Rumour has it... what we know so far about Adele's new album

It's been three years, six months, four hours and nine seconds since the last Adele album. During this painstaking silence, the singer achieved more than most artists have for the entirety of their careers: she topped the richest UK musician under 30 list, was announced as one of the best selling artists of all time, won an Oscar for her Bond theme tune and was held responsible for sustaining the music business (almost) singlehandedly. So when some highly speculative news of her third album arrived curtsey of the World Music awards' Twitter account this week, it was no wonder the industry went to meltdown. World peace will be restored! Financial crisis officially over! The saviour of the broken-hearted hath returned!

Unfortunately the excitement was short-lived, when Martin Millis, chairman of Beggars Group, which owns Adele’s label XL Recordings, confirmed to Billboard that there was “no truth” in these allegations. But what do we know? What could be in store for the woman once described as "the punk-rock Barbra Streisand"?

Rumoured title

A crack team of scientists and detectives have deduced that the image below – taken from Adele's Instagram account – offers clues to the singer's new album title. By the looks of it, the new album will follow in the footsteps of her previous record titles, 19 and 21, and will be called 25.

Rumoured producers

Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford, producer of Arctic Monkeys, has been named as one of the producers for the new album, with singer-songwriter Kid Harpoon, who has previously worked with Florence & The Machine and Jessie Ware also contributing. And after their winning collaboration on 21 and Skyfall, she also told Rolling Stone in 2013: "I’m definitely going to visit with Paul Epworth and talk about doing that again." But who can tell what will make the final cut? After all, this is the very woman who turned her nose up at songs crafted by one of the world's biggest producers, Rick Rubin, binning some of the songs he worked on for 21.

Rumoured collaborations

Last year, rapper Wiz Khalifa boasted that he'd worked with the singer on his new album: "I got a lot of guest appearances that I've already done, but none of them have been cleared for the album yet," Khalifa told Fuse News. "I got songs with Miley [Cyrus], I got songs with Adele … I want to do something with Lady Gaga really bad." When his album, Blacc Hollywood, arrived however, there was no sign of the singer's collaboration. It's fantastically unlikely, but perhaps she saved it for herself?

In less surprising news, Phil Collins has also described working with the singer on future material. "I've just started to work with Adele," he said, before describing the experience of writing with the singer as "educational" and "an eye-opener"." She contacted me to write together," said the former Genesis drummer. "I wasn't actually too aware [of her]. I live in a cave. [But] she's achieved an incredible amount and I really love her voice and I love some of that stuff she's done."

As well as calling OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder back in the studio for album No 3, Adele took a picture of herself and Katy Perry recently, which in 2014 is enough watertight evidence to start a rumour that they're married with seven children.

Rumoured lyrical content

Famed for her open-hearted, autobiographical themes, Adele's most adored songs have come from a very relatable story of broken-hearted wistfulness. But while her previous songs were about the breakdown of a relationship, and the triumph felt on the journey back up to emotional stability, the singer has since fallen into more comfortable circumstances. She and boyfriend Simon Konecki had a baby boy, Angelo, in June last year, which will undoubtedly inform her sound. "I’ve been out of the loop, really," she told Rolling Stone in 2013. "I’ve just been singing my baby nursery rhymes, so I don’t really know what’s cool and what’s not."

But aside from the babies, the industry awards, an MBE, and the unconditional love from her fans – there's one other potent life experience that Adele may channel in her third album: the singer passed her driving test nine months ago.

Rumoured release date

The album is reportedly finished. So it's likely, according to sources, that Adele may 'do a Beyonce' and release her album with very little warning. The Mirror, using predictive forces unbeknown to the Guardian, have approximated its arrival in October or November this year.