Image Source: Sada EI Balad, Wikipedia
Adele featured the covers of both the American and British editions of 'Vogue' for the November issue after releasing a 21-second teaser for her new single, 'Easy on Me.' After almost five years of no press or magazine shoots, Adele shot for the cover of a magazine.
The ‘Hello' singer looked stunning in an off-shoulder satin yellow gown with a plunging neckline that flashed plenty of cleavage for British Vogue. Adele's red hair cascades around her in enormous waves, and her signature cat eyeliner manages to grab your attention.
Adele wore a Valentino Haute Couture off-the-shoulder brilliant green gown with a long train that trailed behind her for American Vogue. The singer's hair was slicked back into a very smooth low bun for the American Vogue shoot, and the look was finished off with a pair of Cartier diamond earrings and red lips.
Adele flaunted her fantastic form in a skintight satin and tulle black corset top, satin and lace skirt, and Dolce & Gabbana pantyhose that highlighted her tiny waist in another photo from the shoot.
Satin and tulle corset top, satin bra, and satin and lace skirt, Dolce & Gabbana. Tights, Falke. Leather shoes, No 21. Gold and diamond earrings and ring, David Yurman. Image Source: British Vogue
During the interview, the singer was asked if COVID had an emotional impact on her, to which she said that she had experienced the same emotional impact as her friends a year prior when she was in the process of her divorce from charity CEO Simon Konecki. They have a 9-year-old son, Angelo. "Everyone had to face a lot of their demons," she continued, "since they had so much time on their hands and nothing to divert them. They had to confront themselves alone. That was something I accomplished the year before."
When the journalist inquired about the incident that prompted her Year of Anxiety, Adele stated that she had to cancel two gigs in the summer of 2017. She went on to say that she believes that once her voice has rested, it does not want to return for a time, which is exactly what happened. 'The momentum was lost.' The singer expressed her disappointment at having to cancel a performance in front of 200,000 people at Wembley Stadium. When this happens, Adele explains, you start asking yourself questions like, “Who am I? What do I want to do? What makes me truly happy? All those things.”
Sharing some insights about her divorce with Simon, Adele mentioned that she was just going through the motions and was not ‘happy’. “Neither of us did anything wrong. Neither of us hurt each other or anything like that. It was just: I want my son to see my love, and be loved. It’s really important to me.” Adele filed for a divorce in 2019 and has been on a journey to find her true happiness ever since.
Adele and Simon Konecki. Image Source: Hello Magazine
Digging deep about the process, Adele revealed, “Well, my therapist told me that I had to sit with my little seven-year-old self. Because she was left on her own. And I needed to go sit with her and address how I felt when I was growing up. And issues with my dad. Which I’d been avoiding. And the issues were, not being sure if someone who is supposed to love you loves you, and doesn’t prioritize you in any capacity when you’re little. You assume it and get used to it. So my relationship with men in general, my entire life, has always been: You’re going to hurt me, so I’ll hurt you first. It’s just toxic and prevents me from actually finding any happiness.”
The ‘Rolling in the Deep’ singer explained that when in relationships with men, she would just assume a defensive stance, expecting things not working out her way and being okay with it because one had to be okay when they were younger. She added, “Sometimes, with my son, he could talk to me in a certain way, and I shut down. With my fucking child. I’ll take it so to heart, what he’s saying, when actually what he’s saying is, No, I don’t want to go to bed.”
Simon lives across the street and the couple shares custody of Angelo, with doing regular family movie nights. The singer shared, “One day when he was only six and a half, and he said to my face, Can you see me? And I was like, Uh, yeah. And he was like because I can’t see you. Well, my whole life fell apart at that moment. He knew I wasn’t there.” She decided to have regular conversations with Angelo about what was happening. “That’s when I started sharing with him.” The mother of a 9-year-old shared that she wrote a song for him the day after he told her that he couldn’t see her.
Adele in Valentino Haute Couture dress. Image Source: Vogue
Adele shared that even though Angelo is 9 he has questions and the singer found her music as a way of explaining things to him and something for him to listen and understand when he grows up. The singer mentioned, “He has so many simple questions for me that I can’t answer because I don’t know the answer. Like, Why can’t we still live together? That’s just not what people do when they get divorced. But why not? I’m like, I don’t fucking know. That’s not what society does. And: Why don’t you love my dad anymore? And I’d be like, I do love your dad. I’m just not in love. I can’t make that make sense to a nine-year-old.”
