Adele

by Chas Newkey-Burden

  The rumours of duets persisted, with the most frequently named partner being Beyonce. The American soulstress had vigorously praised Adele, something that she finds hard to come to terms with. ‘It’s weird,’ she said. ‘I was meant to meet her at Saturday Night Live when I played. She asked for a ticket but then couldn’t come – she had to go fly somewhere else. I’m the biggest Beyonce fan! Destiny’s Child are my life. They kind of made me not just wanna be plain pop, like [with an] auto-tuned, “effect”ed voice. Hours on end I used to try and copy Beyonce, I love her, I think she’s amazing. I love all three of them.’

  In 2011, Beyonce had been the surprise headliner at the Glastonbury Festival at the end of June. She might have been thought too mainstream to play such an alternative event, but once there she absolutely commanded the stage, capturing the imagination of the audience on the night and the millions following it from home.

  Were it not for laryngitis, claimed the Sun, Adele would have joined Beyonce on-stage for a duet. Adele had talked about the throat condition after the Brits earlier in the year and now it meant she had to turn down Beyonce’s offer. ‘Adele was absolutely gutted, Beyonce is one of her big heroes. It would have been the stuff of dreams to perform with her – the gig of her life. But docs have told her she’s got to rest her voice or risk damaging her prized asset. She hopes one day they can do something together.’ Adele’s illness had already affected her latest US tour, which she cancelled earlier in the month with great regret. Yet she was already making plans to reschedule later in the summer when she hoped to be fully restored.

  The day after the Glastonbury show, Adele got to hear Beyonce sing at an intimate concert in London’s Shepherds Bush Empire. Other famous faces in the crowd alongside Adele included Jessie J, Tinie Tempah, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jay-Z and cast members from the television show Glee. The star-studded guest list also included Ewan McGregor, Alexandra Burke, Stella McCartney, Sugababes star Jade Ewen, JLS singer JB and Paloma Faith. Adele looked fantastic in a low-key way, as was appropriate for a gig in a small former theatre. She wore a long black blazer, matching leggings and an understated multi-coloured top. Jessie J was more striking: her multi-coloured top was louder than Adele’s and she was also on crutches due to a broken foot. All the same, the arrival of Adele, Jessie and Tempah provoked a storm in the venue. ‘It’s safe to say that the crowd practically threw up on themselves with excitement,’ wrote the Mirror’s showbiz correspondents of that moment.

  It wasn’t the first time that Adele had seen Jay-Z on his trip to the UK. ‘Jay has been making the most of his trip over here,’ ran one report. A key part of that fun was meeting with our heroine. ‘It’s not often he is overwhelmed by people when he meets them, but Adele was on top form as usual. She talked him under the table. He was chuckling all the way through their chat. He told her he was going to Glastonbury and she gave him a guide of what to see. She said he must catch Paolo Nutini. She said he was the must-see act of the festival.’

  On-stage at Shepherds Bush, Beyonce was on fine form. She opened her set with ‘Run the World (Girls)’ and at the end of it she included hits such as ‘Listen’, ‘Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)’ and ‘Halo’. ‘You’ll have to forgive me because I’m still high from yesterday,’ she told Adele and the rest of the crowd. Then she did her cover of the Queen hit ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. ‘You know what? There was a song I was supposed to do, but didn’t have time. It’s called “Bohemian Rhapsody”.’

  It had been a wonderful night for all in attendance. Just as Adele was said to be excited to see and meet some of the celebrities in the audience, so some of them were overawed to meet her. Gwyneth Paltrow announced on Twitter that she had ‘swooned’ when she met the singer.

  The following morning, as Adele reflected on a great evening out, news came of her part in another record-breaking achievement. The number of digital albums sold in the UK in 2011 reached the 10 million mark in record time, new data from the official charts company showed. Adele was the key player in this statistic, selling more than 600,000 digital albums, with 21 becoming the first album to pass the 500,000 downloads mark. On the same day, further good news came for her from the other side of the world. Despite the fact that she had never so much as set foot in Australia, let alone performed there, she reached No 1 in both the singles and album charts Down Under when ‘Someone Like You’ knocked LMFAO’s ‘Party Rock Anthem’ off the top.

