This is a gorgeous cover, right? I know I’m an Adele-loonie, but this cover just feels soooo iconic. And Adele deserves it too – Adele is breaking every record out there, just by being herself and having fun and being a total professional. The Time interview – which you can read here – took place in November, as Adele was promoting the album in NYC. She was sort of surprised by the reaction to her album by Americans in particular, but at least she’s not insulting us. Yay! Some highlights:
She has “no idea” how she sold so many records: “It’s a bit ridiculous. I’m not even from America. Maybe they think I’m related to the Queen. Americans are obsessed with the royal family.”
She hates the word “brand”: “They all use that word. It makes me sound like a fabric softener, or a packet of crisps.”
She doesn’t want to be an a—hole: “Some artists, the bigger they get, the more horrible they get, and the more unlikable. I don’t care if you make an amazing album—if I don’t like you, I ain’t getting your record. I don’t want you being played in my house if I think you’re a bastard.”
Being raised in Tottenham by a single mom: “The environment in which my kid is growing up couldn’t be further away from the way I grew up. But there was never any embarrassment about showing love in my family.”
Taking a break to have son Angelo: “I was very conscious to make sure that our bond was strong and unbreakable. I had to get to that point before I’d come back.”
Her relationship with Simon Konecki. “We’re in a grownup, adult, mature relationship. I didn’t want to write about us, because I didn’t want to make us feel uncomfortable… Can you imagine if I was singing about texting? You would never get me singing about having a drink in the club.”
She writes music the old-school way: “I’m not precious about writing credits—it’s whatever makes the best song. But I can’t do that. I can’t write a song based on a track… I write a song from beginning to end. I don’t go in sections. It’s a story… I’m not saying my album is incredible, but there’s conviction in it. And I believe the f-ck out of myself on this album.”
She’s not all about social media: “It’s ridiculous that high-profile people have that much access to the public. How am I supposed to write a real record if I’m waiting for half a million likes on a photo? That ain’t real.”
She didn’t want her album to be streamed: “I don’t use streaming. I buy my music. I download it, and I buy a physical [copy] just to make up for the fact that someone else somewhere isn’t. It’s a bit disposable, streaming. I know that streaming music is the future, but it’s not the only way to consume music,” she says. She believes “music should be an event.”
What she thinks of the comparisons to Taylor Swift (just with the streaming thing): “It was amazing. I love her—how powerful she is. We’ll get lumped together now because of it, but I think we would both feel the ability to say yes or no to things even if we weren’t successful.”She thinks we should slow down: “The speed with which we discover and get over things is too fast. I’m frightened that I’m not going to be able to relate to my kid.”
She also tells Time Magazine that she’s already thinking ahead to her tour and how Angelo is going to come with her. She hasn’t been on tour since 2011, right? That’s when she had to cancel tour dates because of her voice. As for the rest of it… the one thing that bothers me is subscribing this goddess-like 20/20 vision to Adele, like she planned it out to take an extended hiatus when she was the biggest thing in music. I just don’t believe she had it planned out like that – she’s smart, but not cunning. It wasn’t some sort of scheme. She met a guy, she fell in love and she got pregnant quickly, irrespective of what was going on with her career. And I like that Adele said something nice about Taylor Swift, at long last. Now Taylor looks like the Mean Girl who won’t even acknowledge Adele’s presence.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
That cover is stunning.
+1000 Her face and bone structure is just fcking flawless. Her stunning beauty is underrated IMO because she’s thought of as ‘overweight.’ Her face is one of the top 10 IMO. It’s up there with Liz Taylor, Angelina, Halle, Sophia – just BAM! FACE!
Even though she’s significantly come down in weight, if she’s even a size 11/12 these days I’ll eat my hat.
That’s what annoys all f outta me. People that couldn’t touch Adele’s bone structure, who look like horses or trolls that live under bridges, being called ‘hot,’ and ‘beautiful’ because of a hairdo or a pair of long legs, or being a size 0.
Agree, she has a gorgeous face, beautiful bone structure. When she lost a little weight it showed even more.
Truth! Adele’s face is BEAUTIFUL.
