WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.679 Welcome back to The Deep Dive, where we take 00:00:01.679 --> 00:00:04.419 the colossal volume of information out there, 00:00:04.459 --> 00:00:06.599 your articles, your research, your notes, and 00:00:06.599 --> 00:00:09.640 distill it into the pure, potent essence of knowledge. 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.660 Today, we are undertaking a deep dive into the 00:00:12.660 --> 00:00:15.320 career of an artist whose success didn't just 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:18.960 top the charts. It fundamentally altered the 00:00:18.960 --> 00:00:21.039 course of the modern music business. We're talking 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:23.960 about Adele Laurie Blue Adkins. That's exactly 00:00:23.960 --> 00:00:27.460 right. And to call her a successful artist is, 00:00:27.460 --> 00:00:30.100 well, it's a massive understatement. The sheer 00:00:30.100 --> 00:00:32.640 scale and velocity of her career milestones are 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:35.119 truly staggering. So our mission today is to 00:00:35.119 --> 00:00:37.979 synthesize this complex chronology, understand 00:00:37.979 --> 00:00:40.609 the artistic core that... unmistakable sentimental 00:00:40.609 --> 00:00:44.409 power in her voice and really analyze how she 00:00:44.409 --> 00:00:46.670 vaulted from a promising British soul singer 00:00:46.670 --> 00:00:49.770 into a global icon using all the source material 00:00:49.770 --> 00:00:51.630 you've provided. And when we set the stage for 00:00:51.630 --> 00:00:53.689 her dominance, I mean, you almost have to start 00:00:53.689 --> 00:00:55.450 with the mountain of hardware she's accumulated. 00:00:55.509 --> 00:00:57.850 It's just an unprecedented level of achievement 00:00:57.850 --> 00:01:00.590 in the contemporary era. Let's just quickly rattle 00:01:00.590 --> 00:01:02.549 off the essentials. We're talking 16 Grammy Awards, 00:01:02.850 --> 00:01:05.230 12 Brit Awards. And I think it's important to 00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:07.890 emphasize that three of those Brit Awards were 00:01:07.890 --> 00:01:10.810 for British Album of the Year. That speaks to 00:01:10.810 --> 00:01:13.730 incredible consistency. Absolutely. And then 00:01:13.730 --> 00:01:16.109 you add an Academy Award, Primetime Emmy Award, 00:01:16.269 --> 00:01:18.629 and a Golden Globe Award. I mean, the EGOT watch 00:01:18.629 --> 00:01:21.129 is seriously on here. It really is. For anyone 00:01:21.129 --> 00:01:23.069 who hasn't tracked it, that's the Grand Slam. 00:01:23.150 --> 00:01:25.810 Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony. She's just one 00:01:25.810 --> 00:01:28.310 award away. And her recognition is almost immediate, 00:01:28.469 --> 00:01:32.590 isn't it? She's defined by this identity as a... 00:01:32.909 --> 00:01:36.469 British cultural icon. Yes. And that was cemented 00:01:36.469 --> 00:01:39.870 by those signature mezzo -soprano vocals and 00:01:39.870 --> 00:01:43.129 crucially songwriting that managed to be intensely 00:01:43.129 --> 00:01:46.150 sentimental, yet somehow universally relatable. 00:01:46.469 --> 00:01:47.969 But here's where it gets really interesting for 00:01:47.969 --> 00:01:50.430 me, because the commercial records she set are 00:01:50.430 --> 00:01:52.689 frankly baffling. We're going to be talking about 00:01:52.689 --> 00:01:56.170 how 21 and 25 didn't just succeed. No, they effectively 00:01:56.170 --> 00:01:58.349 revived entire aspects of the music business. 00:01:58.510 --> 00:02:00.359 Right. Particularly the physical album. in the 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:01.939 middle of the streaming revolution. This wasn't 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:04.159 just success, it was a paradigm shift. And the 00:02:04.159 --> 00:02:06.599 most compelling hook, I think, is the contradiction 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.520 at the heart of her origin story. This vocal 00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:12.699 powerhouse who commands stadium stages, initially 00:02:12.699 --> 00:02:14.639 intended to work entirely behind the scenes. 00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:17.659 Her early interest was in A &R artists and repertoire. 00:02:18.759 --> 00:02:21.120 Exactly. Finding and developing other people's 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.699 talent, not standing on a stage performing to 00:02:23.699 --> 00:02:26.479 millions herself. It's a fascinating start. A 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.919 fascinating contradiction indeed. So we're going 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.520 to trace that path from her London roots and 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:34.979 the genuinely accidental demo tape that changed 00:02:34.979 --> 00:02:37.199 everything, all the way up to her current status 00:02:37.199 --> 00:02:39.840 dominating Las Vegas and setting these unprecedented 00:02:39.840 --> 00:02:42.569 ticket demand records in Munich. Let's unpack 00:02:42.569 --> 00:02:45.090 this monumental career piece by piece. Okay, 00:02:45.129 --> 00:02:47.189 so let's unpack this journey by starting right 00:02:47.189 --> 00:02:50.090 at the beginning in her roots in London. Adele 00:02:50.090 --> 00:02:53.169 Laurie Blue Adkins was born in Tottenham in 1988. 00:02:53.669 --> 00:02:55.469 And her early years were really characterized 00:02:55.469 --> 00:02:57.969 by movement across the city, you know, from Brixton 00:02:57.969 --> 00:03:00.849 to West Norwood in South London. It's fascinating 00:03:00.849 --> 00:03:03.330 that her earliest work immediately cemented this 00:03:03.330 --> 00:03:06.050 history. West Norwood is the subject of her very 00:03:06.050 --> 00:03:08.949 first commercially released single, The Gorgeous 00:03:08.949 --> 00:03:11.909 Melancholy Hometown Glory. That rootedness is 00:03:11.909 --> 00:03:14.689 absolutely central to the authenticity of her 00:03:14.689 --> 00:03:17.430 persona. It's not just a passing detail. She 00:03:17.430 --> 00:03:20.110 carries London with her. And the focus on music. 00:03:20.490 --> 00:03:22.729 was evident from an incredibly young age. Oh, 00:03:22.789 --> 00:03:25.490 yeah. She started singing at age four and described 00:03:25.490 --> 00:03:29.229 herself as becoming obsessed with voices. She 00:03:29.229 --> 00:03:31.210 wasn't just listening to pop radio. She was really 00:03:31.210 --> 00:03:33.349 engaging with the mechanics of vocal performance. 00:03:33.710 --> 00:03:36.349 And that deep connection to her origins wasn't 00:03:36.349 --> 00:03:39.270 fleeting. We see this London connection pop up 00:03:39.270 --> 00:03:41.849 again years later, long after she was a global 00:03:41.849 --> 00:03:45.590 star, in her 2015 song Million Years Ago, which 00:03:45.590 --> 00:03:48.159 recalls time spent in Brockwell Park. The emotional 00:03:48.159 --> 00:03:50.680 connection is so palpable. There's a wonderful 00:03:50.680 --> 00:03:53.500 anecdote from 2015 where she recounted revisiting 00:03:53.500 --> 00:03:55.939 Brockwell Park. She said she drove past it and 00:03:55.939 --> 00:03:58.280 literally burst into tears. Just from the wave 00:03:58.280 --> 00:04:01.719 of nostalgia. Exactly. Recognizing how many monumental 00:04:01.719 --> 00:04:04.159 moments of her youth had been spent there. It 00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:06.000 speaks volumes about the depth of connection 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:08.819 she maintains to her origins, even as she became 00:04:08.819 --> 00:04:10.719 arguably the most famous woman in the world. