Thread by @thetimes

What makes Adele the perfect pop star?

The Tottenham girl turned Hollywood A-lister is back with a new single, Easy On Me

To get to the bottom of her popularity, @Willjhodgkinson has spoken to some of the people who knew her before the rest of us did
thetimes.co.uk/article/adeles…

Adele's new music has been a long time coming. When asked by a fan in August 2020 about when we could expect her first album since the release of 25 in 2015, the singer, 33, replied: "I honestly have no idea."

Fans are now counting down the days until November 19th, when the new album arrives from a star whose appeal lies in her ability to combine high glamour with a sense that, despite selling 31 million albums, winning 7 Grammys and being worth £140 million, she’s still one of us

"She was a lovely, genuine person, and from the times I’ve met her since she’s remained the same,'" says Dan Clark, a friend of Adele's from Brit School.

thetimes.co.uk/article/adeles…

"Some former students come back when they’ve got an album to promote. When Adele came back she brought her mum, she chatted to everybody and she was really nice about the fact that I had lost a bit of weight."

"What I most remember is that she was cool. She had a really cool brown leather jacket that she wore all the time, she knew who she was, and when she sang you believed every word she was saying."

"The first memory of Adele that sticks out for me is a history lesson,” says Stuart Worden, the Brit School’s principal. “I popped my head in to see what was going on and they were studying the Civil Rights movement."

"I said, ‘Does anyone know Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday?’ And she did. She knew about jazz singers like Etta James and Billie Holiday — I think she was also a huge Spice Girls fan — and that was unusual for a 14-year-old."

"If I could say why she’s been so successful since, I would say it is because we’re connecting with a human. It is rare to get a universally popular artist where you go, ‘I think you know me, and I know you, and you’ve dealt with loss and heartbreak and I’ve done that too'"

When her debut album, 19, came out in 2008 it was successful, but not spectacularly so. The real change came in 2010, when she teamed up with Dan Wilson, a songwriter from Minnesota.

"She told me about this really sad break-up and said she wanted to write a song about it"

"She later told me she knew the song would change her life," he says of Someone Like You, the ballad that turned Adele into a sensation.

"I think Adele’s secret weapon is that she’s motivating. Everyone does their absolute best when she’s in the room."

What can we expect from 30? For the undisputed queen of heartbreak, a divorce must surely have provided the new album with some of its most affecting moments

The first single, Easy On Me, is sad yet uplifting, says @Willjhodgkinson. Read his review here:
thetimes.co.uk/article/adele-…