Adele on Her Dream Hollywood Gig, Her Big Emotions and Volunteering at Her Son’s School: “The Kids Don’t Give a Flying F*** Who I Am”
Even on her day off, Adele, the regular person, can’t escape Adele, the superstar singer.
It’s Monday, and she rolls into one of her favorite Beverly Hills restaurants for lunch, makeup-free with her hair pulled back. She’s in an oversized, comfy, long black coat, and the only real giveaway are her long sharp black nails. And, of course, her screeching laugh.
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But then her song, the sweeping ballad “One and Only,” from her 21 era, comes on.
She laughs. “Every time Rich travels,” she says of her partner, sports superagent Rich Paul, with whom she lives in Beverly Hills, “the airplanes always play my music, and we can’t work out if it’s because they know that we are together, or if it’s just what they do.”
Later, the power pop ballad “Set Fire to the Rain,” plays in the background.
“You know what it is? It’s because the clientele here love me,” Adele says of the baby boomer diners who have packed the restaurant. “The people that come here — it’s my perfect audience.”
That’s part of Adele’s appeal: She’s the contemporary pop star who has locked in fans of all ages, from your grandparents who still buy physical albums at Target, to the cool kids who have helped vinyl make a comeback, to the rest of us who stream on Spotify. She is easily one of the best-selling recording artists of all time — with 120 million records sold worldwide — though her first album dropped as recently as 2008.
Her musical prowess is just one of the reasons she’s receiving the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award at The Hollywood Reporter’s annual Women in Entertainment event on Dec. 7. The singer, a longtime supporter of LGBTQ and women’s rights, is more of a silent philanthropist and has been associated with organizations including Grenfell Foundation; Sands, which supports people who have lost a baby; and Drop4Drop, which provides clean water to countries in need and was founded by her ex-husband, Simon Konecki. The mother of 11-year-old Angelo is also being highlighted for her work ethic: Just days before this interview, the 35-year-old was sick as a dog, powering through a cold to finish the final two nights of Weekends With Adele in Las Vegas. A third leg of the residency will launch in January.
“My chest was on fire,” admits Adele, still recovering. “My voice sounded all right when I sang. When I was talking, I sounded sick. I was really surprised. I was so sick. And luckily I was able to push through.” On her (sort of) day off — “they tried to put a meeting in tomorrow and I was like, ‘No. I need time’ ” — Adele is working on feeling better, with the help of comfort food.
“They do the best chicken pot pie here, but I can’t work out if that’s too indulgent for lunch on a Monday,” she says. “Fuck it, can I have it for lunch? They’re delicious.” In between bites of buttery, flaky crust and soaked vegetables, Adele dishes on being honored by THR, fighting sadness, possibly dipping her toe in acting and her love for SZA. Oh, and as with her songs, there were a few tears.
Congratulations on receiving this award. Past recipients include Oprah Winfrey, Barbra Streisand and Viola Davis. How does it feel to be in the company that you’re in?
Insane. I’ve always been in wonderful company, and all the music stuff and everything like that, but this is a little bit out of me depth. But no, it’s the most insane list of previous winners. And also, I genuinely knew who Sherry Lansing is. For her to even consider me in any fashion is kind of funny.
Typically it’s actresses who get this honor. Have you ever considered acting?
No. There is one movie I want to do, but the guy whose movie it would be, he’s not mentally ready to write the script for it.
Is it someone we know?
Yeah. I’m not giving you no clues, though. But I bug him every now and then about it, but he’s just not there yet. But that’s the only role I ever want. Because I think I’d nail it. I think I’d do really, really, really good at it.
Is it a role of you playing someone we know?
No. See, I get offered that all the time. I get offered to do biopics of singers, and I think that’s too obvious. And also anyone that’s great enough to have a biopic about them, you’re just setting yourself up for disaster. Then would they want me to sing as myself? Because then it would sound like me, it wouldn’t sound like them. So I wouldn’t do it. But that’s all I’ve been offered, really.
This event highlights 100 powerful women in Hollywood. For you, who have been some of the women that have empowered you?
It’s mainly the women in my family. I was raised by my mum and my aunties and my grandmothers, and they felt a bit stronger than anyone else I’ve ever met. They experienced [life] the hard way, what it was to be a woman. And it made them [stronger]. They just handed it down to us, so that we didn’t have to experience those things. They had to wear theirs as sort of armor, and I get to wear it as my skin because of them.