Coming back to battling her anxiety, Adele shared that a lot of baths, meditation, and therapy helped her to overcome her Year of Anxiety. She also mentioned that ‘gym’ was the key because “It became my time. I realized that when I was working out, I didn’t have any anxiety. It was never about losing weight. I thought, If I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong.”
Miele, her trainer, later commented that Adele’s goal was never to lose weight but to get stronger physically and mentally. He added, “She got really turned on to the movement, and especially strength training. So turned on that she started doing double sessions.” Adele did not shy away to mention that her transformation had saddened a lot of women, and she understood why “Visually I represented a lot of women, and now I don’t, but I am still the same person.”
Adele’s goal was never to lose weight but to get stronger physically and mentally. Image Source: Billboard
Adele shared about leaning towards a friend in L.A. who is in her 40s and mentioned one incident, “I told my friend, I feel like I’m on a steep mountain, trying to get up to the top. And she was like, you will get there. And you’ll have a nice, stroll down. And then there’ll be another fucking mountain. And I’m like; I’m not even over this one yet. And she was like, that’s just life.” She got a tattoo of the mountain at the end of 2019.
Talking about her new album, the singer mentioned that it is different from all of her previous albums because she realized that the problem was her, and now she wants to focus on finding her happiness and way. “This is my album. I want to share myself with everyone, but I don’t think I’ll ever let this one go,” she added.
Greg Kurstin with who Adele wrote ‘Hello’, is the co-writer of the song she wrote about her son, he shared, “She has this way of tackling a very complex emotional subject that I’ve never seen. Also, there’s this commitment to a song idea, where if the opening line of a song resonates with her, we could be working on it over years, just perfecting it. She pushes me to places that are very unexpected on the piano. Sometimes I’ll be looping a progression for hours while she’s figuring out the lyrics. It’s almost like a meditation.”
Almost at the end of the interview, Adele confessed that music is her friend and sibling, by all means, that is why she loves Beyoncé so much because she would put out music regularly and made Adele feel a lot of things. When the incident of her 2017 Grammy acceptance speech was asked where she tearfully paid tribute to Lemonade, Adele shared, “My personal opinion is that Beyoncé definitely should have won. I just got this feeling: I fucking won it. I got overwhelmed, with, like, I will have to go and tell her how much her record means to me.”
On asking why does she think that Lemonade deserved to win, Adele shared that for her friends, women of color, the album and music was such a huge acknowledgment, an ‘undermined grief that they go through, and the album just nailed that on the head. Adele said that "This album is my album, she just knows what I am going through. The album was not written for me, but I could still feel like it was the biggest gift,”.
Adele shared that when the real award arrived later by mail, it was broken, and she never got it fixed but put it on the shelf and wedged a piece of fruit into the broken piece: “There’s a lemon in it.”
Adele tearfully paid tribute to Beyoncé's 'Lemonade' during the 2017 Grammy Awards acceptance speech. Image Source: Vanity Fair
The singer went public with her new boyfriend, sports agent Richard Paul and the couple attended Games 5 of the NBA Finals where they were accompanied by one of Paul’s clients LeBron James. Talking about the relationship, Adele mentioned that the two remained friends for a while and started their relationship until the beginning of this year. The singer shared that she feels safe with Paul.
Adele also shared that she has had a close relationship with alcohol and was always fascinated by it and that is what had kept her dad away from her, so she was always curious about what was so great about it.
Amy Winehouse’s death was a defining moment for the Grammy winner, “It offended me. I picked up the guitar because of Amy’s first album. She means the most to me out of all artists. Because she was British. Because she was amazing. Because she was tortured. Because she was so funny. I’m not having these people I don’t know take my legacy, my story away from me, and decide what I can leave behind or what I can take with me.”
The mother of a 9-year-old shared in her interview with American Vogue that her son is just Adele who is his mom, not Adele who is famous. She is adamant that she wants her son to earn his way through life and understand the privilege as it is.
Tonne Goodman styled the cover shoot, which was shot by ace photographer Alasdair Mclellan. For American Vogue, Abby Aguirre interviewed the singer, while Giles Hattersley interviewed her for British Vogue. Steven Meisel shot the stunning photos while Edward Enninful styled her.
Information Source: Vogue