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:14.400 Now, the talent was clearly innate, but it was 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:16.699 nurtured professionally at a key institution. 00:04:17.769 --> 00:04:20.329 The Brit School for Performing Arts and Technology 00:04:20.329 --> 00:04:24.250 in Proyden. She graduated in May 2006. And we 00:04:24.250 --> 00:04:26.189 keep circling back to this, but it's such a crucial 00:04:26.189 --> 00:04:28.930 detail. She credits the school with nurturing 00:04:28.930 --> 00:04:31.610 her talent, despite her primary focus being A 00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:34.610 &R. She had a keen ear for music and the industry, 00:04:34.769 --> 00:04:38.050 but saw herself launching careers, not headlining 00:04:38.050 --> 00:04:40.089 them. It's a point of delightful irony. I mean, 00:04:40.089 --> 00:04:42.389 the Brit School is known for its rigorous creative 00:04:42.389 --> 00:04:45.129 education. And it was a fertile ground for talent. 00:04:45.350 --> 00:04:48.060 It's wild to think about her classmates. Leona 00:04:48.060 --> 00:04:51.519 Lewis, Jessie J. That 2006 graduating class was 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:53.879 a crucible for British music excellence. But 00:04:53.879 --> 00:04:55.839 the real ignition point of her career was almost 00:04:55.839 --> 00:04:58.779 entirely accidental. It shows just how much fate 00:04:58.779 --> 00:05:01.160 intervened. It really does. She recorded a three 00:05:01.160 --> 00:05:03.899 -song demo purely for a class project, a homework 00:05:03.899 --> 00:05:05.759 assignment, basically. And she gave it to a friend 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:08.139 who then, without telling her, posted the demo 00:05:08.139 --> 00:05:11.639 on MySpace. Ah, the classic tale of early 2000s 00:05:11.639 --> 00:05:13.819 discovery. MySpace was the primary unfiltered 00:05:13.819 --> 00:05:17.339 discovery mechanism back then. And the demo became 00:05:17.339 --> 00:05:20.160 incredibly popular, leading directly to a call 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:22.860 from Richard Russell, the director of Excel Recordings. 00:05:22.980 --> 00:05:25.899 And in a testament to her, I guess, initial skepticism, 00:05:25.959 --> 00:05:28.360 she thought the offer might be fake. She actually 00:05:28.360 --> 00:05:30.800 took a friend with her to the meeting. She signed 00:05:30.800 --> 00:05:34.220 with Excel in September 2006. And it wasn't about 00:05:34.220 --> 00:05:36.300 chasing the biggest deal. It was based on artistic 00:05:36.300 --> 00:05:39.430 alignment. A key factor was her profound admiration 00:05:39.430 --> 00:05:42.670 for the singer -songwriter Jamie T. Her future 00:05:42.670 --> 00:05:45.029 representative, Jonathan Dickens, managed him. 00:05:45.209 --> 00:05:47.569 So it was a network of authentic artists she 00:05:47.569 --> 00:05:50.750 respected that drew her in. So after that industry 00:05:50.750 --> 00:05:54.230 introduction, her debut album, 19, arrives in 00:05:54.230 --> 00:05:56.790 2008, named for her age when she wrote those 00:05:56.790 --> 00:05:59.490 tracks. And critics immediately recognized the 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:02.230 caliber of the work. The Times Encyclopedia of 00:06:02.230 --> 00:06:04.430 Modern Music called it an essential blue -eyed 00:06:04.430 --> 00:06:07.129 soul recording. And it generated immediate UK 00:06:07.129 --> 00:06:10.750 success. Two top five singles, Chasing Pavements, 00:06:10.850 --> 00:06:13.250 and that haunting cover of Bob Dylan's Make You 00:06:13.250 --> 00:06:15.410 Feel My Love. It quickly became one of the best 00:06:15.410 --> 00:06:17.769 -selling debut albums ever in the UK, but the 00:06:17.769 --> 00:06:20.329 American market, that proved tougher to crack 00:06:20.329 --> 00:06:23.360 at first. Right. By the middle of October 2008, 00:06:23.699 --> 00:06:26.540 sources suggest her U .S. foray was faltering. 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:28.680 It was a crucial turning point where her raw 00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:32.040 talent needed a massive platform. And that platform 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:34.120 arrived in the form of a cultural and political 00:06:34.120 --> 00:06:36.620 phenomenon. She was booked as the musical guest 00:06:36.620 --> 00:06:40.259 on the October 18, 2008 episode of Saturday Night 00:06:40.259 --> 00:06:42.519 Live. And the context here is everything. This 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:44.879 wasn't just any SNL episode. This was the one 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:47.399 with then U .S. vice presidential candidate Sarah 00:06:47.399 --> 00:06:50.519 Palin. Right alongside Tina Fey's iconic parody 00:06:50.519 --> 00:06:52.779 of her. The media frenzy was just unprecedented. 00:06:53.199 --> 00:06:55.939 The episode got SNL its best ratings in 14 years. 00:06:56.139 --> 00:06:59.879 A whopping 17 million viewers, a colossal captive 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:02.139 audience who were tuned in for a cultural event, 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:04.620 not necessarily the musical guest. She performed 00:07:04.620 --> 00:07:07.379 Chasing Pavements and Cold Shoulder, and the 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:09.639 impact was immediate, measurable, and utterly 00:07:09.639 --> 00:07:11.879 transformative. The next day, that Palin bump 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:14.540 was real. 19 topped the iTunes charts overnight. 00:07:14.920 --> 00:07:16.959 It ranked number five on Amazon and jumped a 00:07:16.959 --> 00:07:19.860 massive 35 places on the Billboard 200, landing 00:07:19.860 --> 00:07:22.980 at number 11. That single serendipitous television 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:26.019 performance was the definitive catalyst for her 00:07:26.019 --> 00:07:29.019 U .S. breakthrough. It just shows how much luck 00:07:29.019 --> 00:07:31.540 and timing play a role, even for an artist of 00:07:31.540 --> 00:07:34.879 her caliber. It was a huge defining moment. Yet 00:07:34.879 --> 00:07:37.019 while this was all building, she was navigating 00:07:37.019 --> 00:07:39.639 some pretty significant personal upheaval. She 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:42.839 famously canceled some 2008 U .S. tour dates 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:45.379 to be with a former boyfriend, a decision that 00:07:45.379 --> 00:07:48.360 generated headlines and a lot of scrutiny. She 00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:50.680 later reflected on this with remarkable candor, 00:07:50.699 --> 00:07:53.459 calling it her early life crisis. She admitted 00:07:53.459 --> 00:07:56.720 in a 2009 Nylon interview that she was drinking 00:07:56.720 --> 00:08:00.279 far too much and that canceling those dates seemed, 00:08:00.459 --> 00:08:03.600 in retrospect, so ungrateful. It shows the turbulence. 