May 23, 2024 • 27 mins
Like Madonna, Bono, Prince and Beyoncé before her, Adele is one of the great mononymous superstars of our time.
Adele Adkins was born on May 5, 1988 in Tottenham, a working class town in northern London known best for its football club, Tottenham Hotspur. Her mom Penny Adkins, was only 18 when she was born and when she was only two, Adele’s father upped and left for Wales; he would never be in the picture as Adele grew up.
From the age of 4, Adele began to sing at every opportunity she would get. When the Spice Girls emerged, young Adele would become obsessed with the Girl Powerful group. In 2016, she would tell Vogue, “People always think I joke about this, but the Spice Girls blew up when I was seven, and seeing them coming from a humble background — there was hope in it. It was really a massive part of my life when the whole Girl Power thing happened.”
When she was 11, her mum and stepdad moved her to West Norwood in south London, which she would immortalize in her 2007 hit “Hometown Glory.” It was there that Adele would fall in love with contemporary R&B and the big, classic voices that would shape her voice in the years to come.
“Hometown Glory,” was first released in October 2007 as a limited 7-inch on a small label called Pacemaker. The song didn’t do much until it was re-released the following year by XL. But the buzz was growing for Adele. As 2008 arrived, she became the youngest artist ever to win the BBC’s Sound of 2008 award, which is selected by music critics and industry figures searching for the UK’s most promising new music talent. She also took home the Critic’s Choice Award at the BRITs, which was given to the top rising star.
Soon after, Adele released her debut album, 19, on January 28, 2008. She named it 19 because, well, that’s how old she was when she recorded the album. It didn’t take long for critics and fans to fixate on her age, and how mature she sounded for someone who was only 19.
Adele was quickly popping up everywhere on both sides of the pond. 19 was on the shortlist of nominees for the coveted Mercury Prize, which is awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the United Kingdom or Ireland.”Hometown Glory” popped up all over TV, soundtracking huge dramatic scenes in countless TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy, So You Think You Can Dance, Coronation Street and 90210. But perhaps the greatest achievement, at least in Adele’s eyes, was one of her heroes, Beyoncé calling her “THE British singer,” separating her from the rest of the pack.
Her followup single “Chasing Pavements” earned Adele her first Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, beating out her former classmate Leona Lewis. It was also nominated for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. Even bigger than that, Adele also won Best New Artist.
Now with a lot more pressure on her, Adele was ready to record her followup album Feeling the raw sting of a recent breakup, Adele reached out to Paul Epworth in October 2009 and immediately they headed into the studio. She brought him a ballad she had begun writing a couple years ago about a boy, which he felt needed to be stronger and more aggressive in its arrangement. With Epworth’s help they channeled the anger she felt from her recent split and used some guitar riffs he had previously written down.
As the two worked together, Adele began to feel her heart race, which became the beat of the song. The two of them came up with the verses and the chords of the song in under 15 minutes, with the rest only taking about two hours.
This is the true story of Adele's iconic song 'Rolling in the Deep' with newly unearthed footage from Adele herself!
Also contains clips from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_mj1CuXrPE
and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1wjMGosYa8
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Encore. The stories behind the songs. Here's Ihe
Radio's Myles Galloway.
Hello. How are you? I'm Myles Galloway. And this is
the story of Adele's rolling in the deep. Yeah. Before
we get started in case you didn't know I am.
(00:23):
In fact, British and the biggest singer in Britain is Adele.
And before you think I said her name wrong, that
is how
Adele pronounces Adele. Yeah, two years ago in a live
Q and A with fans, she shocked the world. Well,
North America by dropping this bombshell, she came and asked
(00:46):
me how I say my name and I was like,
Adele was like a Adele. Adele. Um, ok, great. All right.
From London. Um, in case you didn't get that because
the audio is a bit noisy.
Adele pronounced her name properly again when she hosted Saturday
Night Live and appeared in a skit spoofing The Bachelor. Hi,
I'm Adele Atkins. I'm 32. You may know me for
(01:06):
being the singer Adele. But as she admitted in that
clip herself, people call her Adele. So that's what we're
gonna do today. Like Madonna Bono Prince and Beyonce before her,
Adele is one of the great Moomin superstars of our time.
But in case you didn't catch her saying it just there,
her real name is Adele Atkins. She has one of
the most recognizable voices ever. A reported five octave mezzo
(01:31):
soprano that it's almost impossible to mistake for anyone else.
At the age of 34. She was one of the
youngest people ever to have an ego. And by that,
I mean, she's won an Emmy, a grammy and an
Oscar and I will bet my house that she will
win a Tony to complete the ego before she retires.
Adele was born on May 5th, 1988 in Tottenham, a
(01:54):
working class town in northern London known best for its
football club Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs. If you're in the
n her mum, Penny Adkins was only 18 when she
was born. And when she was only two, Adele's father
Upton left for
Wales. He would never be in the picture. As Adele
grew up from the age of four, Adele began to
sing at every opportunity she would get. When the Spice
(02:15):
girls emerged. Young Adele would become obsessed with the girl
powerful group in 2016. She would tell Vogue, people always
think I joke about this but the Spice girls blew
up when I was seven and seeing them coming from
a humble background, there was hope in it. It was
a really massive part of my life when the whole
girl power thing happened.
When she was 11. Her mum and stepdad moved her
to West Norwood in South London, which she would immortalize
(02:38):
in her 2007 hit Hometown Glory. It was there that
Adele would fall in love with contemporary R and B
and the big classic voices that would shape her voice
in the years to come. She would tell Yorkshire live
in 2008 when I was a bit younger, I was
just listening to the Spice Girls and Destiny's Child. I
love R and B so much. I wanted to be
the next Beyonce and I still do sometimes, but it's
(02:58):
really hard to sing like that. All those notes are
a nightmare.
So I gave up on that one. The way I
sing now came when I heard Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald,
I was 15 or 16 and taught myself to sing
by listening to their records. I'm obsessed with people's singing voices.
I love trying to understand what they're feeling and listening
out for the emotions.
By the time she was 13, Adele had learned how
(03:19):
to play the guitar, saxophone and flute, which she decided
to give up after she began smoking as a teenager.
She attended the brit school, a performing in creative art
school in Croydon, South London. Notable alumni from the school
include Amy Winehouse and Spiderman himself, Tom Holland. And she
attended classes alongside future stars, Jessie J and Leona Lewis there.
Adele learned the Ins and Outs of the music industry
(03:41):
while honing her skills as a singer, songwriter and musician.
However, she originally set her sights on the label side
of things, wanting to help sign artists as an A
and R person. Adele graduated from the school in 2006
and began to think about university. She told much music's
Sarah Taylor. Yeah, I was um me and my mum
had an argument about university and she wanted me to go, like,
(04:02):
a way up north in England. So I'd be independent
and not like, if I was at university in London,
if I ran out of money, I
toilet paper, I'd go to her and just take it. Like,
do you know what I mean? Whereas, um, if I
was away I wouldn't do that and I wanted to
stay in London and then she was like, we were
shouting at each other and then I ran upstairs and
slammed my door and I was like, this is why
I'm staying in London and I wrote the song and
then I played it to her and she was like, alright,
so Adele wouldn't end up going to university instead. She
(04:24):
got a job. I didn't go to university. I got
a record deal right away. She kept saying, go and
get a job in the summer and the holiday, I'd
just stay on the sofa, just watch TV.
