Adele's first solo release in five years, "Easy On Me" is a piano-led ballad written in the wake of her split from husband Simon Konecki. The song is a plea for understanding addressed to Simon, their son Angelo Adkins, and the world at large. Explaining the title phrase, Adele told Vogue: "It's not like anyone's having a go at me, but it's like, I left the marriage. Be kind to me as well."

Adele tells Angelo that she was "just a child" when she married his father and asks his forgiveness for breaking up the family. Her message to Konecki is that she tried hard to make their marriage work, but they were both deeply stuck in their ways. She tried to put him and their son before herself, but eventually gave up and put herself first. I had no time to choose what I chose to do So go easy on me

Adele wrote the song for her 30 album in the year of her separation. It was the first tune Adele penned for the record; she wrote nothing else for six months after because she thought she'd said it all in "Easy On Me."