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:06.040 was navigating while rapidly ascending to fame, 00:08:06.139 --> 00:08:08.800 a pattern of intense emotional immersion that 00:08:08.800 --> 00:08:11.339 would ironically become the artistic fuel for 00:08:11.339 --> 00:08:14.019 her next and most dominant project. It's the 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:17.000 perfect raw transition. The chaos she experienced 00:08:17.000 --> 00:08:19.220 personally seems to have been necessary for the 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:21.300 emotional honesty she brought to her songwriting. 00:08:21.459 --> 00:08:23.939 The stage was set for her biggest leap. And that 00:08:23.939 --> 00:08:26.500 personal turbulence does lead us directly into 00:08:26.500 --> 00:08:29.819 the phenomena that was 21. Released in early 00:08:29.819 --> 00:08:33.529 2011, This album wasn't just a hit. Oh, no. It 00:08:33.529 --> 00:08:35.870 fundamentally redefined what commercial success 00:08:35.870 --> 00:08:38.389 looked like in the early digital era. It was 00:08:38.389 --> 00:08:41.149 famously and intimately inspired by a painful 00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:43.870 breakup with that former partner, providing the 00:08:43.870 --> 00:08:46.009 emotional framework for its global resonance. 00:08:46.289 --> 00:08:49.490 21 is definitively the breakup record. The title 00:08:49.490 --> 00:08:51.809 adhering to her theme reflected the personal 00:08:51.809 --> 00:08:54.649 growth she had experienced. But what's fascinating 00:08:54.649 --> 00:08:57.110 is the sonic evolution. Right. She maintained 00:08:57.110 --> 00:09:00.090 the soul elements of 19, but she deliberately 00:09:00.090 --> 00:09:02.529 incorporated contemporary country and rooks music 00:09:02.529 --> 00:09:05.610 into the sound. That's a key detail often overlooked. 00:09:05.830 --> 00:09:08.450 This Roots influence came directly from touring 00:09:08.450 --> 00:09:10.649 the American South. She mentioned hearing Nashville 00:09:10.649 --> 00:09:13.289 music played by her bus driver, and she was immediately 00:09:13.289 --> 00:09:16.230 excited by the raw narrative power of that sound. 00:09:16.429 --> 00:09:18.629 This blend of London soul with American roots 00:09:18.629 --> 00:09:21.590 elevated the sound beyond simple pop. It tapped 00:09:21.590 --> 00:09:24.350 into a near -dormant tradition of the confessional 00:09:24.350 --> 00:09:26.850 singer -songwriter, but presented with modern 00:09:26.850 --> 00:09:29.769 production clarity. The record explored heartbreak, 00:09:29.909 --> 00:09:32.870 self -examination and forgiveness themes that 00:09:32.870 --> 00:09:36.230 resonated universally because they felt so unvarnished 00:09:36.230 --> 00:09:38.850 and real. And the global response was truly earth 00:09:38.850 --> 00:09:41.980 shattering. The dominance of 21 is almost impossible 00:09:41.980 --> 00:09:45.700 to grasp fully. It topped the charts in 30 countries. 00:09:45.899 --> 00:09:48.799 And the UK sales were astronomical. It became 00:09:48.799 --> 00:09:51.279 the best -selling album of the entire 21st century 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:54.399 there, overtaking Amy Winehouse's Back to Black. 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:57.559 She became the first artist ever to sell 3 million 00:09:57.559 --> 00:10:00.690 albums in the UK in a single calendar year. And 00:10:00.690 --> 00:10:02.350 this happened at a time when the industry was 00:10:02.350 --> 00:10:05.070 grappling with massive fragmentation from illegal 00:10:05.070 --> 00:10:08.250 downloading and early streaming models. 21 became 00:10:08.250 --> 00:10:10.909 an event album. It proved that when the emotional 00:10:10.909 --> 00:10:13.330 product was strong enough, consumers would still 00:10:13.330 --> 00:10:15.690 purchase the album format in colossal numbers. 00:10:15.889 --> 00:10:18.190 And across the pond, the numbers were equally 00:10:18.190 --> 00:10:21.350 staggering. 21 holds the record for the top performing 00:10:21.350 --> 00:10:24.350 album in U .S. chart history, topping the Billboard 00:10:24.350 --> 00:10:27.950 200 for an astounding 24 non -consecutive weeks. 00:10:28.169 --> 00:10:30.500 That longevity is just unmatched. The record's 00:10:30.500 --> 00:10:32.639 just piled up. Here's a piece of trivia that 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:34.840 speaks to the sheer saturation of her music in 00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:37.710 2011. She was the first living artist since the 00:10:37.710 --> 00:10:41.090 Beatles in 1964. Since the Beatles. To have two 00:10:41.090 --> 00:10:43.789 top five hits in both the official singles chart 00:10:43.789 --> 00:10:46.970 and official albums chart simultaneously. It 00:10:46.970 --> 00:10:49.350 was a comprehensive takeover. She achieved a 00:10:49.350 --> 00:10:51.850 level of simultaneous success that was previously 00:10:51.850 --> 00:10:55.049 unheard of. The first artist ever to have an 00:10:55.049 --> 00:10:57.970 album, 21, at number one on the Billboard 200. 00:10:58.409 --> 00:11:00.710 Concurrently with three number one singles on 00:11:00.710 --> 00:11:03.470 the Hot 100, Rolling in the Deep, Someone Like 00:11:03.470 --> 00:11:07.240 You, and set fire to the rain it was market saturation 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:10.460 driven by pure emotional resonance and that saturation 00:11:10.460 --> 00:11:13.259 was global the album was the best -selling worldwide 00:11:13.259 --> 00:11:16.889 for two years straight 2011 and 2012, eventually 00:11:16.889 --> 00:11:19.570 selling over 31 million copies. And the financial 00:11:19.570 --> 00:11:21.710 consequence was immense, particularly because 00:11:21.710 --> 00:11:24.750 as a shrewd business decision, 21 was initially 00:11:24.750 --> 00:11:27.029 withheld from most streaming services. Forcing 00:11:27.029 --> 00:11:29.129 consumers to purchase physical copies of digital 00:11:29.129 --> 00:11:31.850 downloads, maximizing revenue. It was a direct, 00:11:31.970 --> 00:11:34.090 successful challenge to the prevailing streaming 00:11:34.090 --> 00:11:36.929 orthodoxy. But right at the peak of this massive 00:11:36.929 --> 00:11:40.110 success, she was forced to confront a major health 00:11:40.110 --> 00:11:42.629 crisis that threatened to end her career. A vocal 00:11:42.629 --> 00:11:46.240 cord hemorrhage. in October 2011. She had to 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:48.919 halt her tours. The industry was on edge. There 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.019 was genuine fear that their biggest star was 00:11:51.019 --> 00:11:53.279 sidelined indefinitely, maybe with permanent 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.600 vocal damage. This necessitated an extended period 00:11:56.600 --> 00:12:00.639 of rest and eventually specialized laser microsurgery. 