Um, and then she, like, go and get a job,
go and get a job. So one day I went
and came home and I thought, I think I got
a record deal because at that time, you weren't sure
that myspace actually had a record deal. A funny thing
happened when Adele's friend uploaded some of her demos, she
(04:44):
recorded at school to a myspace page. She received a
call from Richard Russell, the owner of XL recordings who
liked her retro modern soul pop sound. At first she,
I thought it was a joke she would tell Entertainment Weekly.
I'd never heard of XL. I took one of my
friends with me to a meeting because I thought maybe
it was some weirdo on the internet. XL was one
of the biggest independent labels in the UK scoring hits
(05:07):
with the White Stripes, Mi A and the prodigy Adele
on the other hand, was only 18 and had three
songs to her name. After hiring herself a manager, Jonathan Dickens.
Adele signed with XL. In
fall of 2006. Dickens persuaded her to cover a song
by Bob Dylan Make You Feel My Love, which would
soon become her fourth song. The label set her up
with a producer named Jim Abbess, who'd worked with indie
(05:29):
acts such as Placebo Cassian and Arctic Monkeys. In an
interview with Creative Walden Abbes would recall how he first
met the singer.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I was
actually working with a friend of hers, a guy called
Jack Penate.
And uh we needed a backing vocalist and, and I
wanted to, to get somebody that I knew the next
day or the day after. And he, he said I
actually gonna call a friend of mine. So I was
kind of unsure about it. And, uh, she burst in
about an hour later, really funny girl and she did
(05:57):
the bvs in one take and I really couldn't quite
believe how incredible her voice was. And a few months
later I got a call saying, would I be interested
in working with her as a producer? And, um,
so we would, we worked together and we did, we
did most of her first record and every time it
was nine out of 10 and there will be some
10 and out of tens in there. And it was
very easy to just to do things and get great takes.
(06:19):
And
Speaker 1 (06:19):
at
first songs came to Adele slowly and she found songwriting
to be quite
challenging. She would tell the German Press when I couldn't
write a song for so long, I tried to make
up things and I tried to write fictional songs or
write things about other people's situations. But I never could
because I don't believe what I'm singing. I can't be
convincing or sincere when I don't feel what I'm singing.
But then she met a boy and fell in love
(06:42):
and then eventually she learned the boy had been cheating
on her,
which all of a sudden became a source of inspiration.
For her. She would tell Rolling Stone, I went to
the pub where he was and punched him in the face.
I got thrown out. And as I was running away,
the phrase chasing pavements came to me, I sang it
into my phone and went home and got three chords together.
And thus her song Chasing Pavements was born. More songs
(07:03):
came to her with some help from additional songwriters such
as Egg White and Sasha Scarby
and producer Mark Ronson, who had just won Grammys for
his work on Amy Winehouse's back to Black Adele's first single,
Hometown Glory was first released in October 2007 as a
limited seven inch on a small label called Pacemaker. The
song didn't do much until it was re-released the following
(07:24):
year by XL but the buzz was growing for Adele
as 2008 arrived, she became the youngest
ever to win the BB C's Sound of 2008 award
which is selected by music critics and industry figures searching
for the U K's most promising new music talent. She
also took home the Critics Choice Award at the Brits
which was given to the top rising star, but all
(07:44):
of the attention didn't go to her head. She would
tell N Pr I think it's quite ridiculous. To be honest,
I still can't really get over it. I'm not really
bothered by awards. My brit award is my toilet roll
holder in my bathroom Now that's what you call luxury, right?
The first song to properly introduce Adele to the world
was chasing pavements released just weeks before her debut album,
Adele's Tale about coping with her breakup became an international hit,
(08:07):
reaching number two in the UK and number 21 on
the Billboard Hot 100. What's funny is in the USA
lot of Adele's fans thought she was chasing something other
than pavements. She told Elle magazine
in America. Everyone thinks I'm saying. Chasing pavements, which is
Lols and you also don't know what a pavement is.
We don't use it for the same thing. But yeah,
chasing pavements, I slapped my boyfriend and was running down
(08:28):
Tottenham Court Road in London to get a, like make
sure I didn't get in trouble and then no one
was chasing after me and I was like chasing pavements.
It's going nowhere. Adele really?
Her debut album 19 on January 28th, 2008. She named
it 19 because, well, that's how old she was when
she recorded the album. It didn't take long for critics
and fans to fixate on her age and how mature
(08:48):
she sounded for someone who was only 19. I wrote
the album to get it off of my chest, you know,
to kind of get it out of my system.
Um, but it's, it's no more than any other 19
year old and it's just, mine's magnified cos it's a
record that's been released throughout the world. Um I never
really thought of that when I was writing it but,
and now I have to talk about the boy that
I hate all the time. So yeah, we were friends
(09:11):
but I do hate him a little bit. Yeah.
She called her music heartbroken soul for obvious reasons. And
thanks to her gender and nationality, Adele was included in
a British invasion of female singer songwriters like Amy Winehouse,
Lily Allen Duffy, Kate, Nash, Leona Lewis and Estelle. But
Adele was quick to embrace any associate
with or comparisons to her contemporaries even telling the Guardian
(09:32):
that she wanted to assemble a super group and become
the best band ever because they represented most women in
the world. We're not afraid to speak our minds. She
explained and you don't need to be a doll with
tanned legs, blonde hair, big boobs and good lips on
her first trip to Canada in June 2008. Much more.
Music's Matt Wells asked Adele about the rise of the
female singer songwriter in the UK Kate Nash Duffy. And
(09:56):
now yourself
and all three of you had this very fast kind
of rise to success. What the hell is going on
over there? Like factory pumping us all out? I don't
know what it is. I don't know what it is.
I have no idea. It's very encouraging though. It's exciting.
It is something in the water. I think it must be,
(10:16):
it must be you drink bottled water from the tap,
the tap there it is. So there's going to be
like 60 million people, 60 million girls from London coming
over soon, taking over
Adele would quickly carve a path for herself. But one
comparison she couldn't avoid was to Amy Winehouse. At the time,
Winehouse was becoming regular tabloid fodder for her erratic behavior
(10:37):
in public due to substance abuse, which if you missed it,
I go into full detail about in our last episode
of Encore. I know shameless plug is the May 16th episode.
In case you're wondering anyway, Adele would tell Matt Wells
that she wasn't offended. She was flattered to receive comparisons
to Winehouse.
Um It's a compliment. I love everyone else. I don't
know why they say that. Um I think it's like,
(10:59):
I think if you kind of get a bit pissed
off that you get compared to people, it's just really
pathetic because um I, I mean, I don't think Duffy
would get annoyed with that. It's probably just label, isn't it?
Um But you know, you in terms of like critics,
eyes and journalists and people that review your album or
review your live shows or just write,
you never come into your own, your second or third
(11:19):
album anyway. So I think it's inevitable that you get
compared to someone and I'd much rather be compared to
Amy win than someone I don't like Adele was quickly
popping up everywhere on both sides. Of the Pond 19
was on the short list of nominees for the Coveted
Mercury Prize, which is awarded for best album released by
a musical act from
United Kingdom or Ireland. Hometown Glory. Popped up all over TV.