  The news came hot on the heels of another stunning milestone in the US. The return of 21 to the top of the Billboard Top 200 in June 2011 made it the first UK album this century to clock up ten weeks at No 1, while ‘Rolling in the Deep’ also became the second-longest Hot 100 chart topper by a British female in history.

  As more and more stories broke around Adele, the rock band Linkin Park recorded a live acoustic cover of ‘Rolling in the Deep’ in Germany. They had performed it first on television and then reprised it at the iTunes Festival in London in July 2011. The performance came as part of a five-song encore that was greeted with wild cheers. Former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Sherzinger has also covered the song during a private concert in Monaco.

  On and on came the good news for Adele. In July, ‘Someone Like You’ became the first single of the decade to sell more than a million copies.

  For her part, Adele revealed that her own playlist in 2011 included the eponymous album by Bon Iver: ‘I’m pretty convinced it’s my record of the year already,’ she wrote on her blog. ‘You know when someone’s life flashes before their eyes in a film, and every memory flashes before their eyes. It happens when you listen to him sing, but you survive it!’ She closed the post with a plea to her fans. ‘Please listen if you haven’t already. So, so special! The soundtrack to my heart.’

  There was no doubt that praise by Adele for the American indie-folk singer’s work boosted his sales. Given the scale of her fanbase, an endorsement from Adele was a valuable thing.

  In mid-July, 21 became the biggest-selling digital album of all time in the US. Just one week after Eminem’s Recovery had become the first album to sell one million digital copies, 21 overtook it to claim a significant milestone. There was a pleasing sense of a full-circle here. Having launched her career via online formats such as MySpace, Adele was now the queen of online sales in America. As a US music industry figure commented, her appeal straddled several demographics, from the kids who digitally downloaded individual tracks to older, more considered customers who bought a full album. However, the commentator described her as being first and foremost a ‘full-package artist’, meaning that many of those who enjoyed her singles felt compelled to explore and purchase her entire body of work. This explained the sustained commercial performance of both her albums. As she became the biggest-selling digital artist in US history, 21 returned to the top of the conventional charts in Britain.

  Putting Adele’s fortunes into a wider context, it is worth noting that, alongside Beyonce and Lady Gaga, she was standing at the centre of a female revolution in pop. For many years, it was boy bands that seemed to rule the roost in the charts. Then came young Justin Bieber, whose terrifying level of popularity only underscored the fact that a pretty male face was a sure-fire winner in the pop charts. However, it has since been female acts – and particularly the terrific trio of Adele, Beyonce and Gaga – that increasingly called the shots in the charts. After considering their combined influence, popularity and commercial clout, one can then look at the talent of those who are just behind them in the race: the likes of Rihanna, Leona Lewis, Katy Perry and Nicole Scherzinger. This was true girl power.

  Among all these records, milestones and other developments, Adele was still doing what mattered most to her fans: performing. In May, she played in New York, at the Beacon Theatre in the Upper West Side. One reviewer described Adele, who kicked off with a particularly lively rendition of ‘Hometown Glory’, as ‘dynamic and graceful, delivering casual augmentations to her songs that suggest her musical ease’. Commenting on the ever-entert
aining between-song chatter, the reviewer noted her ‘cheeky, unpretentious presence between songs, dancing self-consciously and glibly dissing that idiot ex-lover who inspired 21’s sad couplets’. It had been a mixed audience and among the comments overheard by the reviewer was: ‘I’m gonna buy this album and send it to that asshole… and also my boyfriend.’ As the crowd left at the end of the night, some were crying, some were whistling, some were smiling. Everyone, it seemed, was moved profoundly in one way or another.