00:12:00.799 --> 00:12:03.179 The recovery was successful, and it led to one 00:12:03.179 --> 00:12:05.259 of the most triumphant comebacks in recent memory. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:08.700 Her live return at the 2012 Grammy Awards. It 00:12:08.700 --> 00:12:11.519 was a legendary night. She won in all six categories 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:13.600 she was nominated for, including the crucial 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:16.159 trifecta of album, record, and song of the year. 00:12:16.299 --> 00:12:18.620 Tying Beyonce's record for the most Grammys won 00:12:18.620 --> 00:12:21.500 by a female artist in a single night. And commercially, 00:12:21.659 --> 00:12:24.200 the impact was huge. 21 saw the biggest weekly 00:12:24.200 --> 00:12:26.679 sales increase following a Grammy win since Nielsen 00:12:26.679 --> 00:12:30.019 SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. The accolades 00:12:30.019 --> 00:12:32.269 just kept coming. Billboard Artist of the Year 00:12:32.269 --> 00:12:35.490 for 2011 and 2012, and 21 with Certified Diamond 00:12:35.490 --> 00:12:37.710 in the U .S. in less than two years. Which was 00:12:37.710 --> 00:12:40.169 the fastest for a one -disc album by an artist 00:12:40.169 --> 00:12:42.629 who debuted in the 21st century. She became the 00:12:42.629 --> 00:12:45.110 first artist in Nielsen SoundScan history to 00:12:45.110 --> 00:12:47.350 have the year's number one album, single, and 00:12:47.350 --> 00:12:50.289 music video. And that year of triumph led directly 00:12:50.289 --> 00:12:53.269 to one of her most culturally significant achievements, 00:12:53.529 --> 00:12:57.860 the James Bond theme. Skyfall. In October 2012, 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:00.559 she confirmed she was writing and recording Skyfall 00:13:00.559 --> 00:13:03.000 with her collaborator Paul Epworth at the iconic 00:13:03.000 --> 00:13:06.080 Abbey Road Studios. The song was an immediate 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:09.080 high -water mark for the franchise. It tied Duran 00:13:09.080 --> 00:13:12.159 Duran's A View to a Kill as the highest -charting 00:13:12.159 --> 00:13:14.620 Bond theme at the time. But the truly monumental 00:13:14.620 --> 00:13:17.279 achievement was the Oscar. It won the Academy 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:19.980 Award for Best Original Song, becoming the first 00:13:19.980 --> 00:13:22.539 Bond song to ever win an Oscar in addition to 00:13:22.539 --> 00:13:25.000 the Golden Globes. So she went from facing a 00:13:25.000 --> 00:13:28.019 potential career -ending vocal tragedy to conquering 00:13:28.019 --> 00:13:30.220 the Grammys and the Oscars all within about nine 00:13:30.220 --> 00:13:32.399 months. It's an incredible story of resilience. 00:13:32.779 --> 00:13:35.480 And as we'll discuss, the surgery actually enhanced 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:38.580 her instrument. 21 demonstrated that raw emotional 00:13:38.580 --> 00:13:41.440 honesty delivered by a classic vocal instrument 00:13:41.440 --> 00:13:44.039 could still drive colossal traditional sales 00:13:44.039 --> 00:13:47.899 and essentially save the album format. After 00:13:47.899 --> 00:13:50.840 the whirlwind of the 21 era, Adele took a critical 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:54.000 step back. In April 2012, she said her third 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:56.259 album would be at least two years away. Right. 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:58.220 She stated quite deliberately that she needed 00:13:58.220 --> 00:14:00.759 to take time and live a little bit before recording 00:14:00.759 --> 00:14:03.440 again. For a confessional songwriter, that period 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:06.230 of withdrawal is vital. And that hiatus became 00:14:06.230 --> 00:14:08.690 a strategic advantage. It allowed anticipation 00:14:08.690 --> 00:14:12.090 to boil over to levels rarely seen. The release 00:14:12.090 --> 00:14:15.309 of 25 in 2015 wasn't just an album drop. It was 00:14:15.309 --> 00:14:17.590 a cultural return. Speculation started early, 00:14:17.690 --> 00:14:19.769 intensified by her own cryptic communication. 00:14:20.330 --> 00:14:23.409 Exactly. On the eve of her 26th birthday in 2014, 00:14:23.809 --> 00:14:26.629 she posted that teasing Twitter message. Bye 00:14:26.629 --> 00:14:28.970 -bye, 25. See you again later in the year. And 00:14:28.970 --> 00:14:30.850 the whole world understood that to be the album 00:14:30.850 --> 00:14:33.470 title. It created this immediate, powerful, viral 00:14:33.470 --> 00:14:36.049 buzz without any traditional press push. And 00:14:36.049 --> 00:14:38.289 when she finally framed the album's theme, it 00:14:38.289 --> 00:14:40.549 marked a thematic evolution away from the raw 00:14:40.549 --> 00:14:43.750 heartbreak of 21. She called 25 a makeup record. 00:14:44.049 --> 00:14:46.710 Making up for lost time. Making up for everything 00:14:46.710 --> 00:14:49.480 I ever did and never did. It was a shift from 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:52.279 focusing on the loss of a relationship to focusing 00:14:52.279 --> 00:14:54.940 on self -reconciliation. She also noted her belief 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:57.720 that 25 would be the final album in her age title 00:14:57.720 --> 00:15:00.539 trilogy, which provided a fascinating, finite 00:15:00.539 --> 00:15:03.039 constraint to the narrative. And the lead single 00:15:03.039 --> 00:15:06.539 Hello, which dropped in October 2015, didn't 00:15:06.539 --> 00:15:08.879 just succeed. It instantly broke the Internet. 00:15:09.320 --> 00:15:11.679 The music video shattered the Vivo record for 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:15.659 most views in a single day, over 27 .7 million 00:15:15.659 --> 00:15:19.039 views, surpassing Taylor Swift's Bad Blood. That 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:22.019 velocity is almost unimaginable. BBC News reported 00:15:22.019 --> 00:15:24.019 the video was being viewed an average of one 00:15:24.019 --> 00:15:26.779 million times an hour on YouTube. It went on 00:15:26.779 --> 00:15:28.659 to become the fastest video in history to hit 00:15:28.659 --> 00:15:31.799 one billion views on YouTube in only 88 days. 00:15:32.080 --> 00:15:34.600 It was a global call to attention. And the commercial 00:15:34.600 --> 00:15:36.779 milestones are arguably even more compelling, 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.129 especially given that she once again held the 00:15:39.129 --> 00:15:41.330 album back from streaming to prioritize traditional 00:15:41.330 --> 00:15:44.789 sales. Hello debuted at number one on the Billboard 00:15:44.789 --> 00:15:47.669 Hot 100 and became the first song in the U .S. 00:15:47.669 --> 00:15:49.909 to sell over 1 million downloads in a week. A 00:15:49.909 --> 00:15:53.409 record 1 .11 million. It proved that even if 00:15:53.409 --> 00:15:55.909 her music wasn't instantly free on Spotify, the 00:15:55.909 --> 00:15:58.230 demand was so high that consumers would still 00:15:58.230 --> 00:16:00.889 pay for immediate access. Then came the album. 