(11:42):
Sound tracking huge dramatic scenes and countless TV shows like
Grey's Anatomy. So you think you can dance Coronation Street
and 90210. But perhaps the greatest achievement at Lisa Adele's
eyes was one of her heroes, Beyonce calling her the
British singer, separating her from the rest of the pack.
But it didn't end there with Beyonce. Adele was offered
(12:03):
an opening slot for Beyonce's tour by her father, Matthew Knowles,
which she turned down, she told much more music's Matt Wells.
And then he said to me, oh, by the way,
if you want to do Beyonce's tour, you can do it.
And I was like, it's like a million dates. I'm not,
I'm not, I haven't got the stamina to do that
many shows. Like ho hold on, hold on. Let's just rewind.
He said, if you want Beyonce's tour, you can have it.
(12:25):
And you're like, no, she does so many shows. I
can't do that many shows.
I'm not Beyonce. I can't do that many shows. So
I said, no. Also the tour's only just starting but
I think it's, it, tongue in cheek as well cos like, um,
you know, mouth fee. He was like, oh, by the way,
and then they've walked out of the room. Um But no,
this tour is just starting. I need to do my
(12:45):
second album, you know, and I can't do 300 shows.
It's a lot of shows. No one album I'd be like,
so I just like, I could do the Beyonce tour,
but I'm just not,
I love you. I love you. Anyway, Adele was set
to embark on her own North American tour but ended
up canceling due to family issues. She said at the
time turns out that was a lie. The next year
(13:07):
she confirmed to Nylon Magazine that it was actually so
she could spend some time with her new boyfriend who
was 10 years older than her and what she considered
her first real relationship. We refer to that period as
my elc my early life crisis. Now I'm sober. I'm like,
I can't believe I did that.
It seemed so ungrateful. I was drinking far too much.
And that was kind of the basis of my relationship
(13:28):
with this boy. I couldn't bear to be without him.
So I was like, well, ok, I'll just cancel my stuff.
Then
the relationship didn't last. But one good thing came out
of it. She told Nylon, I got a second album
out of it. So it was fine canceling the tour
cost Adele a big opportunity to break America. But when
one door closed another door opened, although she didn't do
(13:48):
the tour, Adele made the trip over to the US
to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live alongside
host Josh Brolin. This was at a time when the
show still provided water cooler moments and Adele's performance combined
with a surprise
cameo by then vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Remember her
was exactly that generating huge numbers in the ratings. It's
hard to think an SNL appearance could boost her career
(14:11):
that much now. But it really did catapult Adele's profile
in the US lifting 19 up in the charts and
helping it go gold at the time. And then a
few months later came, the Grammys chasing pavements earned Adele
her first grammy for best female pop vocal performance beating
out her former class
mate, Leona Lewis. It was also nominated for song of
the year and record of the year even bigger than that.
(14:31):
Adele also won best new artist over whoa, the Frigging
Jonas Brothers. No one was more surprised than Adele was.
She described the experience to much more music. I was
so convinced that I wouldn't win it. I thought Duffy
would win it all the Jonas brothers. I thought Duffy
would win it with the album. But then I thought,
oh may, maybe Jonas brothers will win it because first
of all, they're nominated for a Grammy like
(14:52):
which is kind of like, well, no, no, no, I'm
a big fan of the, but like the fact that they,
they've seen it is like this pop boy band that
they've been nominated for and I thought actually that's probably
really great. Maybe they'll win it. Um, so I had
no shoes on and I'd taken my shoes off cos
I got these shoe sh taken my shoes off, undone
my belt. I had chewing gum in my mouth and
like they called my name and I was like, shit. I,
I looked like a tramp. Um, so I had no
shoes and I had chewing gum in my mouth and
(15:13):
my belt was undone in my really nice dress that
I had made. Um, and then like all my,
I had no speech. All my label were like, oh
make a speech, make a speech cos like the L
A Times, the New York Times predicted that I'd win it.
And then I was like, oh no, that means I'm
not gonna win it like it will jinx it and
it'll be the other way around. Um So I didn't
even have a speech. So I was like crying and
then I was like, don't do a Kate Winslet, you know,
um at the Golden Globes. So then I had to
(15:34):
put it back and like, go on about how much
I love a Jonas brothers and shout out a few
people and stuff like that. But um they were, they,
I can't describe the feeling. I don't even remember winning it. Like,
I don't remember going
up like Snoop Dogg was next to me and um,
you two in front of me. And I was like,
oh my God, Adele would tour throughout the majority of
2009 playing shows across the world, but she also wasted
no time getting started on her next album. I want
(15:57):
the second album to have a more of a distinctive
sound in the first album. The first album intentionally doesn't
sound like a body of work because I it's my
first album. I was like 1819 and don't know what
kind of sound I wanna have yet. I don't know
what kind of woman I wanna be yet.
Um But now I know so the second album, like,
um I'm listening to a lot, lot of Alison Krauss
at the moment, it's not gonna be a country album
because that's the biggest fattest lie ever if I come
(16:18):
out and like start talking like there be a bit weird.
Um But yeah, so, like my music, like my music
taste and how I play and how I sing has
not changed, but grown up a lot and matured a
lot and without saying cheesy, like I have grown up
so much in the last couple of years. Um Despite
performing a duet of Lady Antebellum S Need You. Now
(16:38):
with Darius Rucker at a CMT special Adele did not
go country, but she did want to search for a
sound that reflected more of a contemporary pop sound than
the retro, blue eyed soul. Pop critics had classified her,
she spent a lot of time listening to all sorts
of music from hip hop to country, to pop, to
try and measure what she wanted for her next album.
(16:58):
Then she began to assemble a team of songwriters and
producers that could help shape her second album. One of
them was Ryan Tedder, who was best known as the
singer of One Republic, but also a hit songwriter who
co penned Bleeding Love by Adele's classmate Leona Lewis, as
well as Beyonce's Halo. Also invited was Dan Wilson of
Semisonic fame. You know, the song closing time. And
(17:19):
Paul Epworth, the U K's indie producer Du Jour, thanks
to his work with hip acts like Block Party, Kate
Nash and Florence and the machine feeling the raw sting
of her recent breakup. Adele reached out to Paul Epworth
in October 2009 and immediately they headed into the studio.
She brought him a ballad. She had begun writing a
couple of years ago about a boy which he felt
(17:39):
needed to be stronger and more aggressive in its arrangement.
She explained that her ex had told her she would
lead a boring lonely rubbish life if she left him,
the song was her way of saying fuck you to
her ex. She would tell the independent. So with Epworth
S help, they channeled the anger she felt from her
recent split and knew some guitar riffs he had previously
written down. She would tell the Toronto son I was
(18:00):
so upset. I was so angry. I was telling Paul, oh, Paul,
let's write a ballad. That's all I ever do.
And he was like, absolutely not. I wanna write a
fierce tune. As the two worked together, Adele began to
feel her heart race which became the beat of the song.
