sense of loneliness after leaving Konecki.

I'm having a bad day, I'm having a very anxious day
I feel very paranoid, I feel very stressed
Um, I have a hangover, which never helps, but
I feel like today is the first day since I left him that I feel lonely
And I never feel lonely, I love being on my own
I always preferred being on my own than being with people
And I feel like maybe I've been, like, overcompensating
And being out and stuff like that to keep my mind off of him
And I feel like today, I'm home and I wanna be at home
I just wanna watch TV and curl up in a ball and
Be in my sweats and stuff like that, but I just feel really lonely
I feel a bit frightened that I might feel like this a lot

During the singer's One Night Only 2-hour CBS special, the Grammy winner told Oprah Winfrey that she felt as though she "disappointed" her son.

"I've been obsessed with the nuclear family my whole life because I never came from one," she said. "I just, from a very young age, promised myself that when I had kids, that we'd stay together. We would be that united family. And I tried for a really, really long time... I was just so disappointed for my son. I was so disappointed for myself, and I thought I was gonna be the one that stopped doing those bloody patterns all the time."

Read all the lyrics to "My Little Love" below.

My little love
I see your eyes widen like an ocean
When you look at me so full of my emotions
I'm findin' it hard to be here sincerely
I know you feel lost, it's my fault completely

- Tell me you love me
- I love you a million percent

I don't recognise myself in the coldness of the daylight
So I ain't surprised you can read through all of my lies
I feel so bad to be here when I'm so guilty
I'm so far gone and you're the only one who can save me

- Oi, I feel like you don't love me
- Why do you feel like that?
- Do you like me?
- You know mummy doesn't like anyone else like I like you, right?

I'm holdin' on (Barely)
Mama's got a lot to learn (It's heavy)
I'm holdin' on (Catch me)
Mama's got a lot to learn (Teach me)

- Mummy's been having a lot of big feelings recently
- Like how?
- Just, like, mummy, I'm, I'm, the feeling that I have. Like, um, I feel a bit confused
- Why?
- I don't know. And I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing
- Oh, at all?
- At all
- And that would make me go...

My little love
Tell me, do you, you feel the way my past aches?
When you lay on me, can you hear the way my heart breaks?
I wanted you to have everything I never had
I'm so sorry if what I've done makes you feel sad

- I love your dad 'cause he gave you to me. You're half me and you're half daddy
- Oh

I'm holdin' on (Barely)
Mama's got a lot to learn (It's heavy)
I'm holdin' on (Catch me)
Mama's got a lot to learn (Teach me)

As an associate editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, Chelsey keeps a finger on the pulse on all things celeb news. She also writes on social movements, connecting with activists leading the fight on workers' rights, climate justice, and more. Offline, she’s probably spending too much time on TikTok, rewatching Emma (the 2020 version, of course), or buying yet another corset.

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