I love how she calls her son “my kid”. She’s the opposite of pretentious.
Well said, Bossykat! Here’s to Queen Adele 🙂
I think she has an amazing face…but I think they really went overboard with the make-up on that cover. She doesn’t need such heavy cheek contouring with the bold lip with the strong eye.
Pretty lady
Like Tom Hardy, perhaps? 😀
Thought exactly the same thing. Maybe she needs to have a quiet word on how to handle it all gracefully before all his bridges run out…
LOL!
I was thinking about him when I read that. I don’t think all of the artists become bigger a-holes but some of them do ie Tom Hardy.
It’s nice to see an artist with true talent being so down to earth. Can you imagine what she’d be like raised in the States and Disney got hold of her? She’d be a donut licking brat like the rest of them
LOL! So True!
i really like how they do her cover.
just her name and no fussy copy or other words around her person (only on the masthead). it’s like a throwback to the 50s and 60s TIME covers but with a modern twist.
(here for comparison–i think hers is very much like Callas’s or Thelonius Monks’s, for instance)
http://time.com/vault/subject/music/
i wonder if this is a conscious decision to go down this aesthetic route, considering the allusion of the article that she’s somewhat of a throwback.
I like it too – what else do they need to say?
I don’t think the cover is that great. I don’t like her hair and the bottom part of her face looks off. She needs to lose the fake Patti Labelle eyelashes.
And by the way Adele not all Americans are obsessed with the royal family.
However my Husky pup almost made me like you. I have only heard Adele sing on TV maybe about two times. So when her special aired on TV several nights ago I decided to check her out while I was cleaning. Her voice sounded quite nice but I just don’t like all her depressing songs. I had the volume turned up because I was going from room to room and wanted to hear her. Adele was singing the song “Someone Like You” and when she hit the long note someone like Youooooooooooooo, my Husky who was near the TV at that time started howling. I’m not a fan of Adele but I guess my puppy is.
I don’t agree with her that the bigger some artists get the bigger assholes they become.
Chances are if you were a small idiot when you had a small job and a few bucks, you will be the same idiot with a bigger job and more money. People don’t magically change over night.
Drugs, love, money and fame don’t change people, they just reveal all kinds of facets of their personalities.
This. And she has what? 3 albums now? That’s not exactly a huge library.
I think that is what she means: when the power is given (earned of not), the lowest part of personality comes up.
i wonder if its because she almost experienced it herself? was it her Rolling Stone interview when she said that at the height of her 21 fame, she’s becoming so used to being waited hand and foot that she almost blew up on someone over laundry? and that she had to physically make an effort to return back to earth, even though it’s easier just to be a spoiled princess?
maybe this is why she went back to work at a pokey cd shop after her first 2 grammy and go underground after 21.
it also helps that her entourage is basically the same people who were with her since she was a nobody.
btw, i just realized that her background singer is Amanda Brown! from The Voice!
but would being Adele’s background singer (especially with an extensive tour coming up) curtail her efforts to become a solo singer? i hope her all the best. i love her in the Voice.
There are a few artists that are not that big, and are still a**holes.
What also happens to them is that they protect themselves, to get away from negativity and many times they end up surrounded by yes-people and enablers and that is absolutely negative and sometimes fatal.
I think some people can get weird and spoiled when they get more famous, and like Ennie said, they get insulated with yes men.
Like what it took to make Captain America. If we view that as Fame it would only enhance existing qualities. If you were a mean girl or jerk before you were famous on a smaller level being famous only enhanced those qualities.
I think that’s why she used the word “some.” She wasn’t pigeon-holing everybody. And she probably referenced “the bigger they get” because she was talking about success — something she has experienced.
And I think people can change with success/fame depending on how young they got that success. Obviously there are exceptions, but the ones who seem the most grounded are the ones who seemed to get success past 25. I have to admit I’m a little surprised at how self-aware Adele is given the age she achieved her success. She’s only 4 years older than Justin Bieber but it’s hard for me to think of them as being in the same generation. She and The Weeknd are the same age, yet I don’t think of them as being the same age either.