  Significantly, she also appeared at the GAY nightclub in London after the gay pride festival. It was particularly important because Adele had said how she adored her gay friends and gay fans alike and seemed at ease in front of the crowd. By the time she sang ‘Someone Like You’, the atmosphere was one of enormous emotion and mutual admiration. The audience sang along with every word, through both the choruses and the verses. When she sang about finding ‘someone like you’, she pointed at the audience as she sang ‘you’. She had, with exaggeration for comic effect, said that all her friends are gay and added that she played the role of something of a mentor to them. ‘My sex life’s pretty lonely but I’ve got a lot of drama in my life,’ she told gay magazine Attitude. ‘I’m like the agony aunt, they’re always coming over my house at four in the morning in tears.’

  Meanwhile, the good news just kept coming as it was revealed her name had been mentioned in the context of some prestigious events. There was even talk that she would have a special role at the 2012 Olympics in London. And it was Adele who was installed as the bookmakers’ favourite to sing the theme for the next James Bond film. She was the 3/1 favourite, with Beyonce and Leona Lewis behind her. Her track ‘Someone Like You’ had been coveted by filmmakers of all genres and it seemed perfect for a big-screen outing. Adele was in no hurry to close such a deal and said she would be particular about where it might go. ‘I’m holding out for an amazing indie movie,’ she said. ‘It’s a bit too personal, that song, I’m not giving it to fucking Hollywood.’ More specifically, when asked if she would like a song of hers to appear in a certain, popular vampire series, she said, ‘I don’t wanna be on Twilight.’

  With the popularity of big stage productions with their flash and sometimes gaudy costumes and other promotional gimmicks, Adele was a refreshing reminder that there is no need for anything else when the song is superb and the voice delivering it is also special. We are reminded of her performance at the Brits in 2011, when it was just her and a piano on the stage. The following day, it was Adele that people remembered over the huge productions of Take That and others. ‘My music’s not stylised – it’s not sold by image or by my sexuality or aloofness or anything like that,’ she said. ‘I think it would be really bizarre if I started doing gimmicks and stunts – it wouldn’t suit my music.’ It was entirely in keeping with her principled stand that she was uncomfortable with any idea of her music being snapped up by corporations or brands. And yet this was something that many artists did as a matter of course. Selling a song to a company to be used for an advertisement was a massively profitable venture. Indeed, with much music being downloaded illegally, it was one of the few ways remaining to make serious money. While such deals are undoubtedly big payers, these associations damage credibility in the eyes of some purists.

  Speaking of artists who she thinks have ‘sold out’ by going down the endorsement route, Adele said, ‘I think it’s shameful, when you sell out I think it’s really shameful. I have become a brand myself and I ain’t doing shit that people will be, like, “Why’s she done that?” It depends what kind of artist you wanna be but I don’t want my name anywhere near another brand … I found it really unnecessary, there was no need.’

  She was equally opposed to the other money-spinning sidelines that some artists are tempted by, including having their music released in deluxe formats. This can often take the form of the original album with a few B-sides and perhaps a demo or live track thrown in. For a record company, this was a great way of increasing revenue from an album. Adele herself expressed her strong disapproval with her own label when they released such a version of her breakthough 19. She said any act who exploited the deluxe album route would be a ‘fucking desperado’. Indeed, she feared that releases ultimately alienate a performer from their following. ‘B-sides don’t make a record because they’re shit, do you know what I mean?’ she told Q magazine. ‘Just muggin’ off your fans! I’ve bought deluxe ones and I’m “These songs are shit!” And it makes you not love ’em as much, “You’re muggin’ me off!”’

