I love Adele. Not only is she an incredibly gifted singer — just about perfect in everything she does — but she’s also a wonderfully real person, given that she’s such a superstar. If anything, Adele is probably the most real superstar on the planet. Something she proved yet again in a fabulous interview with Sweden’s Skavlan a couple of weeks ago.
Adele started off the interview by talking about the first commercial that was aired on British TV for her new single ‘Hello‘. She explained what the commercial looked like, when it had aired (during the British X-Factor), and that it hadn’t had her name on it — just a black screen with the lyrics from the song.
After the commercial aired, Adele then rushed onto Twitter to find out what the response had been. But, not being able to sign into her own account (she’s not allowed, in case she gets drunk and “says something stupid”), she couldn’t see most of the tweets so panicked, thinking nobody was interested in her new song.
Skavlan then asked her “Why don’t you have access to your Twitter account”.
“Because I might say something stupid”, Adele answered. “You’ll learn, during our conversations that every now and again, I’ll say something stupid”, and then she just laughed and laughed.
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And it’s the fact that Adele is completely herself in interviews that I love. There’s no attempt to cover anything up, put a veil over anything, or otherwise try to be someone who she isn’t.
She is just herself. Funny, smart (and not so smart), silly, crazy, honest, interesting, open about how she feels about things, and real.
In the Skavlan interview, Adele also talks a lot about her mother, and what it was like growing up in a single-parent home with a mother who was still very young.
“It was great. We didn’t have very much, but I had a lot of love which I think, now that I’m a parent, that really is the best thing you can give your kid. I always felt loved. And the youth in her, it was just that everything was always fun. And I remember being about 15 or 16….and me starting to write songs and stuff. And me being like, I’m writing an album. And she was like “Yeah I know”, it was never “Yeah I know” (in a patronizing voice), she was never patronizing.”.
And I listen to that and it makes me realize part of the reason why Adele is the way she is. Because she grew up with a mother that always loved her, and supported her no matter what. And that alone gave her the confidence to be exactly who she is, and to do exactly what she wanted to do.
And how does Adele like people treating her now that she’s famous? Does she surround herself with ‘Yeasayers’?
No, not in the slightest. And when it comes to who would say ‘No’ to her?
“My manager. My best friends. My boyfriend. Everyone really. And that’s what I want though. I don’t want people blowing smoke up my ass. Because I’ve seen people that surround themselves with ‘yes people’, and they make shit records and they’re shit people. And I’m not having it”. (See. Real).
Watch Adele’s interview with Skavlan in the video below. It’s one of the best I’ve seen her do. And do subscribe to Skavlan’s YouTube channel. He gets some great guests and, with the way he interviews them, down-to-earth and letting the talk, he also does some of the best interviews.