She’s everything!!! And I’m positive she’ll never become an a-hole.
Gorgeous!
I’m fascinated by her kid’s name, it’s beautiful.
I have this dilema with Beyoncé: while I hate her antics and find her shallow and hypocrite, I can’t help but putting her songs on my playlist. She’s one of my top singers :/
I loved Beyonce when I was a teenager, but her antics have turned me off so much. I still like some of her songs and of course she is stunning, but something about her is so fabricated and unreal. I just don’t think we can see the real person anymore like we used to. And I hate that she insists on sharing writing credits when she didn’t write anything at all. Things like that.
And nobody will make me believe she carried Blue. I still believe that fake belly video. No pregnant bellies do that, it was not the dress, etc. and for me that really did it. That was the moment I knew I had had enough.
Yeah. Yesterday I was watching Life is but a dream, and she’s sounded so humble-bragging and stupid that I couldn’t make it to the end. And while her voice is amazing, her lyrics are pure trash.
I love Adele but that cover is one of the worst pictures I have seen of her. The make up WAY to heavy handed. She is a beautiful woman and I just want to wipe it all off her face.
Yes! I think it’s what she likes, unfortunately. Someone needs to offer their services to give her a more natural look. It’s kabuki-like.
Yes! Bold eye, bold lip, bold cheek. It’s just too much for a cover. It looks like stage make up seen up close.
She’s always had big hair and makeup. And she pulls it off, IMO. I still think she’s stunning.
*Heading out to buy Time Magazine*
* Still all kinds of sad her tour is sold out*
Omg, just love her too. Did you all see her concert on NBC? When she started crying, I started crying–I was just overcome. I always used to laugh at the people that cried or fainted over boy bands, but now that I have Adele, I understand!
What I dont get is why Swifty should say something about Adele. Kaiser your obvious dislike for her is honestly getting ridiculous, and Im not even a fan of her. She was no asked about her in an interview , so why should she go out of her way to talk about her in her own social media?
+1.
I don’t understand it either. Their music is different sounding, they don’t run in the same circles. Who cares what Swift thinks of Adele? Enough with trying to start “girl fights” already.
“Enough with trying to start “girl fights” already.”
Yes, this!!!
Honestly, maybe she went dark so as not to compete…Also not a huge fan – I like them both, but the need to prove Adele is better is getting ridiculous….
Don’t read any duchess Kate threads if you think the dislike for swifty is strong.
I snorted very unbecomingly when I read this. For real!
Yep. That comment was just weird.
Completely agree.
…and the Jennifer Aniston ones. Enough.
Such a beautiful face! her eyes are just amazing! Talented and beautiful!
I really love Adele,. I really like the fact that she is not into the whole obsessed celeb culture ww arw drastically face everyday. I can relate to her.
Here, have National Treasure David Attenborough narrating the opening to the Hello video as if Adele were some exotic wild creature in one of his nature documentaries:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=enu-qR0H_uk
hash tag flip phones!
goes indoors in search of landlines.
he is such an international treasure.
Thanks for the share Sixer. I love David Attenborough and that vid is a treat. 😀
@Sixer, thank you so much for that snippet, and David Attenborough’s dulcet tones. I am grinning like an idiot first thing on a chilly Tuesday morning. I always find going on You Tube is like going down a rabbit hole, once you click onto one thing I can spend hours hopping from one interesting video to another. I miss Radio 1!
I really like Adele as a human being. She is very relatable to the masses. I like her voice, but I don’t find it or her songs incredible. I just don’t get the absolute hysteria over her music.
+1
She has a great voice and I like the songs but somehow they all sound very similar. If you told me that she wrote Hello or When we where young for one of her first two LPs I would believe it.
She seems like a terrific person though, great interview.
Adele’s music is very pedestrian. I do however understand why people like her. She doesn’t sample music. There’s no autotune. She has a nice voice. She plays her own music. That’s missing in mainstream music.
This
Spot on.
I have to roll my eyes over the quote about how she sold so many records. Like obviously people are buying your albums because they think you have a great voice/songs. I can understand that maybe you don’t want to come out right and say that in fear it might sound like you’re bragging. But there’s other ways you can sound humble.
