Line #17 Music/Adele


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adele.jpg]]
2
3	[floatboxright:
4	Influenced by:
5	+ Music/{{Aaliyah}}, Music/{{Beyonce}}, Music/MaryJBlige, Music/TheCranberries, Music/{{The Cure\|Band}}, Music/CelineDion, Music/EllaFitzgerald, Roberta Flack, Gabrielle, Music/LaurynHill, Music/EttaJames, Music/AliciaKeys, Annie Lennox, Music/{{Pink}}, Music/{{Sade}}, Music/SpiceGirls, Music/DustySpringfield, Music/AmyWinehouse
6	]
7	->''There's a fire starting in my heart\
8	Reaching a fever pitch, it's bringing me out the dark\
9	Finally I can see you crystal clear\
10	Go ahead and sell me out and I'll lay your shit bare\
11	See how I'll leave with every piece of you\
12	Don't underestimate the things that I will do\
13	There's a fire starting in my heart\
14	Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me out the dark''
15	-->-- '''"Rolling in the Deep"'''
16
17	Adele Laurie Blue Adkins [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever MBE]] (born 5 May 1988), usually known by only her first name, is a British R&B singer known and respected for her soulful vocal performances. With over 100 million albums sold worldwide, she is one of the best-selling artists of all time.
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19	After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, she signed a record deal with XL Recordings. Her debut album, ''19'', was released two years later, selling over 2.5 million copies in the UK and spawning several hit singles including "Chasing Pavements", for which she won a UsefulNotes/GrammyAward (she also won for Best New Artist at the same ceremony). This success in North America was aided by a twist of fate -- her being scheduled to perform on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' on October 18, 2008, the same night that featured UsefulNotes/SarahPalin as a guest star. The stunt with Palin gave ''SNL'' its highest ratings in 14 years, and just so happened to expose Adele to a whole new audience.
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21	Her second album, ''21'' (2011), solidified her rise into mainstream fame, producing the smash hit singles "Rolling in the Deep", "Someone Like You", and "Set Fire to the Rain", and going on to sell 31 million copies worldwide, becoming the single highest-selling album of the 21st century. The album helped Adele become the first living artist in the UK to achieve the feat of two top-five hits in both the Official Singles Chart and the Official Albums Chart simultaneously since Music/TheBeatles in 1964. It also spent eleven consecutive weeks at #1, the longest ever by a female solo artist on the UK Albums Chart, surpassing {{Music/Madonna}}'s nine weeks at #1 back in 1990. On top of that, the album spent 24 non-consecutive weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' 200, making it the single best-performing album in US chart history. The album further won '''six''' Grammys, including Album, Record and Song of the Year. With these wins, Adele tied Music/{{Beyonce}} for the most Grammys won by a female artist in a single night, and became just the sixth person to win the "big three" in a single night as well as only the second artist to win all four General Field categories (Best New Artist + "big three"), a feat that hadn't been matched for 31 years.
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23	In 2012, Adele sang the theme song for the Film/JamesBond movie ''{{Film/Skyfall}}''; said theme won a Grammy, UsefulNotes/GoldenGlobe, and [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]], making it the first Bond theme to win all of the aforementioned awards.
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25	On October 23, 2015, Adele released her first single in 3 years, "Hello," creating a massive buzz worldwide and paving the way for the release of her third album ''25'' on November 20 of that year. The album debuted at #1 in 32 countries and went on to sell over 23.3 million copies worldwide, of which over 3.38 million (in the US) were sold in the first week, the biggest first-week sales performance of any album in the US. Its five-Grammy win included ''another'' sweep of the "big three" categories, with "Hello" winning Record and Song of the Year.
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27	Her fourth album, ''30'', was released on November 19, 2021 to continued success, becoming the highest-selling album of the year (5.54 million copies) and winning a Grammy for its lead single "Easy on Me".
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29	Not to be confused with [[Music/EmeliSande Adele Sandé]], [[MiddleNameBasis who actually goes by her middle name Emeli]], or Adele Astaire, Creator/FredAstaire's sister and dancing partner.
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31	----
32	!!Albums:
33	* ''19'' (2008)
34	* ''Music/TwentyOne'' (2011)
35	* ''25'' (2015)
36	* ''30'' (2021)
37
38	----
39	!! We could have troped it allllll, troping in the deeeeeeeep...
40	* AmicableExes: "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)" is about becoming one of these after a rough breakup and moving on with their lives.
41	%%* ArcNumber: Actually, 21. See [[Awesome/{{Adele}} here]] for more.
42	* AudienceParticipationSong:
43	** "Rolling In the Deep" and "Someone Like You" as seen in her ''Live at the Royal Albert Hall'' concert video.
44	** {{Music/Sia}} said on ''Series/TheGrahamNortonShow'' that this was a singing tip Adele gave her; when you're having trouble hitting the right notes, hold the mic out to the audience!
45	%%* BeehiveHairdo: To go with her classic diva aesthetic, of course.
46	* BreakupSong: Pretty much the entirety of ''21''. Almost all of the songs are sung to a (recent) ex. Also ''25''[='=]s "Send My Love to Your Next Lover", which is bouncier.
47	* CallBack: "Easy On Me" video uses practically the same setting as "Hello", but with one significant contrast: in "Hello", she walks into an old house, while in "Easy On Me", she walks out of it.
48	* ChildhoodFriendRomance: "Someone Like You" is all about a guy friend from her childhood who eventually became her lover.