My English teachers when I was growing up, as well. And Barbra Streisand is one of them, I fucking adore her — one of my favorites. My agent Lucy [Dickins], she sounds just like me and she’s British. Beyoncé, obviously, my idol, watching her and stuff like that. And I’d say they’re probably the main ones, I think. And people like Sherry. There are so many doors that I’ve just been able to walk through because everyone else opened them, and I feel very lucky with that.
After you became a mom, did it make you look at your mom differently?
I talk to my friends a lot about this, because my friends are having kids now. The first thing I think that comes up when you have a kid is it brings up a lot of your own childhood for you. And no matter what your childhood was like — good or bad or whatever — you don’t want your child to have your childhood. My mum was very young when she had me. She was on her own, and I realized all the things I thought she could have done better, that she couldn’t have. So it made me respect my mum more and has given me more patience with her, as her older-woman daughter. It made me see how hard it must’ve been because we had no money. She didn’t have my dad and stuff like that, whereas I was with Angelo’s dad. I’m very lucky that I can afford to look after my child properly, and more than properly.
Also, you realize how hard adulting is. So on top of them being your mum, they’re also going through their own shit. I struggle not to show my emotions to Angelo with other things I’m going through. And I think that’s OK. Sometimes I wish I could hide it a bit less. But also, it’s not easy being an adult for anybody, in any situation.
Part of our event includes giving scholarships to high school girls heading to college. How do you want to empower young women?
More than anything, it’s just being yourself. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been so lucky with my career — on top of the obvious of me being a white woman in music. I think people are quite scared of me, and they’ve been like that since I was 18. I don’t know what it is; I think there’s no room for negotiations when it comes to what I want to do and how I want to do it. And it’s always been like that. I think that comes across in my interviews.
I’m not going to say who they are — I see a lot of the girls, up-and-coming singers, I get in touch with them because no one ever did that to me, gave me any advice or any secret nuggets of truth or tricks of how to survive it in any way. So I have them ’round and we have some wine and I talk to them.
Even if you’re really close with your team, your team can’t relate to you suddenly being thrust out of your life and thrown onto the public stage. And that saying, “You have your whole life to write your first album and you have six months to write your second.” That pressure was quite strange. And also your hobby becomes your job, which sounds really great, but your relationship with your hobby changes.
So I really like supporting the girls. Sometimes I would love to go into management, but I can’t work with talent. I say that as one — we are a nightmare. (Laughs.)
Your Weekends With Adele Vegas residency has been well received, and the production is next level. How involved were you in the production process?
I’m very, very involved. I’d decided to go completely back to the drawing board. The piano is sort of the main star of the show, because I start with it and then it’s on fire and then it explodes and then it blooms.
It was a real labor of love on another level because of what had happened with the initial show. It was actually a bit traumatizing. Yeah, it was horrific. There were so many delays because of COVID. But also I remember because my album would’ve come out in 2020; everyone’s life was put on hold. I didn’t even want to put that album out. I was like, “I’m not putting it out in any kind of pandemic.” It was so unclear what was going to happen. And it was such a detachment, having to do things virtually. Normally when you’re getting a show together, you just go down there and you’re in it and doing it all there while you’re rehearsing or putting it together.
As soon as COVID lifted, everyone went out on tour, there was no one to even hire. And then everyone started getting COVID, and we were still testing because you had to. Manpower, we were down. It was like, “Let’s use that instead. Let’s do that.” And I don’t want to do anything instead. It’s fucking extortionate to go to Vegas and to come to my show [and it be incomplete]. It’s like, today deciding to have a massive fucking party tonight, and we’re down at fucking Party City, fucking buying decorations.
You’ve had a number of famous people attend your residency, and the doctor who delivered your son was even in the audience.
I hadn’t seen him, my doctor, since my son was four days old. It was the most surreal experience of my life. As all my friends are trying for babies, I realized how it’s actually not as easy as everyone thinks to have a baby. I’d been thinking about it so much recently, I got his number the next day and I texted him. I never really understood how lucky you can be to have a baby. And I didn’t understand the magnitude of him not only bringing my child safely into the world, but keeping me safe in it. This will make me cry. It was so emotional. (Begins crying.) I had no idea he was there [at the show]. His daughter was next to him, and she had a sign. And you’re not supposed to bring signs in, and people keep sneaking them in. That’s my choice, because I’ll read them while I’m singing and then I’ll forget my words to my songs, so it’s not because it’s obstructing views. So as I was walking around past the booths, I saw this girl, and I just looked at the sign, and nodded. And then I saw the name of who was her dad. And then I looked next to her and he was there. Oh, yeah, I cried for a week after this.
