Rebel with a (lengthy) pause
How Adele gets away with defying every rule of pop music
Treasure this album, Adelephiles, because who knows when the next one is coming.
Assuming there’s any sort of pattern between 19, 21, and now 25, we could maybe see Adele’s fourth studio album when she’s 31. Or if she’s just going to double the number of years between each successive release, perhaps the next album will be 33.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves: 25 hasn’t even dropped yet. It comes out Nov. 20, and the masses whose ears have been touched by Adele’s golden voice are happy just for that. Adele is a rarity: a contemporary pop artist who allows herself to go away and be missed.
Ubiquity drives modern celebrity these days, especially in the music business. Just ask Li’l Wayne and Kesha, both embroiled in conflicts with their record companies and anguishing over the fact litigation and contractual red tape have thwarted their ability to release new music. Even in the farcical universe of Empire, Hakeem Lyon decides to go rogue and leak his album, which belongs to Empire, after he and Cookie, banned from the company, establish a record company of their own.
And here’s Adele, who joined Twitter in 2010 and has tweeted, as of this publishing, a total of 226 times since.
The latest and greatest feat of entertainers is maintaining a media presence even when there’s nothing to promote. (A longtime trick has involved celebrities tipping off paparazzi and then scowling at them while “being caught” making a public appearance.)
Adele has proven that’s it’s possible for a celebrity to disappear when they want to and remain relatively unbothered. Remaining visible is a deliberate decision, and it’s one most pop stars have to make on some level. It is possible for someone to stay away for too long. However, that does not seem to include Adele. How does she get away with it?
Everything about Adele suggests she is an old soul.
Her styling hearkens to a bygone era when stars could still seem mysterious.
Lana Del Rey also has a more classic vibe, but she certainly could not pull off what Adele has: to disappear from music for three years and then emerge with a video that with 27.7 million YouTube views surpassed Taylor Swift’s record (20.1 million for Bad Blood) for singleday views. Even Adele’s decision to step away from music, raise her two-year-old son and enjoy country life in England with her partner, Simon Konecki, feels retro.
The Mad Men-styling is part of what makes Adele exceptional, as is her fairly conservative release strategy. There’s no surprise. The possibility of an early release is doubtful. She teased her lead single, Hello, and then published the video. She’s granted one media interview and has everyone abuzz. The song is on track to becoming the fastestselling U.K. single of 2015.
Adele has won by exercising restraint, but she wouldn’t be able to do it if she didn’t produce music that feels thoughtful, personal and real. It’s something everyone chases and tries their best to cash in on — just look at Blake Lively’s failed lifestyle site, Preserve.
In August, Britain’s dubiously sourced Daily Mail ran a story claiming that Adele turned down an offer to make $1.6 billion touring after the release of 25 to stay home and raise her son, Angelo. Even if it’s not true, it feels like it could be, doesn’t it? The more likely reality is that Adele’s voice can’t accommodate a massive 200-date world tour. She told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in 2012 that the vocal polyps that silenced her for four months in 2011 could return if she stresses her voice too much.
The truth is, Adele wins respect from her peers and adoration from her fans because she feels authentic in a way few celebrities do. She speaks with a charming, thick cockney accent that hasn’t changed as she’s become famous and rich. She loves to swear. She’s Amy Winehouse, in some respects, minus her demons.
She’s a person first, not a brand. Though some would say that “she’s a person, not a brand” is her brand.
In a world where everything feels like just another cynical ploy to separate you from your money, Adele is the real deal. As long as she remains true to that, she’ll be able to step away for as long as she wants.
The truth is, Adele wins respect from her peers and adoration from her fans because she feels authentic in away few celebritiesdo.