00:16:01.419 --> 00:16:04.019 25 debuted at number one in the UK, becoming 00:16:04.019 --> 00:16:06.539 the fastest -selling album in UK chart history 00:16:06.539 --> 00:16:09.360 with over 800 ,000 copies in the first week. 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:11.460 But the American numbers are what truly stunned 00:16:11.460 --> 00:16:14.600 the industry. In the US, it sold a record -breaking 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:18.860 3 .38 million copies in its first week. The largest 00:16:18.860 --> 00:16:21.139 single sales week for an album since Nielsen's 00:16:21.139 --> 00:16:24.480 SoundScan began monitoring sales in 1991. She 00:16:24.480 --> 00:16:26.539 didn't just sell well, she sold in bulk in an 00:16:26.539 --> 00:16:28.899 era defined by fractional consumption. It was 00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:31.960 the best -selling album worldwide in 2015, shifting 00:16:31.960 --> 00:16:35.320 17 .4 million copies globally that year. This 00:16:35.320 --> 00:16:37.419 overwhelming commercial dominance fundamentally 00:16:37.419 --> 00:16:39.840 changed her career path from a major recording 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.519 artist to a true stadium -filling global performer. 00:16:42.940 --> 00:16:46.120 The Adele Live 2016 tour illustrates this seismic 00:16:46.120 --> 00:16:48.360 transition. The demand for tickets was, well, 00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:50.840 biblical. For the North American leg, 10 million 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:53.840 people tried to buy tickets. And only 750 ,000 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.000 were available. She broke stadium records throughout 00:16:56.000 --> 00:16:58.639 Australia. Her Sydney show was seen by over 100 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:01.919 ,000 fans in one night. The logistics of scaling 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:04.720 a performance to that size are immense. And the 00:17:04.720 --> 00:17:07.220 emotional burden of that transition is perfectly 00:17:07.220 --> 00:17:10.859 encapsulated in the famous 2016 Glastonbury moment, 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:13.799 headlining the pyramid stage in front of an estimated 00:17:13.799 --> 00:17:16.799 150 ,000 people. It was a massive psychological 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.539 feat. We know she suffered from significant performance 00:17:19.539 --> 00:17:22.380 anxiety. She later confessed to being really 00:17:22.380 --> 00:17:25.430 scared, really, really scared. and even stopped 00:17:25.430 --> 00:17:27.309 an interview 30 minutes before going on stage 00:17:27.309 --> 00:17:29.490 because she was in tears. Yet after conquering 00:17:29.490 --> 00:17:31.210 that stage, she described the performance as 00:17:31.210 --> 00:17:34.049 by far the best moment of my life so far. This 00:17:34.049 --> 00:17:36.230 constant management of profound stage anxiety 00:17:36.230 --> 00:17:38.269 while delivering utterly captivating performances 00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:40.970 is central to her fame. And the crowning industry 00:17:40.970 --> 00:17:43.890 achievement of the 25 era came at the 59th Grammys 00:17:43.890 --> 00:17:47.430 in 2017. Five more awards, including Album, Record, 00:17:47.589 --> 00:17:49.849 and Song of the Year. This created a unique piece 00:17:49.849 --> 00:17:52.779 of industry history. She became the only artist 00:17:52.779 --> 00:17:55.779 in history to win the three General Field Grammys 00:17:55.779 --> 00:17:59.099 album, record, and Song of the Year on two separate 00:17:59.099 --> 00:18:01.480 occasions. It demonstrated that her success was 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.970 not a fluke. but a sustained trajectory of emotional 00:18:04.970 --> 00:18:07.970 consistency and commercial magnitude delivered 00:18:07.970 --> 00:18:10.289 without ever having to rely on the typical tricks 00:18:10.289 --> 00:18:12.869 of the trade. Right, like heavy feature collaborations 00:18:12.869 --> 00:18:16.569 or hyper -trendy production. The New Yorker was 00:18:16.569 --> 00:18:18.990 spot on when they noted her music operates with 00:18:18.990 --> 00:18:22.049 a singularity of soul. Following 25, there was 00:18:22.049 --> 00:18:24.890 another significant and longer hiatus, which 00:18:24.890 --> 00:18:27.009 was eventually defined and delayed by global 00:18:27.009 --> 00:18:29.509 events. She was working on her fourth album by 00:18:29.509 --> 00:18:33.329 2018, and on her 31st birthday, in 2019, she 00:18:33.329 --> 00:18:35.950 teased the title 30 on Instagram, maintaining 00:18:35.950 --> 00:18:38.609 her age -based formula while jokingly calling 00:18:38.609 --> 00:18:41.190 it a drum and bass record to spite you. That 00:18:41.190 --> 00:18:43.789 playful tease became a serious timeline when, 00:18:43.849 --> 00:18:46.069 in February 2020, she announced the album would 00:18:46.069 --> 00:18:48.730 be out by September 2020. But then, of course, 00:18:48.789 --> 00:18:51.289 the COVID -19 pandemic. It caused significant 00:18:51.289 --> 00:18:53.369 production and release delays, pushing the timeline 00:18:53.369 --> 00:18:55.769 back by over a year. This meant the anticipation 00:18:55.769 --> 00:18:58.450 built even more intensely when the promotional 00:18:58.450 --> 00:19:01.380 cycle finally began. The marketing was classic 00:19:01.380 --> 00:19:05.420 Adele, subtle, high impact. On October 1st, 2021, 00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:09.079 projections and billboards of the number 30 mysteriously 00:19:09.079 --> 00:19:12.019 appeared on landmarks globally. Instantly fueling 00:19:12.019 --> 00:19:14.420 speculation that the return was imminent. This 00:19:14.420 --> 00:19:17.400 album released in November 2021 was widely described 00:19:17.400 --> 00:19:19.720 by critics as her most creative and sonically 00:19:19.720 --> 00:19:22.700 adventurous work. She really expanded her palette, 00:19:22.920 --> 00:19:25.160 incorporating sophisticated elements of R &B, 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:28.809 gospel and even dance pop. And lyrically. This 00:19:28.809 --> 00:19:31.150 album was framed as her self -redemption record, 00:19:31.349 --> 00:19:33.609 dealing openly with the fallout of her divorce 00:19:33.609 --> 00:19:36.210 and written largely as an explanation to her 00:19:36.210 --> 00:19:38.789 son. The lead single Easy On Me proved that her 00:19:38.789 --> 00:19:40.650 commercial power was completely undiminished. 00:19:40.750 --> 00:19:43.289 It immediately broke Spotify and Amazon Music 00:19:43.289 --> 00:19:45.910 records for most streams in a single day. It 00:19:45.910 --> 00:19:48.390 became her third UK number one and her fifth 00:19:48.390 --> 00:19:51.289 US number one single. And the album itself confirmed 00:19:51.289 --> 00:19:53.789 her renewed dominance, becoming the best -selling 00:19:53.789 --> 00:19:57.059 album of 2021 worldwide. What's truly impressive 00:19:57.059 --> 00:20:00.599 is that 30 sold over 5 .5 million pure copies, 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:03.740 physical copies and downloads within two months. 