Pop star Adele shows that less is truly more
Singer has never looked more ravishing, clear-eyed, dewy-skinned… Adele’s new song played 1 million times... in an hour
ADELE Adkins is one of the handful of celebrities who is less identifiable with her surname than without it. By the age of 22, her awesome voice had amassed her 10 Grammys, a Golden Globe, an Oscar and a fortune of several millions.
Her look became as ubiquitous as her sound: big hair, heavily winged kohl, flawless skin and chiselled cheekbones, her exquisitely symmetrical features set off by a lavish, tightly frocked hour-glass. It was retro glamour of the sort favoured by ingénue talent seeking to look older, more sophisticated, in control.
The message was implicitly defensive: her emphatic maquillage was a mask to hide behind while the world gaped and gawked. All of which means that her decision to appear on the latest cover of Rolling Stone magazine giving the illusion of a bare face – freckles exposed, eyes slightly ringed, with slicked hair, and clad in a bulky bathrobe – is nothing if not a statement.
This is not the uber-groomed, prematurely matronly Adele we are used to being confronted with; neither is it the half-naked rock chick who traditionally adorns the publication’s cover. Instead, we see a woman who, at 27, has the confidence to know her talent needs no adornment, her worth lying in more than her looks.
The paradoxical result is that she has never looked more ravishing: clear-eyed, dewy-skinned, full-lipped, arched-browed, with that perfect retroussé nose lesser mortals are forced to pay for.
The moment the star tweeted the image earlier this week, she was applauded for her “bare-faced beauty” and “bravery” in going without slap. As someone who has interviewed many of the world’s greatest make-up artists — Bobbi Brown, Mary Greenwell and Lisa Eldridge — I don’t buy it. Instead, I see shading in the brow, contouring about the cheeks and eye, mascara and/or false lashes, and a pink sheen to her pout. Her skin may show beguilingly through her foundation, but I have no doubt there is foundation, concealer at the very least.
Eldridge, who has bestowed such supposedly bare faces on Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley and Emma Watson, concurs: “The no make-up makeup look is a piece of work involving many artfully applied products. And it’s popular: my tutorial on this look has had over a million YouTube views.”
Our heroine grew up in north London’s crimeridden Tottenham neighbourhood, and still fears a reversal of fortune, from £50-million (R1-billion) back to nothing.
She tells Rolling Stone: “I always feel like I’m gonna get thrown out. Or it’s going to turn out to be some, like, hidden-camera show. Like someone’s gonna send me back to Tottenham.” Earlier this year, she found herself sobbing on meeting her idol, Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, explaining: “I’m not sure if I’ll ever not feel a bit overwhelmed when I go to places where there are loads of stars.”
The irony is that Adele is now the star and, in her studiedly undone Rolling Stone portrait, she looks it. As a guise, it boasts a certain Kate Winslet aesthetic — stark, raw, pared down — betokening a “strong woman” who is “performer, mother, partner”, as the platitude goes; a million miles and several million pounds away from the uncertain girl of the album 21, who stormed her way to success with songs of heartache.
This is makeover as make-under, and all the more exclusive, exorbitant and beholden of success for it.
Here is the face of a woman who has made it. If as no less an authority than Dolly Parton declared “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap“, it takes even more of a fortune to look expensive.
Adele may refer to herself as “fat” and “relatable” in the Rolling Stone article, but this expertly created, “less-is-more” mode reveals her as spectacularly lovely.
Finally, there is the stare. Every student of cultural studies will find themselves writing about the “male gaze” – the way in which women are depicted as objects by so many masculine subjects. Yet here is a female expression that subverts it. Photographer Theo Wenner may be responsible for the image, but the attitude is all Adele’s own.
In the article, she talks about working with — then standing up to — male artists such as Damon Albarn and Phil Collins and male producers who attempt to make decisions for her. Instead, as a self-declared feminist, she relished working with female artist Sia: “I actually love the dynamic of us both being in there and just f---- being bossy.” This, then, is what growing up and appreciating one’s power feels like, and looks like — and the result is truly beautiful. — The Daily Telegraph
● Adele’s third album, 25, is due for release on November 20. Known for naming her albums for the year in which she made them (19, 21) according to the Rolling Stones magazine interview, although she turned 27 in May, Adele chose to name the album after the age when she began working on it
Changing faces: new-look stars Lady Gaga
Instead of face paint, bright wigs and statement lips, the pop diva has recently debuted a far more classic and elegant guise. Think new Hollywood glamour — winged liner, softly powdered skin and nude lips; definitely not what you’d expect from a pop star who once wore raw meat as a dress.
Kim Kardashian
Yes, Kim wears a lot of make-up, but her overall look has become more subtle. Gone is the tangoorange bronzer and sticky red lip gloss — she now favours neutral colours. Under her fluttery false lashes her eyeshadow is always brown, taupe or beige, and her lipstick is always nude.
Kelly Osbourne
The dark, gothic eye make-up and bright streaks running through her hair have been replaced by cat-flick eyeliner and glowing skin (much like Adele). As for her hair, it’s now a creamy lavender-grey. AT THE end of October Hello, Adele’s surging first single from her new album, saw explosive viewership numbers within hours of its release on YouTube.
Over three years after her most-recent upload, Adele, the video for her new single Hello was released in the early hours of Friday, October 23.
Within 48 hours, it had been viewed 50-million times, making it the biggest debut of any video on YouTube in 2015 and one of the most-watched music video debuts of all time.
In fact, “adele hello” was, by far, YouTube’s top search that weekend.
The video recorded as much as 1.6million views in a single hour, averaging over 1-million views per hour over the first two days.
For comparison,
the
release
of
the massively anticipated full trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, peaked at 1.2 million views per hour.
As at time of print the YouTube video had been viewed over 320-million times.