The two of them came up with the verses and
the chords of the song in under 15 minutes with
the rest only taking about two hours. They hardly touched
(18:22):
the vocals and used what they recorded for the demo
because as he would tell the news,
New York Times, Adele was going through something, she had
had her heart broken and she was in pieces and
you could really hear that. Her anger and her sadness
sometimes I just don't think that you can recreate that
or fake it. My hunch is that we captured something
in a vocal performance that was going to be very
hard to recreate in the end. What they came up
(18:42):
with was something called a Gospel disco.
Having recorded an album's worth of songs with Epworth Tedder
and a handful of other producers, Adele decided to take
the songs to Rick Rubin, the notorious yet celebrated producer
who had helped shape the careers of Beastie boys, Public
enemy and Slayer and recorded career defining works by Red
hot chili peppers and Johnny Cash for Adele to work
(19:04):
with a veteran known for helping establish the contemporary rock
of sound. Metal and rap music seemed like a far reach.
But both
parties were interested. Adele told Johnny Hockin. Rick came to
Saturday Night Live when I did that. So it was
all like, you know, I didn't really know it at
the time. But after, as it turns out, it completely
changed my life and my career that TV show and
I was singing Chasing Favorites. And you can see in
my eyes cos live obviously, when I spot Rick Rubin
(19:27):
behind the camera and he literally just shit myself in
my face. And he's doing that says Bob, by the way,
he feels music is just amazing. There's no other person
that you look at that guy is into music. Do
you know what I mean?
And I met him and he was lovely and we
met up a few times um accidentally and on purpose.
And then at the Grammys in 2009 was when he
was like, let's do it. And I was like, yeah,
let's do it. Rick Great Adele headed to Ruben's Shangri
(19:49):
La studio in Malibu, California where over two weeks they
recorded her album including a cover of the Cure's Love song.
There was only one problem. The songs didn't sound the
way Adele had heard them in her head. They just
weren't right. So she scrapped the majority of the recordings
including rolling in the deep in which she wasn't able
to recreate the rawness that was captured in her session
with Paul Epworth. In the end, only four of the
(20:11):
11 songs recorded with Ruben made the album Ruben would
tell Rolling Stone that her decision caught him off
saying I was surprised because she had been so clear
about wanting it to sound like it came from one place.
He says she wanted it to have a consistent band feel.
So that from track to track, it would sound like
the same group of people in the same place. A
unified album. I also understood she'd been listening to some
(20:32):
of the demos for a long time and when that
familiarity builds sometimes that trumps all
Ruben didn't seem to hold it against Adele for leaving
so much of their work on the cutting room floor. Instead,
he applauded her for bringing some originality and passion to
pop music's lacking formulaic machine. He told the associated press
she doesn't carry any of the baggage of many of
(20:52):
today's pop stars. And it truly is about the music
first and her voice and her lyrics and baring her
soul with what she's saying. I would say what she
makes is her art. And at no time does it
feel like product so much of pop music? Feels like
product
with a mix of songs she had recorded with various producers,
Adele's album was almost ready to go after learning that
(21:14):
the act she had written all these songs about had
become engaged. There was one more song for her to write.
She called it someone like you and wrote it to
counter something as
quote bitchy as rolling in the deep. She told Digital
Spy when I was writing it, I was feeling pretty
miserable and pretty lonely, which I guess kind of contradicts
lead single, rolling in the deep. Whereas that was about
(21:35):
me saying I'm going to be fine without you. This
is me on my knees. Really. At first, her label
wasn't fond of the sparse arrangement for the song again,
the polar opposite of Rolling In the Deep. But Adele
fought to keep it in order to free herself. And
with that in the bag, she was ready to reveal
this next era of hers to the public
on November 29th, 2010, Adele released Rolling In The Deep
(21:58):
as the first single from her second album and it
immediately proved itself to be a juggernaut Rolling Stone called
it a Breakup Scorcher to Beat All Breakup Scorchers with
Adele slinging bolts of regretful scorn amid gospel tinged stomp
and a gaggle of soul sister backup singers. The magazine
also awarded it best single of 2011.
(22:19):
Rolling In the Deep would dominate radio upon its release.
And years later, crossing over into multiple genres which helped
it reach number one in both Canada and the US.
It paved the way for Adele's second album which she
would name 21 though. Originally, she had planned on calling
it Rolling In The Deep In an interview with Black book.
She explained when I was doing interviews for the first album,
(22:41):
people especially the Americans were like, is your second album
gonna be called 21?
And I'd be like, oh, no, I've got more imagination
than that as I was wrapping up this record, I
was gonna call it rolling in the deep, but that's
a bit of a mouthful. And the Europeans would be
totally baffled by it because I'm baffled by it. I've changed.
I've really grown into who I'm becoming so much since
(23:02):
my first album, not just in my career, but also
my personal life. Obviously in America. 21 is the legal age,
but for me, it's like that's it. You're on your own.
Now
when you're 21 you're just out of being a teenager
and now you're a fully fledged adult. You've got to
provide for yourself and whatever you want. You've got to
make it happen. 21 was a very obvious title, but
(23:24):
it was the only thing that fitted
the album saw Adele documenting her growth from teenager to
adult and laying out the heartbreak she'd experienced in that period.
She explained the difference between the two relationships from her
two albums to Aiyah Jasmine 19 was a breakup album.
21 is a breakup album. So who was worse? 19
(23:44):
boyfriend or 21? 1919. Yeah. No, because 19, he was a,
he was a cheater and stuff like that and it
was obviously at the
time I was like, he's the one, you know, like
the world is ending, but it was still, when I
look back on it, it was still a bit of
a teenage relationship where it was sort of like you
could wake up one morning and be like, yeah, I'm
really not feeling this action and not be, you know,
a huge deal. Whereas with the guy on 21 we
(24:05):
just fell out of love with each other and it was,
that was more upsetting than having something to blame it on.
Um And we shared everything, we did everything together, you know,
it was all about us.
It wasn't me or I or him. It was just like,
you know, released on January 24th, 2011. 21 would top
virtually every country's album chart for a long, long time.
(24:25):
Not only would it be the best selling album of
the year? It was also the best selling album of
2012 today. It has sold more than 31 million copies
proving that in the era of digital music, Adele reigned
supreme
not to be outdone by its sales figures. Adele cleaned
up during award seasons. 21 took home album of the
year at both the Brits and the Grammys rolling in
(24:46):
the deep. Also won Grammys for record of the year
song of the year and best short form music video
in total. 21 took home seven Grammy Awards. And for
the first time ever Billboard award,
a woman artist of the year Billboard 200 album of
the year for 21. And the Billboard Hot 100 song
of the year for Rolling In The Deep. As Stereo
(25:06):
Gum would point out Adele was in Michael Jackson territory
as 21 became the closest thing to a thriller level
phenomenon that this century has yet produced
since the release of Rolling In The Deep Adele has
of course become one of the biggest artists on this
planet
alongside maybe only Taylor Swift and Beyonce. Her ability to
(25:27):
move between the boundaries of genre, appealing to fans of
pop country, adult contemporary R and B and even rock
and hip hop has allowed her to achieve remarkable things
like sell out every single one of 100,000 capacity Las
Vegas residency shows within minutes. Rolling in the Deep has
never really left our consciousness. Adele has released two massive
(25:48):
albums since 21 but the song has become both
her biggest crossover hit and her most identifiable achievement. Hell,
Beyonce admitted that Rolling in the Deep was an influence
on her during the making of her album four. Imagine
influencing Beyonce. But the influence goes even further. The Og
queen of soul herself. Aretha Franklin covered the song for
(26:09):
an album called Aretha Franklin sings the Great Diva classics
because in her words, Miss Adele is not one to
be messed with listening to those lyrics and uh
Linkin Park recorded a live cover of the song that
was a minor hit for them in 2011. Yes. Adele
has been new metallic size and that's just the start.