  Adele had never forgotten the feelings she had way back when she was just a fan herself, even as she acquired millions of fans of her own. Her policies on what she would and would not do as an artist were clearly defined. For instance, Adele vowed that she would not perform at any major outdoor festivals again. ‘The thought of an audience that big frightens the life out of me,’ she said. ‘I don’t think the music would work either.’ She felt her material was too slow and mellow to work for a festival audience. As someone who attended festivals as a fan, she made the call about ballads at festivals by following her own tastes and instincts. Unless it was Coldplay on the bill, she did not want to hear any ballads or slow music. Indeed, when she was in the crowd, it was sometimes in a dance music tent. Similarly, just as she wouldn’t play to large festival crowds, she also preferred not to play at London’s massive o2. Her tour promoters had attempted to sell the idea to her by pointing out that playing at smaller venues entailed more dates and more travelling. She told them, ‘I’d rather do 12 years at the Bar Fly [a tiny north London venue] than one night at the o2!’ She added that, having made so many strict decisions about what she will or will not do, she was at peace. For her, these were the choices that she has had to make to remain happy in her own career and life. She accepted that ‘some people think I’m mad’, but for her that was fine.

  There were a few offbeat exceptions to her firm rule. As a big fan of the long-running Australian soap opera Neighbours, she harboured a dream of one day appearing on the soap and performing a cameo song alongside the stuffy Harold Bishop, played by Ian Smith. ‘I love Neighbours and especially Harold,’ the singer said. ‘He plays the tuba so I’d love to ask him to play on some of the tracks. In return I could do a cameo on Neighbours like Lily Allen did. But I have to overcome my fear of flying all that way first.’ Having been in Ugly Betty, a part in Neighbours would be perfectly suited to Adele. After all, this was the woman who defined her Christmas by what happened on the festive soaps.

  Meanwhile, the nominations and awards just kept on coming. In July 2011, it was announced that Adele’s songs were up for no less than seven categories in the MTV video music awards, including Video of the Year award. In that slot she was up against Katy Perry, for the ‘Firework’ promo. The two ladies were also to go head-to-head in six other categories – Best Female Video, Best Pop, Art Direction, Cinematography, Directing and Editing. Other key nominees included Kanye West, Beyonce, Eminem, Thirty Seconds to Mars and Nicki Minaj. Adele described herself as ‘flabbergasted’ by the news of her nominations and offered ‘huge props to Sam Brown the director of “Rolling in the Deep”’. She was quickly booked to perform during the awards ceremony, joining the likes of Chris Brown and Lil Wayne on the bill.

  The same week, she learned she had been nominated for a yet more prestigious honour: a Mercury Prize for 21. She faced competition from PJ Harvey and Elbow and nine other acts. ‘I’m unbelievably chuffed to be nominated for the Mercury. Thank you so, so much, totally unexpected,’ she wrote on her blog. ‘I found out yesterday on my way home from Paris.’ She added her best wishes to the other nominees and her ‘own nod’ to indie band Wild Beasts.

  Reaction to Adele’s nomination was not without controversy. This was not surprising in itself, as dissenting voices are part of the tradition of the annual announcement of Mercury nominees. This time, it was suggested that it was wrong to include Adele in the nominees because, they argued, she had already received e
nough critical and commercial support and the awards that often follow both. Why include such a celebrated and decorated album?

  These doubters misunderstood the essence of the Mercury Prize. Since its inception in 1992, when it was won by indie band Primal Scream, it has existed solely to champion UK music and nominations are made on the basis of the quality of music alone. Both unknown and successful acts are therefore absolute equals as far as the panel is concerned. This is why, in recent years, obscure and accomplished acts alike have won. For every unknown, such as Antony and the Johnsons and Speech Debelle, there were recipients at the height of their powers, such as Franz Ferdinand and Arctic Monkeys.

  The cultural debate on the merit of Adele’s inclusion took place as bookmakers drew up their own lists of who they thought most likely to win. Adele was the favourite, her odds just shorter than those for PJ Harvey with Let England Shake. As discussion over Adele’s inclusion continued, perhaps people were losing sight of the scale of Adele’s achievements and their impact on the music industry.