00:20:03.880 --> 00:20:06.380 Which showcased that she could still move massive 00:20:06.380 --> 00:20:09.579 traditional sales, even as streaming had consolidated 00:20:09.579 --> 00:20:12.140 its hold on the market. The modern era of Adele 00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:14.799 also ushered in a period of calculated exclusivity 00:20:14.799 --> 00:20:17.660 in her live performances, pivoting away from 00:20:17.660 --> 00:20:20.380 endless global touring to the Las Vegas residency 00:20:20.380 --> 00:20:23.279 Weekends with Adele. A residency that was initially 00:20:23.279 --> 00:20:26.660 announced for early 2022, but then just one day 00:20:26.660 --> 00:20:29.559 before the opening, she made that tearful public 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:32.339 announcement. Postponing the run due to delivery 00:20:32.339 --> 00:20:35.619 delays and COVID -related challenges, that moment, 00:20:35.799 --> 00:20:39.000 broadcast globally, highlighted the intense pressures 00:20:39.000 --> 00:20:41.339 of mounting such production. The residency eventually 00:20:41.339 --> 00:20:45.279 ran from late 2022 through 2024, and the critical 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:47.240 reception made it clear the wait was worth it. 00:20:47.480 --> 00:20:49.640 Billboard called the performance utterly and 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:51.980 breathlessly spectacular. And the New York Times 00:20:51.980 --> 00:20:54.440 described the setup as breathtaking, full of 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:57.240 drama and elegance befitting her voice. And the 00:20:57.240 --> 00:20:59.559 demand for her live shows continued to be astronomical. 00:20:59.859 --> 00:21:02.019 For just two concerts at London Hyde Park in 00:21:02.019 --> 00:21:05.319 2022, more than 1 .3 million people tried to 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:08.059 buy tickets. The CEO of AEG even stated that 00:21:08.059 --> 00:21:10.220 Adele could have sold several million tickets. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:13.380 Such was the demand. This is a level of scarcity 00:21:13.380 --> 00:21:16.599 few artists ever achieve. And that scarcity only 00:21:16.599 --> 00:21:20.180 amplified in 2024 with the Adele and Munich shows. 00:21:20.619 --> 00:21:23.700 An initial run of four shows quickly extended 00:21:23.700 --> 00:21:26.660 multiple times. To 10 dates. And at peak time 00:21:26.660 --> 00:21:29.140 for the presale, a reported 3 million people 00:21:29.140 --> 00:21:31.299 were queuing for tickets. That's not a concert 00:21:31.299 --> 00:21:33.960 run. It's a global economic event. And to wrap 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:36.519 this era professionally, she extended her record 00:21:36.519 --> 00:21:38.740 for best pop solo performance at the Grammys 00:21:38.740 --> 00:21:42.700 for Easy On Me. And personally, in August 2024, 00:21:43.400 --> 00:21:45.480 she revealed her engagement to Rich Paul. But 00:21:45.480 --> 00:21:47.680 the most important closing detail is her professional 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:51.359 decision announced in July 2024, an indefinite 00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:53.759 break from music. She stated plainly she had 00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:55.799 no plans for a new album at that time. Which, 00:21:55.859 --> 00:21:58.200 given her career pattern, sets up a profound 00:21:58.200 --> 00:22:00.940 contemplation about her future. To truly understand 00:22:00.940 --> 00:22:03.099 her enduring stature, we need to dive into the 00:22:03.099 --> 00:22:05.440 technical aspects of her artistry, starting with 00:22:05.440 --> 00:22:08.420 what makes up the Adele sound. Her music is categorized 00:22:08.420 --> 00:22:10.940 primarily as pop and soul. But it's really a 00:22:10.940 --> 00:22:13.700 complex genre mosaic that defies easy labeling. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:16.339 That's spot on. Her work seamlessly incorporates 00:22:16.339 --> 00:22:20.460 elements of R &B, blues, country, gospel, jazz, 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:23.660 and Motown. While her core lyrical themes universally 00:22:23.660 --> 00:22:25.480 revolve around heartbreak and relationships, 00:22:25.920 --> 00:22:28.579 the depth of her musical texture is often missed 00:22:28.579 --> 00:22:30.839 because the vocal performance is so dominant. 00:22:31.160 --> 00:22:33.660 And this complexity forced her to push back against 00:22:33.660 --> 00:22:36.960 lazy categorization early on. When critics kept 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.559 comparing her to other British female soul singers, 00:22:39.740 --> 00:22:42.940 she famously rebuked that, asserting, we're a 00:22:42.940 --> 00:22:45.700 gender, not a genre. This resistance to being 00:22:45.700 --> 00:22:48.920 boxed in ultimately led all music to simply state 00:22:48.920 --> 00:22:51.599 that she is too magical to compare her to anyone. 00:22:52.059 --> 00:22:54.220 acknowledging the singularity of her style. Now 00:22:54.220 --> 00:22:56.460 let's turn to the instrument itself. She is classically 00:22:56.460 --> 00:22:58.799 classified as a mezzo -soprano with a substantial 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:01.759 range from B2 up to C6. But here's where vocal 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:04.730 technique gets interesting. she is often mistakenly 00:23:04.730 --> 00:23:07.230 identified as a control tone. That misidentification 00:23:07.230 --> 00:23:09.809 is rooted in how she utilizes her lower register. 00:23:10.089 --> 00:23:13.250 She employs a powerful, tense chest mix to reach 00:23:13.250 --> 00:23:15.549 those lower notes, which gives them that weighty, 00:23:15.549 --> 00:23:18.170 bluesy texture. But as she ascends the register, 00:23:18.490 --> 00:23:21.450 her voice achieves its clearest, most resonant 00:23:21.450 --> 00:23:24.460 tone, confirming her mezzo classification. And 00:23:24.460 --> 00:23:27.039 what's fascinating is how she honed this instrument 00:23:27.039 --> 00:23:29.799 largely through self -study. She taught herself 00:23:29.799 --> 00:23:33.599 to sing by studying specific masters for specific 00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:36.980 skills. She studied Ella Fitzgerald for acrobatics 00:23:36.980 --> 00:23:40.359 and scales, Etta James for passion, and Roberta 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:42.680 Flack for control. It sounds like an extremely 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:44.900 disciplined approach to self -training. And that 00:23:44.900 --> 00:23:47.839 instrument, already powerful, underwent a crucial 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:50.980 transformation after the 2011 health scare. Rolling 00:23:50.980 --> 00:23:53.559 Stone reported that following her laser microsurgery, 00:23:53.700 --> 00:23:57.619 her voice returned palpably bigger and purer 00:23:57.619 --> 00:24:00.859 toned. And in a surprising artistic bonus, she 00:24:00.859 --> 00:24:03.039 actually gained four additional notes at the 00:24:03.039 --> 00:24:05.940 top of her range. The crisis inadvertently made 00:24:05.940 --> 00:24:08.559 her instrument even stronger. Yes, her charm 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:10.460 lies in that collision of the sublime and the 00:24:10.460 --> 00:24:13.180 mundane. Dave Simpson once noted that one minute 00:24:13.180 --> 00:24:15.779 she's adding an eerie tremor to a lyric, delivering 00:24:15.779 --> 00:24:18.680 pure emotional transcendence. In the next, she's 00:24:18.680 --> 00:24:20.859 explaining a song's title, like Set Fire to the 00:24:20.859 --> 00:24:23.019 Rain, by saying it was inspired when My Lida 00:24:23.019 --> 00:24:25.099 stopped working in the wet. That conversational 00:24:25.099 --> 00:24:28.259 ease keeps her grounded and relatable, even while 00:24:28.259 --> 00:24:30.740 she's singing like a legend. Now for the fun 00:24:30.740 --> 00:24:34.039 part, the surprising influences that molded this 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:36.559 sound. Let's start with the most unexpected one. 