Everyone from Ariana and John legend Patti Smith and Celine
(26:31):
Dion has sung it live. I bet Celine killed it.
Most recently. The song helped Saskatchewan's Rebecca strong win the
$1 million prize on Canada's got talent. The 20 year
old from Black Lake Denness. Eline first nation belted out
her best version of Adele to wow the judges. How
about that?
Naturally, when you have a song as omnipresent and powerful
as rolling in the deep, you have no control over it.
(26:52):
Donald Trump used it while he was campaigning for presidency.
In 2016, Adele's team issued a statement denouncing his use
of the song saying
Adele has not given permission for her music to be
used for any political campaigning and in true fashion, Trump
kept playing it well because no matter how you feel,
it's easy to understand why he wanted that song above
others is persuasive and striking the kind of song that
(27:14):
commands your attention for better or worse. I'm Miles Galloway.
And that was the story of Adele's rolling in the
Deep
Encore is an iheartradio Canada podcast. Subscribe to this podcast
on iheartradio or wherever you get your podcast, download the
iheartradio app for more great podcasts just like these
This is Encore. The stories behind the songs. Here's Ihe
Radio's Myles Galloway.
Hello. How are you? I'm Myles Galloway. And this is
the story of Adele's rolling in the deep. Yeah. Before
we get started in case you didn't know I am.
(00:23):
In fact, British and the biggest singer in Britain is Adele.
And before you think I said her name wrong, that
is how
Adele pronounces Adele. Yeah, two years ago in a live
Q and A with fans, she shocked the world. Well,
North America by dropping this bombshell, she came and asked
(00:46):
me how I say my name and I was like,
Adele was like a Adele. Adele. Um, ok, great. All right.
From London. Um, in case you didn't get that because
the audio is a bit noisy.
Adele pronounced her name properly again when she hosted Saturday
Night Live and appeared in a skit spoofing The Bachelor. Hi,
I'm Adele Atkins. I'm 32. You may know me for
(01:06):
being the singer Adele. But as she admitted in that
clip herself, people call her Adele. So that's what we're
gonna do today. Like Madonna Bono Prince and Beyonce before her,
Adele is one of the great Moomin superstars of our time.
But in case you didn't catch her saying it just there,
her real name is Adele Atkins. She has one of
the most recognizable voices ever. A reported five octave mezzo
(01:31):
soprano that it's almost impossible to mistake for anyone else.
At the age of 34. She was one of the
youngest people ever to have an ego. And by that,
I mean, she's won an Emmy, a grammy and an
Oscar and I will bet my house that she will
win a Tony to complete the ego before she retires.
Adele was born on May 5th, 1988 in Tottenham, a
(01:54):
working class town in northern London known best for its
football club Tottenham Hotspur or Spurs. If you're in the
n her mum, Penny Adkins was only 18 when she
was born. And when she was only two, Adele's father
Upton left for
Wales. He would never be in the picture. As Adele
grew up from the age of four, Adele began to
sing at every opportunity she would get. When the Spice
(02:15):
girls emerged. Young Adele would become obsessed with the girl
powerful group in 2016. She would tell Vogue, people always
think I joke about this but the Spice girls blew
up when I was seven and seeing them coming from
a humble background, there was hope in it. It was
a really massive part of my life when the whole
girl power thing happened.
When she was 11. Her mum and stepdad moved her
to West Norwood in South London, which she would immortalize
(02:38):
in her 2007 hit Hometown Glory. It was there that
Adele would fall in love with contemporary R and B
and the big classic voices that would shape her voice
in the years to come. She would tell Yorkshire live
in 2008 when I was a bit younger, I was
just listening to the Spice Girls and Destiny's Child. I
love R and B so much. I wanted to be
the next Beyonce and I still do sometimes, but it's
(02:58):
really hard to sing like that. All those notes are
a nightmare.
So I gave up on that one. The way I
sing now came when I heard Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald,
I was 15 or 16 and taught myself to sing
by listening to their records. I'm obsessed with people's singing voices.
I love trying to understand what they're feeling and listening
out for the emotions.
By the time she was 13, Adele had learned how
(03:19):
to play the guitar, saxophone and flute, which she decided
to give up after she began smoking as a teenager.
She attended the brit school, a performing in creative art
school in Croydon, South London. Notable alumni from the school
include Amy Winehouse and Spiderman himself, Tom Holland. And she
attended classes alongside future stars, Jessie J and Leona Lewis there.
Adele learned the Ins and Outs of the music industry
(03:41):
while honing her skills as a singer, songwriter and musician.
However, she originally set her sights on the label side
of things, wanting to help sign artists as an A
and R person. Adele graduated from the school in 2006
and began to think about university. She told much music's
Sarah Taylor. Yeah, I was um me and my mum
had an argument about university and she wanted me to go, like,
(04:02):
a way up north in England. So I'd be independent
and not like, if I was at university in London,
if I ran out of money, I
toilet paper, I'd go to her and just take it. Like,
do you know what I mean? Whereas, um, if I
was away I wouldn't do that and I wanted to
stay in London and then she was like, we were
shouting at each other and then I ran upstairs and
slammed my door and I was like, this is why
I'm staying in London and I wrote the song and
then I played it to her and she was like, alright,
so Adele wouldn't end up going to university instead. She
(04:24):
got a job. I didn't go to university. I got
a record deal right away. She kept saying, go and
get a job in the summer and the holiday, I'd
just stay on the sofa, just watch TV.
Um, and then she, like, go and get a job,
go and get a job. So one day I went
and came home and I thought, I think I got
a record deal because at that time, you weren't sure
that myspace actually had a record deal. A funny thing
happened when Adele's friend uploaded some of her demos, she
(04:44):
recorded at school to a myspace page. She received a
call from Richard Russell, the owner of XL recordings who
liked her retro modern soul pop sound. At first she,
I thought it was a joke she would tell Entertainment Weekly.
I'd never heard of XL. I took one of my
friends with me to a meeting because I thought maybe
it was some weirdo on the internet. XL was one
of the biggest independent labels in the UK scoring hits
(05:07):
with the White Stripes, Mi A and the prodigy Adele
on the other hand, was only 18 and had three
songs to her name. After hiring herself a manager, Jonathan Dickens.
Adele signed with XL. In
fall of 2006. Dickens persuaded her to cover a song
by Bob Dylan Make You Feel My Love, which would
soon become her fourth song. The label set her up
with a producer named Jim Abbess, who'd worked with indie
(05:29):
acts such as Placebo Cassian and Arctic Monkeys. In an
interview with Creative Walden Abbes would recall how he first
met the singer.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I was
actually working with a friend of hers, a guy called
Jack Penate.