So that was crazy. I remember one of my first shows I did, Shania Twain came. Because she had a hat on, I walked straight past her and didn’t recognize her until afterwards someone sent me a video. Then I saw her at the Grammys and we were talking about it. I’ve had lots of amazing people there. There’s been one there that I shat myself the whole show.
Who?
Gaga. And I’ve spent a bit of time with her, but I rate her so hard. I was like, “The show’s terrible. It’s rubbish. I’m singing terribly. I’m not funny. My dress is rubbish this week.” I was judging myself. And she’s not like that. But she made me really, really nervous.
The only person I want to see it that hasn’t yet is my mum. I’m going to wait — I want her to see it at the end. Because I think she’ll find it really emotional as well. I don’t get told who’s coming. I only knew Gaga was coming. She came in disguise. Well, not in disguise, she just wasn’t dressed up. It’s like me, I’ve put sweatpants on [today]. But yeah, as long as people come and they enjoy it, that’s all that matters, really.
How do you like living in L.A.?
I love it. It’s still sometimes strange, but I like it because I get left alone in L.A., which sounds weird. And for anyone that has never been to L.A., you assume it would be the opposite. But there are so many famous people here that they don’t waste their time. Because if I see I’m being followed, I’ll cancel my day and I’ll drive out to Palm Springs and back. I wouldn’t say it can be frenzied sometimes elsewhere, but it’s just, I’ve got 20 minutes wherever. “Is that Adele?” By the time they realize it is, I’ve got to leave. And I just don’t get that here.
I get really bad seasonal depression, so the weather is good for me here. It is strange sometimes, because I’m very British. Because it’s a bit harder for me to go out nowadays, what I love the most about L.A. is everyone goes to each other’s houses. I like that.
And I actually have made a lot of really great core friends. I didn’t think I’d ever have a real friend group here. I don’t want a bunch of celebrities being my friends — well, only [celebrities]. And [my friends are] actually from L.A., which again, before I moved here, I never met one person who was from L.A. They’re not famous and they’re great. And having a kid at school, I’ve got great mum friends. But I do like it.
During the last show, you mentioned that you had to make 60 chicken kebabs for Angelo’s class. How did that go?
I did it the next day. It went great. I spilled the turmeric everywhere, so it stained my whole kitchen. I made 60 of them.
Do you love being able to participate at his school?
I’m thriving a bit. Now there are so many things his school does the most, with community vibes, which is fantastic. The kids don’t care. The kids don’t give a flying fuck who I am. And I get, not insecure, but I get nervous around loads of adults and strangers that I don’t know. And so making food for school events, it’s my dream.
“Hometown Glory” from 19 was one of the first songs you released — when you sing that song now, what goes through your mind?
It makes me very emotional. I really miss London, but I miss the London from before all of this happened in my life. I remember it like it was yesterday, when I wrote that song. I still feel like it’s my baby. And I don’t think everyone knows, but I wrote it the day after I went to my first ever protest. In London, the U.K., we were annoyed at Tony Blair because he was going to war with Iraq. It was like a million-people turnout in London, and we’re marching, and I was 16, and me and my friend Olivia went. We made our placard, and it felt so powerful.
Your next album, 21, was a groundbreaking success. I remember when “Rolling in the Deep” came out. Now that we’re years away, how do you view that album?
I’m very proud of that album, and I think the songs still very much stand up today. I don’t really remember the process of writing it very much, because I was so sad. I was so consumed in the grief of my first heartbreak.
When I started writing 30, I was like, “I need to throw up and it be a song.” I didn’t know that that was my process with 21. I was just trying to keep myself distracted. So I just went into the studio to make sure that I wasn’t moping around at home, and also that I wouldn’t bump into my ex. I do remember thinking “Rolling in the Deep” was great. I had the first verse for a while. I used to sing it a cappella wherever I went.
My only memory of my thoughts on “Rolling in the Deep” was like, “This will never get on radio.” But it was my favorite. I remember a lot of people wanting to lead with “Set Fire to the Rain,” because it was pop. And I was like, “Oh hell no, we’re going with ‘Rolling in the Deep.’ ” I remember my mum listening to the album and being flabbergasted. And my mum always believed in me. She got a bit scared. I think she knew that people were really going to like it on a different scale to the first one.
But then I don’t remember anything. People knew me, but they didn’t really care on a Saturday night, and by the Monday morning, I was very, very famous. And it was very, very strange.
I think part of your success is because of the way you emote on a song. Your connection to the words — in part because you wrote them — stands out, and the way you release it is impressive. Were you always able to connect to lyrics and emote when you sing?