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:39.809 The Spice Girls. It's a recurring major point 00:24:39.809 --> 00:24:42.829 of credit for her. She has repeatedly said, they 00:24:42.829 --> 00:24:45.450 made me what I am today. Her childhood bedroom 00:24:45.450 --> 00:24:48.470 was described as essentially a Spice Girls shrine. 00:24:48.769 --> 00:24:51.710 It shows that pop music planted the seed, even 00:24:51.710 --> 00:24:54.650 if soul music defined the harvest. Moving on 00:24:54.650 --> 00:24:57.250 to deeper, more technical influences, she has 00:24:57.250 --> 00:24:59.869 consistently highlighted Lauryn Hill. Hill's 00:24:59.869 --> 00:25:01.990 record, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, is her 00:25:01.990 --> 00:25:04.609 confessed favorite album of all time. She admitted 00:25:04.609 --> 00:25:07.029 to analyzing the record for about a month at 00:25:07.029 --> 00:25:09.589 the age of eight. And then there's Pink. Seeing 00:25:09.589 --> 00:25:12.450 Pink perform live at Brixton Academy was a definitive 00:25:12.450 --> 00:25:15.569 physical moment of revelation for her. She recalls 00:25:15.569 --> 00:25:17.730 feeling like she was in a wind tunnel, completely 00:25:17.730 --> 00:25:20.089 overwhelmed by the raw force of Pink's voice 00:25:20.089 --> 00:25:22.509 hitting her. However, the most direct inspiration 00:25:22.509 --> 00:25:25.170 for her own songwriting style, the act of picking 00:25:25.170 --> 00:25:27.690 up an instrument and writing, came from Amy Winehouse. 00:25:28.119 --> 00:25:31.640 She credited Winehouse's 2003 album Frank with 00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:33.720 inspiring her to finally pick up the guitar. 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:36.400 She acknowledged that without Winehouse, she 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:38.420 wouldn't have written foundational early songs 00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:41.799 like Daydreamer, Hometown Glory, or even Someone 00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:45.279 Like You. And finally, a nod to the modern pop 00:25:45.279 --> 00:25:48.180 machine she initially seemed separate from, Max 00:25:48.180 --> 00:25:51.920 Martin. She revealed that Send My Love to your 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:54.519 new lover, came directly from hearing his work 00:25:54.519 --> 00:25:57.079 on Taylor Swift's I Knew You Were Trouble. She 00:25:57.079 --> 00:25:58.940 was so impressed by the production that she sought 00:25:58.940 --> 00:26:01.519 him out immediately to collaborate. This combination 00:26:01.519 --> 00:26:04.779 of influences explains her unique success. She 00:26:04.779 --> 00:26:07.480 maintains a timeless, soul -driven sound, but 00:26:07.480 --> 00:26:09.900 is keenly aware of contemporary pop excellence. 00:26:10.259 --> 00:26:12.359 Now we shift to the profound effect her personal 00:26:12.359 --> 00:26:14.240 journey has had on her professional outlook, 00:26:14.480 --> 00:26:16.640 starting with a life -changing event of motherhood. 00:26:16.759 --> 00:26:19.700 Her son was born in 2012. And she spoke openly 00:26:19.700 --> 00:26:21.700 about how becoming a parent gave her a purpose 00:26:21.700 --> 00:26:24.380 that she didn't before, dramatically altering 00:26:24.380 --> 00:26:26.559 her life and providing the emotional depth for 00:26:26.559 --> 00:26:29.220 her next two albums. This profound life shift 00:26:29.220 --> 00:26:32.839 brought with it a need for fierce privacy. She 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:35.200 and her former partner, Simon Kanacki, pursued 00:26:35.200 --> 00:26:38.519 a major privacy case against a photo agency over 00:26:38.519 --> 00:26:41.180 intrusive images of their son. This highlights 00:26:41.180 --> 00:26:43.359 her commitment to shielding her family from the 00:26:43.359 --> 00:26:45.859 media storm her success generated. There was 00:26:45.859 --> 00:26:48.460 also widespread public confusion around her marital 00:26:48.460 --> 00:26:51.710 status. She referred to Kaneki as my husband 00:26:51.710 --> 00:26:55.049 at the 2017 Grammys. Leading to speculation they 00:26:55.049 --> 00:26:57.970 had married years prior. But in a 2021 interview, 00:26:58.150 --> 00:27:00.569 she clarified that they actually married in 2018 00:27:00.569 --> 00:27:03.380 and separated the same year. And of course, in 00:27:03.380 --> 00:27:06.000 August 2024, she confirmed her current engagement 00:27:06.000 --> 00:27:08.680 to H. Paul. She's also been remarkably open about 00:27:08.680 --> 00:27:11.000 her mental and physical health. During her Las 00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:13.759 Vegas residency in 2023, she revealed she had 00:27:13.759 --> 00:27:16.059 suffered from borderline alcoholism since her 00:27:16.059 --> 00:27:19.000 20s and was three months sober at that time. 00:27:19.119 --> 00:27:22.000 In a career built on baring her soul, this specific 00:27:22.000 --> 00:27:25.160 revelation carried significant weight. It deepened 00:27:25.160 --> 00:27:27.319 her relationship with fans by acknowledging real 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:30.470 struggles. And for a wonderfully unique contradiction 00:27:30.470 --> 00:27:33.109 to her fame, she became an ordained minister. 00:27:33.569 --> 00:27:36.170 She officiated the wedding of her friend, comedian 00:27:36.170 --> 00:27:39.009 Alan Carr, at her Los Angeles home. Now, let's 00:27:39.009 --> 00:27:41.329 briefly touch upon her politics and the financial 00:27:41.329 --> 00:27:44.009 controversy she faced early in her career. She 00:27:44.009 --> 00:27:46.670 is a supporter of the Labour Party. But she generated 00:27:46.670 --> 00:27:49.470 significant backlash in 2011 for being critical 00:27:49.470 --> 00:27:52.069 of tax rates. At the time in the UK, the top 00:27:52.069 --> 00:27:54.670 rate of income tax was 50 percent. And she spoke 00:27:54.670 --> 00:27:57.069 candidly about the shock of earning a massive 00:27:57.069 --> 00:27:59.589 amount of money and having half of it immediately 00:27:59.589 --> 00:28:02.430 claimed by the government. She said she was mortified. 