And uh we needed a backing vocalist and, and I
wanted to, to get somebody that I knew the next
day or the day after. And he, he said I
actually gonna call a friend of mine. So I was
kind of unsure about it. And, uh, she burst in
about an hour later, really funny girl and she did
(05:57):
the bvs in one take and I really couldn't quite
believe how incredible her voice was. And a few months
later I got a call saying, would I be interested
in working with her as a producer? And, um,
so we would, we worked together and we did, we
did most of her first record and every time it
was nine out of 10 and there will be some
10 and out of tens in there. And it was
very easy to just to do things and get great takes.
(06:19):
And
Speaker 1 (06:19):
at
first songs came to Adele slowly and she found songwriting
to be quite
challenging. She would tell the German Press when I couldn't
write a song for so long, I tried to make
up things and I tried to write fictional songs or
write things about other people's situations. But I never could
because I don't believe what I'm singing. I can't be
convincing or sincere when I don't feel what I'm singing.
But then she met a boy and fell in love
(06:42):
and then eventually she learned the boy had been cheating
on her,
which all of a sudden became a source of inspiration.
For her. She would tell Rolling Stone, I went to
the pub where he was and punched him in the face.
I got thrown out. And as I was running away,
the phrase chasing pavements came to me, I sang it
into my phone and went home and got three chords together.
And thus her song Chasing Pavements was born. More songs
(07:03):
came to her with some help from additional songwriters such
as Egg White and Sasha Scarby
and producer Mark Ronson, who had just won Grammys for
his work on Amy Winehouse's back to Black Adele's first single,
Hometown Glory was first released in October 2007 as a
limited seven inch on a small label called Pacemaker. The
song didn't do much until it was re-released the following
(07:24):
year by XL but the buzz was growing for Adele
as 2008 arrived, she became the youngest
ever to win the BB C's Sound of 2008 award
which is selected by music critics and industry figures searching
for the U K's most promising new music talent. She
also took home the Critics Choice Award at the Brits
which was given to the top rising star, but all
(07:44):
of the attention didn't go to her head. She would
tell N Pr I think it's quite ridiculous. To be honest,
I still can't really get over it. I'm not really
bothered by awards. My brit award is my toilet roll
holder in my bathroom Now that's what you call luxury, right?
The first song to properly introduce Adele to the world
was chasing pavements released just weeks before her debut album,
Adele's Tale about coping with her breakup became an international hit,
(08:07):
reaching number two in the UK and number 21 on
the Billboard Hot 100. What's funny is in the USA
lot of Adele's fans thought she was chasing something other
than pavements. She told Elle magazine
in America. Everyone thinks I'm saying. Chasing pavements, which is
Lols and you also don't know what a pavement is.
We don't use it for the same thing. But yeah,
chasing pavements, I slapped my boyfriend and was running down
(08:28):
Tottenham Court Road in London to get a, like make
sure I didn't get in trouble and then no one
was chasing after me and I was like chasing pavements.
It's going nowhere. Adele really?
Her debut album 19 on January 28th, 2008. She named
it 19 because, well, that's how old she was when
she recorded the album. It didn't take long for critics
and fans to fixate on her age and how mature
(08:48):
she sounded for someone who was only 19. I wrote
the album to get it off of my chest, you know,
to kind of get it out of my system.
Um, but it's, it's no more than any other 19
year old and it's just, mine's magnified cos it's a
record that's been released throughout the world. Um I never
really thought of that when I was writing it but,
and now I have to talk about the boy that
I hate all the time. So yeah, we were friends
(09:11):
but I do hate him a little bit. Yeah.
She called her music heartbroken soul for obvious reasons. And
thanks to her gender and nationality, Adele was included in
a British invasion of female singer songwriters like Amy Winehouse,
Lily Allen Duffy, Kate, Nash, Leona Lewis and Estelle. But
Adele was quick to embrace any associate
with or comparisons to her contemporaries even telling the Guardian
(09:32):
that she wanted to assemble a super group and become
the best band ever because they represented most women in
the world. We're not afraid to speak our minds. She
explained and you don't need to be a doll with
tanned legs, blonde hair, big boobs and good lips on
her first trip to Canada in June 2008. Much more.
Music's Matt Wells asked Adele about the rise of the
female singer songwriter in the UK Kate Nash Duffy. And
(09:56):
now yourself
and all three of you had this very fast kind
of rise to success. What the hell is going on
over there? Like factory pumping us all out? I don't
know what it is. I don't know what it is.
I have no idea. It's very encouraging though. It's exciting.
It is something in the water. I think it must be,
(10:16):
it must be you drink bottled water from the tap,
the tap there it is. So there's going to be
like 60 million people, 60 million girls from London coming
over soon, taking over
Adele would quickly carve a path for herself. But one
comparison she couldn't avoid was to Amy Winehouse. At the time,
Winehouse was becoming regular tabloid fodder for her erratic behavior
(10:37):
in public due to substance abuse, which if you missed it,
I go into full detail about in our last episode
of Encore. I know shameless plug is the May 16th episode.
In case you're wondering anyway, Adele would tell Matt Wells
that she wasn't offended. She was flattered to receive comparisons
to Winehouse.
Um It's a compliment. I love everyone else. I don't
know why they say that. Um I think it's like,
(10:59):
I think if you kind of get a bit pissed
off that you get compared to people, it's just really
pathetic because um I, I mean, I don't think Duffy
would get annoyed with that. It's probably just label, isn't it?
Um But you know, you in terms of like critics,
eyes and journalists and people that review your album or
review your live shows or just write,
you never come into your own, your second or third
(11:19):
album anyway. So I think it's inevitable that you get
compared to someone and I'd much rather be compared to
Amy win than someone I don't like Adele was quickly
popping up everywhere on both sides. Of the Pond 19
was on the short list of nominees for the Coveted
Mercury Prize, which is awarded for best album released by
a musical act from
United Kingdom or Ireland. Hometown Glory. Popped up all over TV.
(11:42):
Sound tracking huge dramatic scenes and countless TV shows like
Grey's Anatomy. So you think you can dance Coronation Street
and 90210. But perhaps the greatest achievement at Lisa Adele's
eyes was one of her heroes, Beyonce calling her the
British singer, separating her from the rest of the pack.
But it didn't end there with Beyonce. Adele was offered
(12:03):
an opening slot for Beyonce's tour by her father, Matthew Knowles,
which she turned down, she told much more music's Matt Wells.
And then he said to me, oh, by the way,
if you want to do Beyonce's tour, you can do it.
And I was like, it's like a million dates. I'm not,
I'm not, I haven't got the stamina to do that
many shows. Like ho hold on, hold on. Let's just rewind.
He said, if you want Beyonce's tour, you can have it.
(12:25):
And you're like, no, she does so many shows. I
can't do that many shows.
I'm not Beyonce. I can't do that many shows. So
I said, no. Also the tour's only just starting but
I think it's, it, tongue in cheek as well cos like, um,
you know, mouth fee. He was like, oh, by the way,
and then they've walked out of the room. Um But no,
this tour is just starting. I need to do my
(12:45):
second album, you know, and I can't do 300 shows.