I think I’m an incredibly sad person, and I think I inherited a lot of sadness, and I think I’m a real empath and I’m a real feeler. And I can’t move on from things very easily. It’s like I’ve got hollow legs, but it’s just filled with things that I think I’m getting over, or I think haven’t affected me. Or things I think I’m not taking on from somebody else, but I am. And I’ve been like that since I was little.
I love every type of music, but my mum loved Jeff Buckley and I loved Jeff Buckley. I was little. I was like, “Why is he so sad?” I could tell that people were sad. So then I would sing along, and I would imitate their sadness, and I think I was able to do it because I have my own. Because music is such an emotional thing, and it’s such a personal thing. Even as a listener. With my music, and for whoever listens to it, I think I’m not the best singer in the world at all, but no one else can sing my songs like me because they didn’t write them. No one can sing my songs like me, period. They can’t sing. The lyrics are not their own. And I don’t think anyone else should sing my songs. (Laughs.)
That’s funny, I’d planned on asking you about Aretha Franklin’s cover of “Rolling in the Deep.”
Apart from Aretha Franklin. No, I don’t mind it when they do, but I’m just saying, they’re never going to be able to emote it. Same way that I can’t sing other people’s songs. I didn’t write the lyrics, and I can’t sing as well as them. But it’s just like, I would choose this any day. Also, the lethargicness of it for me is fantastic.
Have you had time to record new music?
I get nervous about wearing my voice out [at the residency]. It’s a lot of singing. It’s two hours. It’s all live. It’s a lot. And I fucking motormouth and chat me ass off as well. But yeah, I have nothing to say yet. I haven’t even thought about it.
With songwriting, do you prefer to write on assignment or do you write when ideas come to you?
I have to wait for a feeling. If I get antsy, that’s when I know I have to go to the studio, and I am the opposite of antsy right now. (Laughs.)
How many collaborations have you turned down?
A lot. A lot. A lot. A lot. Some of them are just an obvious no, that I would never do. Some people ask and I’m like, “In what world do you actually think I would say yes to that?” And it doesn’t make any sense either. A couple that I’ve been like, “Oh, I want to do that,” and the timing hasn’t worked out. It’s so frustrating. The other thing is, especially if I’m in my downtime, it’s become a recurring theme for me, but after I had my child, I need to be with him. Especially nowadays — the promo of music videos and all of that — I’m not doing that for nobody. In my downtime, never. So then it’s like, “Why would they want me on it if I’m not going to go the whole way [and] do TV, videos and things like that?” There are a couple of people I would love to do it with, just because I think it could be really interesting and unexpected. There was one I wanted to do a couple of years ago. He wanted me to write the hook but with a melody in mind, and I couldn’t get the lyrics right, because I was stuck in this melody that wasn’t mine. But I would’ve loved to have done that. But I’m not anti-it. I’m not anti-it at all. I’m open to it. But also, if I do it, it has to be fucking great.
“My dream job is to be a script reader. That’s what I’d actually love. People think it’s hilarious, and they don’t take me seriously,” says Adele of what her ideal Hollywood job would be.
I think your only collaboration on record is 2009’s “Water and a Flame” with Daniel Merriweather.
That one was great. I feel [if I did a collaboration] it’d have to be like “Islands in the Stream” part two. It has to be phenomenal.
You won the Oscar in 2013 and your concert special, One Night Only, won all five Emmys it was nominated for last year, including a win for you. How did that feel?
The Emmy really blew my mind. It’s also a very impressive-looking award. Have you seen an Emmy in real life? It’s probably my favorite-looking one. And when you hold it, it really feels like an award. Actually, I didn’t even know I would get one. And then Ben [Winston, an executive producer of the show] dropped it round to me the next day, so that was very, very cool.
The Oscars, I just had Angelo, I was so out of it when all that happened. When I walk past, it makes me giggle. And I’m not bigging myself up here — when that won, it feels very modern every year since; it feels like a lot of more current artists are winning it and stuff like that, which I like. But yeah, the Oscar was funny. I was six, seven weeks postpartum. It was intense.
Have you gotten any offers for Broadway?
Not an actual offer for Broadway. I remember asking Bette Midler about it, and she loves it, but she’s like, “It’s not a fucking joke.” The matinees and all of that. When people are paying money, it needs to be the best fucking thing. I don’t take that for granted. Also, I go to so many shows that are so fucking half-assed, or people are late. I find it so rude. I get so annoyed. I don’t care if it’s 20 bucks for a fucking ticket — don’t waste my time. All these people have lives.
