Adele



Adele Adkins (known only by her first name Adele) is a British R&B singer who has gained fame for her soulful vocal performances. She won Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Performance for "Chasing Pavements" from her album 19 at the 2009 Grammy Awards.

As of 2011 she is flying high with the commercial and critical success of her second album 21. In the UK, Adele is the first living artist to achieve the feat of two top five hits in both the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since The Beatles in 1964. 21 has also spent eleven consecutive weeks at No. 1, the longest ever by a female solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, surpassing Madonna's nine weeks at number one back in 1990. On top of that the album has spent 23 non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, more than any other female artist.

Her success in North America came somewhat by a twist of fate. She was scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live in October 2008, the same night that featured Sarah Palin as a guest star. The stunt with Palin gave SNL its highest ratings in years, and just so happened to expose Adele to a whole new audience. Her worldwide fame has only been growing since then.


 * 19 (2008)
 * 21 (2011)
 * 25 (2015)
 * 30 (2021)


 * Audience Participation Song: "Rolling In the Deep" as seen in her Live at the Royal Albert Hall concert video.
 * Beehive Hairdo
 * Big Beautiful Woman: Not only is she quite attractive, but she's been praised as a role model for being a talented and successful performer with a full figure.
 * Break Up Song: Pretty much the entirety of 21. Justified, as it was written after a particularly messy breakup.
 * Creator Breakdown: Probably inverted and justified. Adele was actually nervous when trying to come for songs for 21 because she wasn't getting many ideas. After writing one song about how she felt unappreciated by her (cheating) boyfriend, and having him listen to it, they fell out and she wrote down most of the songs for the album. "Someone Like You" was the also the result of not only her not wanting to always sound like a bitch but her confronting the fact that she isn't totally over him and he's married to someone else.
 * Feed the Mole: Did this with her staff to find out who was leaking stories about her to the press.
 * Grammy Awards: At the 2009 awards "Chasing Pavements" earned one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Adele received Best New Artist. At the 2012 awards 21 won six Grammys, including Album, Record and Song of the Year. So not only did Adele tie Beyoncé for the most Grammys won by a female artist in a single night, she became just the sixth person to win the "big three" in a single night and only the second artist to win all four General Field categories (Best New Artist + Big Three), a feat that hadn't been matched for thirty-one years. Wow. Just wow.
 * Heroic BSOD: In an interview, she remembers crying because of her vocal illness, and losing her voice.
 * Heroic RROD: She's spent 2011 struggling with a vocal illness brought on partly by overtaxing her voice, which has forced her to cancel a lot of tour dates in America.
 * Incredibly Long Note: There's one in the middle of the first verse of "Rumour Has It".
 * YMMV. It's only six beats and it fades quick.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: "I wish nothing but the best for you two..." A theme in "Someone Like You".
 * Love Nostalgia Song: The very bittersweet "Someone Like You".
 * Love Will Lead You Back: An unusually upbeat version of this in "I'll Be Waiting".
 * Manic Pixie Dream Guy: The guy in "Daydreamer" seems to be this.
 * New Sound Album: 21, arguably. "Rolling In the Deep" and "Rumour Has It", the leading two tracks, have a strong R&B/soul element similar to her first record... which is pretty much completely different in sound and style from the rest of the album.
 * Numerical Theme Naming: Her albums are named after how old she was when they were recorded.
 * The Rival: The British music press seems to be quite keen on setting her up as a rival to Lady Gaga. The singer herself doesn't seem to buy into it.
 * Shout-Out: Her song, "I Found a Boy" uses the lyrics and the melody to the line "Stand By Me" and even used that title when it was in a work-in-progress. (Though lyrically, the songs are very different)
 * Signature Song: Previously "Chasing Pavements", but now unquestionably "Rolling In the Deep".
 * Singing Voice Dissonance: When she speaks, she retains her very strong East London accent, but you couldn't tell it from her singing voice.
 * After she swept the 2012 Grammy Awards, "Fank you" trended worldwide on Twitter.
 * The Something Song: She has covered "Lovesong" by The Cure.
 * Supergroup: As part of "Truth+Soul" with Amy Winehouse and Aloe Blacc for the L.A. Noire soundtrack.
 * What Does He See In Her: The other woman in "Rumour Has It".
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: What "Someone Like You" is all about.
 * Woman Scorned: "Rolling In the Deep". The song may acknowedege that she can't be in a relationship anymore but her rage is still there.
 * Younger Than They Look: Does she look like she's only 24?