It's a lot of shows. No one album I'd be like,
so I just like, I could do the Beyonce tour,
but I'm just not,
I love you. I love you. Anyway, Adele was set
to embark on her own North American tour but ended
up canceling due to family issues. She said at the
time turns out that was a lie. The next year
(13:07):
she confirmed to Nylon Magazine that it was actually so
she could spend some time with her new boyfriend who
was 10 years older than her and what she considered
her first real relationship. We refer to that period as
my elc my early life crisis. Now I'm sober. I'm like,
I can't believe I did that.
It seemed so ungrateful. I was drinking far too much.
And that was kind of the basis of my relationship
(13:28):
with this boy. I couldn't bear to be without him.
So I was like, well, ok, I'll just cancel my stuff.
Then
the relationship didn't last. But one good thing came out
of it. She told Nylon, I got a second album
out of it. So it was fine canceling the tour
cost Adele a big opportunity to break America. But when
one door closed another door opened, although she didn't do
(13:48):
the tour, Adele made the trip over to the US
to be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live alongside
host Josh Brolin. This was at a time when the
show still provided water cooler moments and Adele's performance combined
with a surprise
cameo by then vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Remember her
was exactly that generating huge numbers in the ratings. It's
hard to think an SNL appearance could boost her career
(14:11):
that much now. But it really did catapult Adele's profile
in the US lifting 19 up in the charts and
helping it go gold at the time. And then a
few months later came, the Grammys chasing pavements earned Adele
her first grammy for best female pop vocal performance beating
out her former class
mate, Leona Lewis. It was also nominated for song of
the year and record of the year even bigger than that.
(14:31):
Adele also won best new artist over whoa, the Frigging
Jonas Brothers. No one was more surprised than Adele was.
She described the experience to much more music. I was
so convinced that I wouldn't win it. I thought Duffy
would win it all the Jonas brothers. I thought Duffy
would win it with the album. But then I thought,
oh may, maybe Jonas brothers will win it because first
of all, they're nominated for a Grammy like
(14:52):
which is kind of like, well, no, no, no, I'm
a big fan of the, but like the fact that they,
they've seen it is like this pop boy band that
they've been nominated for and I thought actually that's probably
really great. Maybe they'll win it. Um, so I had
no shoes on and I'd taken my shoes off cos
I got these shoe sh taken my shoes off, undone
my belt. I had chewing gum in my mouth and
like they called my name and I was like, shit. I,
I looked like a tramp. Um, so I had no
shoes and I had chewing gum in my mouth and
(15:13):
my belt was undone in my really nice dress that
I had made. Um, and then like all my,
I had no speech. All my label were like, oh
make a speech, make a speech cos like the L
A Times, the New York Times predicted that I'd win it.
And then I was like, oh no, that means I'm
not gonna win it like it will jinx it and
it'll be the other way around. Um So I didn't
even have a speech. So I was like crying and
then I was like, don't do a Kate Winslet, you know,
um at the Golden Globes. So then I had to
(15:34):
put it back and like, go on about how much
I love a Jonas brothers and shout out a few
people and stuff like that. But um they were, they,
I can't describe the feeling. I don't even remember winning it. Like,
I don't remember going
up like Snoop Dogg was next to me and um,
you two in front of me. And I was like,
oh my God, Adele would tour throughout the majority of
2009 playing shows across the world, but she also wasted
no time getting started on her next album. I want
(15:57):
the second album to have a more of a distinctive
sound in the first album. The first album intentionally doesn't
sound like a body of work because I it's my
first album. I was like 1819 and don't know what
kind of sound I wanna have yet. I don't know
what kind of woman I wanna be yet.
Um But now I know so the second album, like,
um I'm listening to a lot, lot of Alison Krauss
at the moment, it's not gonna be a country album
because that's the biggest fattest lie ever if I come
(16:18):
out and like start talking like there be a bit weird.
Um But yeah, so, like my music, like my music
taste and how I play and how I sing has
not changed, but grown up a lot and matured a
lot and without saying cheesy, like I have grown up
so much in the last couple of years. Um Despite
performing a duet of Lady Antebellum S Need You. Now
(16:38):
with Darius Rucker at a CMT special Adele did not
go country, but she did want to search for a
sound that reflected more of a contemporary pop sound than
the retro, blue eyed soul. Pop critics had classified her,
she spent a lot of time listening to all sorts
of music from hip hop to country, to pop, to
try and measure what she wanted for her next album.
(16:58):
Then she began to assemble a team of songwriters and
producers that could help shape her second album. One of
them was Ryan Tedder, who was best known as the
singer of One Republic, but also a hit songwriter who
co penned Bleeding Love by Adele's classmate Leona Lewis, as
well as Beyonce's Halo. Also invited was Dan Wilson of
Semisonic fame. You know, the song closing time. And
(17:19):
Paul Epworth, the U K's indie producer Du Jour, thanks
to his work with hip acts like Block Party, Kate
Nash and Florence and the machine feeling the raw sting
of her recent breakup. Adele reached out to Paul Epworth
in October 2009 and immediately they headed into the studio.
She brought him a ballad. She had begun writing a
couple of years ago about a boy which he felt
(17:39):
needed to be stronger and more aggressive in its arrangement.
She explained that her ex had told her she would
lead a boring lonely rubbish life if she left him,
the song was her way of saying fuck you to
her ex. She would tell the independent. So with Epworth
S help, they channeled the anger she felt from her
recent split and knew some guitar riffs he had previously
written down. She would tell the Toronto son I was
(18:00):
so upset. I was so angry. I was telling Paul, oh, Paul,
let's write a ballad. That's all I ever do.
And he was like, absolutely not. I wanna write a
fierce tune. As the two worked together, Adele began to
feel her heart race which became the beat of the song.
The two of them came up with the verses and
the chords of the song in under 15 minutes with
the rest only taking about two hours. They hardly touched
(18:22):
the vocals and used what they recorded for the demo
because as he would tell the news,
New York Times, Adele was going through something, she had
had her heart broken and she was in pieces and
you could really hear that. Her anger and her sadness
sometimes I just don't think that you can recreate that
or fake it. My hunch is that we captured something
in a vocal performance that was going to be very
hard to recreate in the end. What they came up
(18:42):
with was something called a Gospel disco.
Having recorded an album's worth of songs with Epworth Tedder
and a handful of other producers, Adele decided to take
the songs to Rick Rubin, the notorious yet celebrated producer
who had helped shape the careers of Beastie boys, Public
enemy and Slayer and recorded career defining works by Red
hot chili peppers and Johnny Cash for Adele to work
(19:04):
with a veteran known for helping establish the contemporary rock
of sound. Metal and rap music seemed like a far reach.
But both
parties were interested. Adele told Johnny Hockin. Rick came to
Saturday Night Live when I did that. So it was
all like, you know, I didn't really know it at
the time. But after, as it turns out, it completely
changed my life and my career that TV show and
I was singing Chasing Favorites. And you can see in
my eyes cos live obviously, when I spot Rick Rubin
(19:27):
behind the camera and he literally just shit myself in
my face. And he's doing that says Bob, by the way,
he feels music is just amazing. There's no other person
that you look at that guy is into music. Do
you know what I mean?
And I met him and he was lovely and we
met up a few times um accidentally and on purpose.
And then at the Grammys in 2009 was when he
was like, let's do it. And I was like, yeah,
let's do it. Rick Great Adele headed to Ruben's Shangri
(19:49):
La studio in Malibu, California where over two weeks they
recorded her album including a cover of the Cure's Love song.