I don’t love musicals. That’s the only issue. With James Corden, because he’s one of my really good friends, I surprised him and did “Don’t Rain on My Parade” because he loves musicals so much. I’m much more of a Leonard Cohen kind of person. But I do remember going to see, what was it called? (Whips out her phone.) Let me Google it. Hang on. Gypsy — as the mum. Because it’s just one big song. I think I could handle it. I could do that eight, 10 times a week. One big song.
Are you interested in producing? Drake is one of the EPs of Euphoria, and Jennifer Hudson won her Tony and Emmy as a producer.
My dream job is to be a script reader. That’s what I’d actually love. People think it’s hilarious, and they don’t take me seriously. And I often say to my manager, “I think I could make some really great stuff, I want to be really successful at something.” And he’s like, “What?!” I was like, “I know, but [music] is my hobby. I just fell into it and then it just happened. I want to be in TV and behind the scenes.” But reading a script, which is wow, because that’s actually how Sherry started out at MGM. You know she was a maths teacher? She was a maths teacher first. And then she was the head script reader at MGM. But that’s my dream job.
So you could potentially launch your own production company?
That’s what everyone says. They’re like, “Why don’t you make [a company]?” I don’t want to build my own things, I want to work with something. I don’t want to create something. I want to join something. That’s how I feel. But I don’t think I’d want to be a producer, or a director, because I don’t want to work with talent.
Rich’s book, Lucky Me: A Memoir of Changing the Odds, made the New York Times best seller list. Did you learn anything about him after reading it?
Rich and I have always known everything about each other since the day we got together. It was very emotional reading about his mum, because obviously she’s not with us, so I’ve never met her. And she’s such a big part of Rich and the kids and the kids’ mum’s life and stuff like that. But I knew all about it. I’m getting a bit emotional (starts crying). It was hard for him to write that.
Part of the award is also about giving back and charity work. How important is it for you to pay it forward?
I actually do a lot of it and I do it anonymously. Because I also don’t ever want people who I’m trying to help question why I’m doing it. I don’t want them to think that I’m doing it because it makes me look good, and my authenticity when it’s coming down to it. And I certainly wouldn’t want them ever feeling like I’m using them or anything like that. It’s a passion of mine that I do. But it is something I really want to start going into, my philanthropy phase. I definitely want to start it back home though first.
Grammy nominations recently came out…
Did SZA get nominated for everything?
Yes. She’s the most-nominated with nine. And the top three categories are dominated by women.
The big top three awards? All women? Wow. That’s insane. That’s incredible. Fucking phenomenal.
What are some of your favorite records of the year?
SZA’s was definitely my favorite. I’m also very excited that Dua Lipa is back. When I first ever heard — (starts singing) “I’ve got new rules, I count ’em” — that song (“New Rules”), I remember saying to my manager, “Whoa.” I was like, “She should be the next big pop girl.” And she is. I’m so excited she’s back. She wasn’t even gone for very long. I couldn’t work like that either. It’s too much. I can’t cope sharing myself all the time. I’d be that plastic bag blowing in the wind that Katy Perry sings about [in “Firework”]. But I’m excited that she’s back. I did love the Victoria Monet one, but yeah, SZA, I imagine she’ll win all of them. She’s had such a wonderful, wonderful couple of years. I loved her show as well. It was great. I enjoyed it.
Do you listen to your own music? No, right?
Rich does, it drives me insane. And it’s funny because in my car with my driver, he knows if my song comes on, he has to turn the radio, just turn it off (laughs). I don’t like it at all.
Have any of your songs taken on a different meaning for you, or changed your life?
“Water Under the Bridge” has become a really happy song for me. If you really listen to it, it’s not a happy song, obviously. But it brings me so much joy now. Like in Vegas, I love doing a little bit of the Megan Thee Stallion dance. And every time I sing it now, I think of that funny viral video [of my song and Megan dancing].
I can’t listen to “Someone Like You” because my voice sounds so young on it. I performed it on the BRIT Awards. They wanted me to do “Rolling in the Deep,” and I was like, “No, I want to do ‘Someone Like You.’ ” So I put my foot down, like I always do. And then I was getting a bit nervous. It was the first and pretty much last time I’ve ever performed in high heels. Because my legs just shake, and I want to concentrate on my singing. But I sang it and I got really emotional at the end. And the whole room stood up and you could hear a pin drop. And then I got on a flight to New York and the next day “Someone Like You” was No. 1 everywhere. It had gone viral before viral was even really a thing.
Styling by Jamie Mizrahi. On the cover: Valentino.
A version of this story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
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