In the age of the pop star, Adele Adkins is an anomaly. Adele doesn’t don provocative meat dresses like Lady Gaga. She does not employ the bounce and glitter of Katy Perry. She does not shimmy the stage in hot pants, or have a bevy of back up dancers, or use large scale theatrical stage productions or any of the other quintessential pop standbys that pepper the Billboard Top 20, and yet, three of the top ten songs are hers.
The lauded British songstress has employed the most subversive gimmick a female pop artist can; she is herself, a real woman, who looks like a real woman, on stage singing out to the audience about real heartbreak. And people love it.
In 2009, Adele received a Grammy for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Her album 19 was certified platinum. Her sophomore album, 21, garnered even more critical success and helped her earn six Grammys this year. What was the impetus for all this success? Adele says it was in the wake of a bad break up with a broken heart that she penned the rich and evocative anthems that have so moved audiences. “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” and “Set Fire to the Rain” are all at their core, songs about lost love and heart break. So perhaps the most lasting pop formula of all is simply real girls singing about real boys who broke their heart.
In October 2011, Adele was forced to cancel her tour due to a serious vocal hemorrhage. It seemed as if things might be over before they had hardly started for Adele. After a voice saving surgery and months of recovery, Adele made her official comeback at the 2012 Grammys where she brought down the house with a vocally pure and rousing performance of “Rolling in the Deep.”
With her vocal health back on track and her 2012 Grammy sweep, it appears this year is set to be another record breaker for the sultry soprano. It was just recently announced that Adele has become ITunes first Double Platinum selling artist with over two million downloads of 21. Adele is also slated to perform at the 2012 London Olympics.
The present finds Adele rolling in the success and happily coupled with boyfriend Simon Konecki leaving critics and fans alike to wonder where the inspiration for her next songs will come from. Adele says now that she’s in love; her music will take on a new theme. Whether it’s falling in love or falling out of love, it is a sure bet that fans will still flock to the mega mezzo-soprano they have come to love.
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