There was only one problem. The songs didn't sound the
way Adele had heard them in her head. They just
weren't right. So she scrapped the majority of the recordings
including rolling in the deep in which she wasn't able
to recreate the rawness that was captured in her session
with Paul Epworth. In the end, only four of the
(20:11):
11 songs recorded with Ruben made the album Ruben would
tell Rolling Stone that her decision caught him off
saying I was surprised because she had been so clear
about wanting it to sound like it came from one place.
He says she wanted it to have a consistent band feel.
So that from track to track, it would sound like
the same group of people in the same place. A
unified album. I also understood she'd been listening to some
(20:32):
of the demos for a long time and when that
familiarity builds sometimes that trumps all
Ruben didn't seem to hold it against Adele for leaving
so much of their work on the cutting room floor. Instead,
he applauded her for bringing some originality and passion to
pop music's lacking formulaic machine. He told the associated press
she doesn't carry any of the baggage of many of
(20:52):
today's pop stars. And it truly is about the music
first and her voice and her lyrics and baring her
soul with what she's saying. I would say what she
makes is her art. And at no time does it
feel like product so much of pop music? Feels like
product
with a mix of songs she had recorded with various producers,
Adele's album was almost ready to go after learning that
(21:14):
the act she had written all these songs about had
become engaged. There was one more song for her to write.
She called it someone like you and wrote it to
counter something as
quote bitchy as rolling in the deep. She told Digital
Spy when I was writing it, I was feeling pretty
miserable and pretty lonely, which I guess kind of contradicts
lead single, rolling in the deep. Whereas that was about
(21:35):
me saying I'm going to be fine without you. This
is me on my knees. Really. At first, her label
wasn't fond of the sparse arrangement for the song again,
the polar opposite of Rolling In the Deep. But Adele
fought to keep it in order to free herself. And
with that in the bag, she was ready to reveal
this next era of hers to the public
on November 29th, 2010, Adele released Rolling In The Deep
(21:58):
as the first single from her second album and it
immediately proved itself to be a juggernaut Rolling Stone called
it a Breakup Scorcher to Beat All Breakup Scorchers with
Adele slinging bolts of regretful scorn amid gospel tinged stomp
and a gaggle of soul sister backup singers. The magazine
also awarded it best single of 2011.
(22:19):
Rolling In the Deep would dominate radio upon its release.
And years later, crossing over into multiple genres which helped
it reach number one in both Canada and the US.
It paved the way for Adele's second album which she
would name 21 though. Originally, she had planned on calling
it Rolling In The Deep In an interview with Black book.
She explained when I was doing interviews for the first album,
(22:41):
people especially the Americans were like, is your second album
gonna be called 21?
And I'd be like, oh, no, I've got more imagination
than that as I was wrapping up this record, I
was gonna call it rolling in the deep, but that's
a bit of a mouthful. And the Europeans would be
totally baffled by it because I'm baffled by it. I've changed.
I've really grown into who I'm becoming so much since
(23:02):
my first album, not just in my career, but also
my personal life. Obviously in America. 21 is the legal age,
but for me, it's like that's it. You're on your own.
Now
when you're 21 you're just out of being a teenager
and now you're a fully fledged adult. You've got to
provide for yourself and whatever you want. You've got to
make it happen. 21 was a very obvious title, but
(23:24):
it was the only thing that fitted
the album saw Adele documenting her growth from teenager to
adult and laying out the heartbreak she'd experienced in that period.
She explained the difference between the two relationships from her
two albums to Aiyah Jasmine 19 was a breakup album.
21 is a breakup album. So who was worse? 19
(23:44):
boyfriend or 21? 1919. Yeah. No, because 19, he was a,
he was a cheater and stuff like that and it
was obviously at the
time I was like, he's the one, you know, like
the world is ending, but it was still, when I
look back on it, it was still a bit of
a teenage relationship where it was sort of like you
could wake up one morning and be like, yeah, I'm
really not feeling this action and not be, you know,
a huge deal. Whereas with the guy on 21 we
(24:05):
just fell out of love with each other and it was,
that was more upsetting than having something to blame it on.
Um And we shared everything, we did everything together, you know,
it was all about us.
It wasn't me or I or him. It was just like,
you know, released on January 24th, 2011. 21 would top
virtually every country's album chart for a long, long time.
(24:25):
Not only would it be the best selling album of
the year? It was also the best selling album of
2012 today. It has sold more than 31 million copies
proving that in the era of digital music, Adele reigned
supreme
not to be outdone by its sales figures. Adele cleaned
up during award seasons. 21 took home album of the
year at both the Brits and the Grammys rolling in
(24:46):
the deep. Also won Grammys for record of the year
song of the year and best short form music video
in total. 21 took home seven Grammy Awards. And for
the first time ever Billboard award,
a woman artist of the year Billboard 200 album of
the year for 21. And the Billboard Hot 100 song
of the year for Rolling In The Deep. As Stereo
(25:06):
Gum would point out Adele was in Michael Jackson territory
as 21 became the closest thing to a thriller level
phenomenon that this century has yet produced
since the release of Rolling In The Deep Adele has
of course become one of the biggest artists on this
planet
alongside maybe only Taylor Swift and Beyonce. Her ability to
(25:27):
move between the boundaries of genre, appealing to fans of
pop country, adult contemporary R and B and even rock
and hip hop has allowed her to achieve remarkable things
like sell out every single one of 100,000 capacity Las
Vegas residency shows within minutes. Rolling in the Deep has
never really left our consciousness. Adele has released two massive
(25:48):
albums since 21 but the song has become both
her biggest crossover hit and her most identifiable achievement. Hell,
Beyonce admitted that Rolling in the Deep was an influence
on her during the making of her album four. Imagine
influencing Beyonce. But the influence goes even further. The Og
queen of soul herself. Aretha Franklin covered the song for
(26:09):
an album called Aretha Franklin sings the Great Diva classics
because in her words, Miss Adele is not one to
be messed with listening to those lyrics and uh
Linkin Park recorded a live cover of the song that
was a minor hit for them in 2011. Yes. Adele
has been new metallic size and that's just the start.
Everyone from Ariana and John legend Patti Smith and Celine
(26:31):
Dion has sung it live. I bet Celine killed it.
Most recently. The song helped Saskatchewan's Rebecca strong win the
$1 million prize on Canada's got talent. The 20 year
old from Black Lake Denness. Eline first nation belted out
her best version of Adele to wow the judges. How
about that?
Naturally, when you have a song as omnipresent and powerful
as rolling in the deep, you have no control over it.
(26:52):
Donald Trump used it while he was campaigning for presidency.
In 2016, Adele's team issued a statement denouncing his use
of the song saying
Adele has not given permission for her music to be
used for any political campaigning and in true fashion, Trump
kept playing it well because no matter how you feel,
it's easy to understand why he wanted that song above
others is persuasive and striking the kind of song that
(27:14):
commands your attention for better or worse. I'm Miles Galloway.
And that was the story of Adele's rolling in the
Deep
Encore is an iheartradio Canada podcast. Subscribe to this podcast
on iheartradio or wherever you get your podcast, download the
iheartradio app for more great podcasts just like these
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com