00:28:02.910 --> 00:28:05.450 This sparked a national conversation about wealth 00:28:05.450 --> 00:28:07.710 and responsibility. But she was reporting her 00:28:07.710 --> 00:28:10.690 honest, visceral reaction to suddenly being high 00:28:10.690 --> 00:28:12.869 net worth. Let's pivot to her financial argument 00:28:12.869 --> 00:28:15.099 because it's a study in business control. She 00:28:15.099 --> 00:28:17.279 consistently topped the list of richest young 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:19.740 musicians under 30 in the UK and Ireland for 00:28:19.740 --> 00:28:23.319 six consecutive years. What is particularly shrewd 00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:26.099 is her conscious strategy of brand purity. She 00:28:26.099 --> 00:28:28.240 declined all sorts of lucrative endorsement offers. 00:28:28.519 --> 00:28:31.819 This choice to forego short -term cash grabs 00:28:31.819 --> 00:28:35.819 was hugely strategic. It maintained an untarnished 00:28:35.819 --> 00:28:38.640 premium brand image. Her wealth is staggering, 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:41.579 reflected in her real estate portfolio. This 00:28:41.579 --> 00:28:44.619 includes the $58 million former Sylvester Stallone 00:28:44.619 --> 00:28:47.059 mansion in Beverly Park. And the strength of 00:28:47.059 --> 00:28:49.460 her back catalog generates colossal passive income. 00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:53.039 In 2017, a year when she didn't release a new 00:28:53.039 --> 00:28:56.500 album, she still earned $11 .2 million in royalties 00:28:56.500 --> 00:28:59.200 after taxes. And beyond her wealth, her commitment 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:02.119 to philanthropy is extensive. She required all 00:29:02.119 --> 00:29:04.319 backstage visitors on her North American tour 00:29:04.319 --> 00:29:07.460 to donate to SAMS, a UK charity supporting those 00:29:07.460 --> 00:29:09.660 affected by baby loss. And after the Grenfell 00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:12.720 Tower fire in 2017, she quietly attended a vigil, 00:29:12.900 --> 00:29:14.940 brought cakes to firefighters, and urged fans 00:29:14.940 --> 00:29:17.380 at Wembley to donate to the victims. Her engagement 00:29:17.380 --> 00:29:20.339 is hands -on and consistent. Finally, let's synthesize 00:29:20.339 --> 00:29:22.579 her enormous legacy. She is consistently regarded 00:29:22.579 --> 00:29:25.059 as a British cultural icon alongside figures 00:29:25.059 --> 00:29:26.900 like William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth 00:29:26.900 --> 00:29:29.339 II. Her most significant industry achievement 00:29:29.339 --> 00:29:32.140 is being credited with reviving the lagging sales 00:29:32.140 --> 00:29:35.339 of the music industry in the 2010s. When the 00:29:35.339 --> 00:29:37.720 album format was declared dead, she brought massive 00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:40.269 traditional sales back. And she was widely praised 00:29:40.269 --> 00:29:42.950 for redefining celebrity image. Vulture noted 00:29:42.950 --> 00:29:45.549 she was among the first plus -size female cultural 00:29:45.549 --> 00:29:47.990 icons to reach the highest echelons of commercial 00:29:47.990 --> 00:29:50.730 success without having to make herself the butt 00:29:50.730 --> 00:29:53.529 of fat jokes. This acceptance and normalization 00:29:53.529 --> 00:29:56.150 of diversity at the absolute highest level is 00:29:56.150 --> 00:29:59.630 a profound cultural legacy, earning her the lasting 00:29:59.630 --> 00:30:03.079 nickname the Queen of Hearts. Her impact echoes 00:30:03.079 --> 00:30:05.420 throughout the industry, influencing major peers 00:30:05.420 --> 00:30:07.859 like Beyonce, Harry Styles, and Billie Eilish. 00:30:07.980 --> 00:30:10.160 And we must not forget that EGOT watch, she only 00:30:10.160 --> 00:30:12.180 needs a Tony Award to achieve that legendary 00:30:12.180 --> 00:30:15.039 status. So what does this all mean? We've traced 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:17.680 Adele's career from an accidental demo on MySpace 00:30:17.680 --> 00:30:21.099 to a global icon who literally reset album sales 00:30:21.099 --> 00:30:23.460 records in the most challenging era for physical 00:30:23.460 --> 00:30:25.880 music in history. Her achievement lies in her 00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:28.319 unique position, capturing both massive commercial 00:30:28.319 --> 00:30:30.839 success and profound critical respect across 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:33.960 four major albums, consistently defying industry 00:30:33.960 --> 00:30:37.700 norms by prioritizing emotion and scarcity. Her 00:30:37.700 --> 00:30:40.460 entire artistic trajectory is driven by her ability 00:30:40.460 --> 00:30:42.839 to translate seismic personal pain and emotional 00:30:42.839 --> 00:30:45.880 milestones, the breakups of 21, the makeups of 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:48.799 25, the self -redemption of 30 into globally 00:30:48.799 --> 00:30:51.539 relatable, diaristic albums. And that cycle brings 00:30:51.539 --> 00:30:53.619 us back to the biggest announcement of her current 00:30:53.619 --> 00:30:56.819 era. the indefinite break from music in july 00:30:56.819 --> 00:30:59.539 2024 she confirmed there are no plans for a new 00:30:59.539 --> 00:31:01.440 album right now given that she has explicitly 00:31:01.440 --> 00:31:03.819 stated she needed to take time and live a little 00:31:03.819 --> 00:31:06.420 bit before recording her next album to experience 00:31:06.420 --> 00:31:08.539 the profound life events necessary to inspire 00:31:08.539 --> 00:31:10.700 a new record We have to consider the implications. 00:31:11.099 --> 00:31:13.420 This raises an important question for you, the 00:31:13.420 --> 00:31:16.480 listener. If her entire artistic identity is 00:31:16.480 --> 00:31:19.299 built on autobiographical honesty tied directly 00:31:19.299 --> 00:31:21.900 to defining ages, and she is now stepping away 00:31:21.900 --> 00:31:24.619 after concluding the 30 era, moving into a period 00:31:24.619 --> 00:31:27.720 of stability, what kind of profound, potentially 00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:30.660 non -age titled life experience will be necessary 00:31:30.660 --> 00:31:33.220 to inspire the next chapter in the career of 00:31:33.220 --> 00:31:35.259 the Queen of Hearts? Is it enough for her to 00:31:35.259 --> 00:31:37.960 chronicle her newfound peace? Or does the art 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:40.289 require completely different kind of wound, a 00:31:40.289 --> 00:31:43.150 new political landscape, or an even deeper exploration 00:31:43.150 --> 00:31:45.990 of motherhood to justify the return. It's something 00:31:45.990 --> 00:31:49.170 to ponder as we await the next inevitable seismic 00:31:49.170 --> 00:31:51.390 event in her history. A fascinating place to 00:31:51.390 --> 00:31:53.289 leave it. We will be watching that next chapter 00:31:53.289 --> 00:31:55.250 closely. Thank you for joining us for this deep 00:31:55.250 --> 00:31:57.609 dive into the monumental career of Adele. We'll 00:31:57.609 --> 00:31:58.170 see you next time.