"I Drink Wine" is a song by English singer Adele from her fourth studio album, 30 (2021). Adele co-wrote the song with its producer, Greg Kurstin. It became available as the album's seventh track on 19 November 2021, when it was released by Columbia Records. It is a ballad with gospel influences reminiscent of church music and incorporates a piano and organ in its instrumentation. It is about letting go of one's ego and addresses Adele's divorce from Simon Konecki, comprising arduous realisations about the condition of her marriage and life.
"I Drink Wine" generally received positive reviews from music critics, some of whom viewed it as one of Adele's best songs and a career highlight. It reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Iceland, New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, Canada, and Sweden and entered the charts in various other countries. Joe Talbot directed the music video for "I Drink Wine", which depicts Adele floating through a river and exploring a forest while drinking a glass of wine. Adele performed the song for her television specials and at the Brit Awards 2022, which was positively received. In addition, "I Drink Wine" impacted radio airplay in Italy on 4 November 2022 as the album's third single.
Background
Adele began working on her fourth studio album in 2018. She filed for divorce from her husband, Simon Konecki, in September 2019, which inspired the album. Adele undertook therapy sessions after experiencing anxiety. The years following the divorce plagued her, especially due to the effect it had on her son. Adele decided to have regular conversations with him, which she recorded following advice from her therapist. These conversations inspired her to 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. Adele released "Easy on Me" as the lead single from the album, entitled 30, on 14 October 2021.
Adele co-wrote the song "I Drink Wine" with its producer Greg Kurstin, who had produced three songs for her third studio album, 25 (2015)"Hello", "Million Years Ago", and "Water Under the Bridge". She viewed "I Drink Wine" as reminiscent of the work of Elton John and Bernie Taupin and wrote it for herself and a friend during a time when she was taking things too personally. The song's lyrics were Adele's attempt to explain why she needed to mature to be more available in their friendship. Its first verse was inspired by an emotional six-hour conversation she had with James Corden while returning home from a shared family trip, in which he expressed being overpowered by "work stuff and the internet, and all those things". Originally 15 minutes long, the song was shortened upon her label's request: "Listen, everyone loves you, but no one's playing a 15-minute song on radio." Adele included a recording about moments of diffidence and a conversation about her remorse and relationship with remembrance in the final version, which a different friend had suggested she record.
Adele announced the album's tracklist on 1 November 2021, which included "I Drink Wine" as the seventh track. Upon the reveal, the song received attention on the Internet and began trending on Twitter, as fans speculated it was the track Adele had alluded to in an earlier interview with British Vogue: "Oh, that is destruction, It's me going out and getting drunk at a bar. Drinking liquor. I start arguments if I drink liquor. I can handle my wine, I could drink five bottles of wine and have a normal conversation." Varietys Chris Willman commented that it was "the track that Adele-aholics have already decided is their favorite; they don't even need to hear it, with that title. It won't be a letdown".
Adele revealed that three songs were in contention for release as the lead single, including one she described as "very sort of '70s, like piano, singer-songwriter-y, [with] a whole band on it, but just very Carpenters, like very Elton". Rolling Stone announced in November 2021 that "I Drink Wine" would be released as 30s second single. The song became available for digital download on 30, which was released on 19 November. "Oh My God" was eventually chosen as the second single instead. In October 2022, Billboard reported that "I Drink Wine" would be promoted as the third single from the album. The song was sent for radio airplay in Italy on 4 November 2022.