49	* ChronologicalAlbumTitle: Each album thus far has simply been how old she was at the time the album was written/recorded: ''19'' was released when she was 19, ''21'' when she was 21, ''25'' when she was 25, and ''30'' when she was 30. Each one also manages to be quite evocative of life at that age.
50	* CoverVersion:
51	** "[[Music/BobDylan Make You Feel My Love]]" and "[[Music/{{The Cure\|Band}} Lovesong]]" on her albums
52	** "Many Shades Of Black" by The Raconteurs, "Hiding My Heart" by Brandi Carlile, "If It Hadn't Been For Love" by The Steeldrivers, and "[[Music/LadyAntebellum Need You Now]]" as [[NoExportForYou region-specific bonus tracks]]
53	** "Fool That I Am" by Etta James as a BSide and on ''iTunes Live From Soho''
54	** "That's It, I Quit, I'm Moving On" by Music/SamCooke and "[[Music/BonnieRaitt I Can't Make You Love Me]]", both live.
55	* DrowningMySorrows: Alluded to in "I Drink Wine", particularly the following lines.
56	-->''When I was a child, every single thing could blow my mind\
57	Soaking it all up for fun, but now, I only soak up wine''
58	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Her albums are all named for her age around the time of recording (''19'', ''21'', ''25'', ''30'').
59	* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: "''I wish nothing but the best for you two...''" A theme in "Someone Like You".
60	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: "Hello". Her first song in three years. Opening lyrics? "Hello, It's me. I was wondering if after all these years..."
61	* LiteralMetaphor: In the music video for "Hello", whenever the line "Hello from the outside" comes up, Adele will be outdoors in the forest setting.
62	* LoudnessWar: [[http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=adele Most of her recordings don't have much dynamic range]]. Granted, this is par for the course for most pop music artists today, but her style of music makes it all the more apparent and unfortunate.
63	* LoveNostalgiaSong: The very bittersweet "Someone Like You". From ''25'', "When We Were Young". In fact, this is the theme of the latter album, with many of its songs dealing with longing for the past.
64	%% * LoveWillLeadYouBack: An unusually upbeat version of this in "I'll Be Waiting".
65	%% * ManicPixieDreamGuy: The guy in "Daydreamer" seems to be this.
66	* MultipleDemographicAppeal: Adele has been able to appeal to listeners of all ages and backgrounds - and more specifically to the top 40, adult contemporary, R&B, and alternative/indie audiences, as well as music critics.
67	* NewSoundAlbum: ''21'', arguably. "Rolling In the Deep" and "Rumour Has It", the leading two tracks, have a strong R&B/soul element similar to her first record... which is pretty much completely different in sound and style from the rest of the album.
68	** She did it again with ''25'', incorporating more elements of R&B, alongside electronic music.
69	* PowerBallad: Adele expected producers to arrange "Someone Like You" as such, [[AvertedTrope only for them to keep the demo as a final version.]] However, "Chasing Pavements" is a straight example.
70	* PrecisionFStrike: When playing "Box of Lies" with Creator/JimmyFallon [[note]]A game in which one player selects a box which contains a ridiculous item (hidden to the other) and can choose to either describe it to the other player or make up their own item. If the player guesses a lie or a truth correctly, they get a point.[[/note]] and he correctly guesses that she was telling the truth about her toy giraffe with doughnuts around it neck. Adele's response is to simply say "Bitch!"
71	* SelfDeprecation: One of her songs compares her heart to a valley, as both are "shallow and man-made".
72	* ShoutOut: Her song, "I Found a Boy" uses the lyrics and the melody to the line "Stand By Me" and even used that title when it was in a work-in-progress. (Though lyrically, the songs are very different)
73	** The theme from ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' features a line, "You may have my number, you can take my name/But you will never have my heart", which may be a reference to a line from the Johnny Rivers song "Secret Agent Man" ("They've given you a number and taken away your name.")
74	* SingingVoiceDissonance: Someone who knows her only by her singing voice would be thrown for a loop by her speaking voice, which possesses a very strong North London accent. After she swept the 2012 Grammy Awards, "Fank you" trended worldwide on Twitter.
75	* TheSomethingSong: She has covered "Lovesong" by Music/{{The Cure\|Band}}.
76	* SuperGroup: As part of "Truth+Soul" with Music/AmyWinehouse and Aloe Blacc for the ''VideoGame/LANoire'' soundtrack.
77	* TelephoneSong: "Hello" is about calling to apologize for breaking her lover's heart.
78	* TextlessAlbumCover: Unlike her first two albums, the covers for ''25'' and ''30'' just has her face without her name and the title on it.
79	* TitleOnlyChorus: "Rumor Has It" just repeats the title in the chorus with some accompanying "woo"s before ending with "Rumor has it he's the one I'm leaving you for".
80	* WhatDoesHeSeeInHer: The other woman in "Rumor Has It". The entire first verse is about how the narrator is a much better fit for him.
81	* WomanScorned: "Rolling In the Deep". The song may acknowledge that she can't be in a relationship anymore but her rage is still there.
82	* YourCostumeNeedsWork: Attempted this one the same way Music/{{Jewel}} had done before by disguising herself to prank an Adele impersonator contest. While her make-up, including a prosthetic nose, managed to fool everyone, that disguise failed the moment she started singing, moreso when she kicked away her shoes, something she's well-known for when singing live.

Context Music / Adele