There are many people with great songs (sometimes much greater) and voices that don’t sell anywhere near that amount of albums, if I was Adele I would be surprised that all those people chose to buy my stuff as well.
She’s good, but imho not THAT good to be the undisputed number one in her industry. And I’m not saying it to be negative about Adele. She is a talented artist and seems like a great person.
Celebrity culture is so bad. I love Adele even bought 25 but do we have to hang to her every word as if its gospel. 19 was good 21 was amazing 25 is average if we are being honest
If we’re being honest basing it on the music and not Adele I agree. I do like her attitude on many things. She’s a girl I would be friends with.
More arrogant and horrible…
This describes Christina Aguilera for me. Not saying Adele was referring to her, but to me Christina had such a potential to be a legend like Mariah, except she kept exaggerating her voice and choosing really bad music and horrible makeovers that she basically ruined her own career. She is also not taking care of her voice. All that screaming and binge drinking, this is why she hasn’t released new material and even her fans are sick of her being on a reality show. She really messed up.
There are several I thought of, when reading her comment. Some were jerks, others became lazy or just stupid with their PR/social media.
I love Tottenham! Such a cute little village.
I don’t think you’ve been to Tottenham.
Red looks really good on her.
I can still like someones music while seeing them as an asshole. A good singer has to do something really awful for me to be like “I just can’t buy their stuff anymore.”
I’m just glad people are going all “goo goo gaa gaa” over a woman that actually has talent and doesn’t use her body to get famous. It’s so refreshing.
Okay…. So we get a snippy soundbite that Americans are buying her album because we think she’s related to the queen and are obsessed with royalty. Derrrrherrrp. I thought she a WASN’T trying to be an a$$hole.
lol exactly
Lighten up, it was a joke. Although to be fair, I’m not sure where this idea that Americans are obsessed with the royal family comes from. I don’t give two flips about them, nor do I know anyone who does.
I adore her and her music and can’t stop comparing her to Barbra Streisand. She’s this generation’s Barbra.
I think the media creates the rivalry between Taylor and Adele …. who says they are not friendly? Didn’t they go for dinner in London a while back? There were no photos.
And i could definitely see Taylor getting friendly with Adele just to piss off Katy Perry. LOL!
Swifty’s goal in life just became to add Adele to her stable of IG selfies.
She probably wasn’t sure how to approach, but now that the door is open, you know she’s plotting how she can meet up with Adele.
Love Adele and I still can’t stop playing “Hello” on endless repeat. Gorgeous and the woman can sang.
i don’t get it
I walked by this magazine on the table today and had to double take. She’s lovely.
” How am I supposed to write a real record if I’m waiting for half a million likes on a photo? That ain’t real.”
And that goes double for other artists–like writers–who by industry demands are supposed to maintain some huge social media platform/activity. When does anyone get any time to, you know, actually _create_?
“I don’t use streaming. I buy my music. I download it, and I buy a physical [copy] just to make up for the fact that someone else somewhere isn’t. It’s a bit disposable, streaming.”
Wise woman. Everyone should have a physical copy of their MP3 collection on a SD card or hard drive. It isn’t really yours if it’s in some corporation’s cloud. 😉
Fame simply magnifies what’s already present.
Her comment about big stars must be a reference to her experience with that singer from Blur, who she said turned out to be a huge disappointment and a bit of an arse after she had issues working with him. I think he told the media that she was really insecure.
Anyway, I’m glad Adele is on the Time cover. That’s enough for me to forgive Time for putting that dreadful Angela Merkel on their cover the other week.
I don’t know , I don’t find Adele relatable. She is way too talented and too beautiful to be relatable (and part of me thinks because of that her success is just too easy), and yet does she have other interests other than her music one could relate to?
It is nice that she seems to be a down to Earth person. She just doesn’t have anything for me to get my interest caught on.
I’m not the hugest Adele fan and am a little irked they play her on kroq (she’s alternative rock? Um, no), but this cover is all kinds of beautiful. She does have a very striking face.