Author | Editor Zou Diyang | Ashu Recently, the singing queen Adele revealed at a concert that she was temporarily deaf in one ear due to a rare water bacterial infection and the wrong treatment by a doctor. She said frankly, "This is the most painful thing I have ever experience

2024-10-30 19:56:07 entertainment 3253℃

Author | Zou Diyang

Editor | A Shu

Recently, the singing queen Adele revealed at a concert that she was temporarily deaf in one ear due to a rare water bacterial infection and the wrong treatment by a doctor.

She said frankly, "This is the most painful thing I have ever experienced, more painful than giving birth." She even exaggeratedly thought about "cutting off her ears several times."

The infection occurred in August this year. This happened during the period when I held four consecutive concerts in Munich, Germany.

According to statistics, the concert brought a total of 540 million euros to the local area. During the last performance on August 31, Adele suddenly announced that she would "suspend performances indefinitely."

Now we know that this is an "official announcement" of physical and psychological pain.

"Sometimes, in order to go further, we must learn to stop and listen to our inner voice. So, I decided to take a long vacation for myself after completing all the residencies. This vacation has no deadline, There is no plan, I just want to live, feel, and become a better version of myself."

This is not the first time Adele has "hidden", but it seems particularly formal. In addition to being reluctant to leave, fans rushed to grab tickets for Adele's final concert in Las Vegas. They wanted to practice and send blessings to their idol in person - I hope she can shine in other worlds, and thank her for telling the world with her singing that the hasty ups and downs and turns in life will eventually become a longing song that will never stop being heard. .

As a singer-songwriter, Adele is famous for her mezzo-soprano singing and sentimental songwriting. She became popular all over the world in 2011. Her work "21" is the longest-running album by a female artist on the Billboard 200. . In just a few years, she has won 16 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling musicians in the world, with 120 million albums sold worldwide. Her songs "rolling in the deep" and "someone like you" are very popular. Even if you don't know who she is, you must have heard her sincere and mellow singing voice.

Although she is already a world-famous queen, Adele is not confident in her music career. Due to the influence of family relationships in her childhood, Adele always lacks a sense of security emotionally, so she often fades out of people's sight. way to recharge and heal yourself. "It's crazy that people are interested in my songs and my voice. I don't think it's ever going to be normal. So, balance is required." One of the reasons

retired from the music scene was a struggle with the spotlight. , she said: "I miss everything before I became famous, and I think what I miss most may be the days of obscurity."

Strength and fragility, self-confidence and inferiority, and complex insecurities reflect Adele's various contradictory characteristics. Personality characteristics are also excellent creative nourishment for her to explore herself.

01 The elf that flew out of the slums

Even before the birth of the phenomenal album "21", Adele's stardom had a brilliant start. Her debut album "19" released in 2008 sold more than 7.6 million copies, and she won the BBC New Voice of the Year, the 51st Grammy Awards Best Newcomer Award and the Best Pop Singer Award. On the cover of the album, her eyes are slightly closed, her eyelashes are upturned like crescent moons, expressing the girl's mysterious thoughts.

"19" contains many popular hits, such as "daydreamer", "hometown glory", and a cover of Bob Dylan's "make you feel my love" and so on. There are also "chasing pavements" that are also full of twists and turns. Adele was inspired to write this song when she ran out of the door after a quarrel with her boyfriend in a bar and ran wildly on the road in the early morning, but could only cry on the sidewalk. She recorded her feelings at the time and extended them to emotional confusion and frustration.

In the lyrics and melody that are full of visuals, she uses her sincere and mellow voice to pique the heartstrings, which has always been Adele's iconic killer weapon. And her many twists and turns on the road of love, from another perspective, are also to pay off the suffering of her childhood.

In 1988, Adele was born in Tottenham, North London, a place with a mixture of African Americans and Caribbean people, high poverty rates and rampant crime.Her mother, Penny, gave birth to her when she was 17 years old, and her father, Mark Ivan, was a low-income Welsh plumber. He divorced his wife when Adele was 3 years old, abandoned the mother and daughter and returned to their hometown, where they indulged in addiction all day long. To alcoholism.

-year-old Adele

As long as Adele can remember, she and her father have been strangers. "I don't know what a father should do, because I have never had a father." She said, "It's disappointing that your closest relatives who share the same blood as you can't keep their promises."

After her husband left, she took care of her daughter. The burden fell entirely on Penny's shoulders. She worked as a masseuse, a decorator, and a logistics worker. She took Adele around Brighton, Brixton and other cities, and finally settled in an apartment above a discount store in West Norwood, South London. down.

In addition to providing children with basic material dignity, Penny was also Adele's musical inspiration. Not only would she play songs on the record player every night when she put her daughter to bed, she would also hold a small concert for her daughter at home, inviting neighbors to support her. Adele's affection for veteran queens such as Mary J. Blige, Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys is also inseparable from her mother's influence. For this reason, she left a "one penny" heart tattoo on her wrist, which means unspeakable gratitude.

Adele and her mother

4 At the age of 114, Adele began to compose independently. At the same time, she was admitted to the London Academy of Performing Arts and Technology, known as the "cradle of idols", and worked with Kate Nash and Amy Winehouse. and Kate Malou and others became alumni. She was in the same class as Leona Lewis, Jessie J and other future stars.

However, unlike many people around her, Adele was not interested in the music industry at first. Rather than focusing on fame, she prefers to go to a bar and sing quietly alone. It wasn't until a friend posted the three demos she recorded in school on the social network MySpace that many labels noticed her outstanding singing and creative talents and offered her an olive branch one after another.

Due to her lack of care and understanding of the music industry, Adele thought these letters were spam. After being persuaded by her mother, she met with the manager of the independent label XL Recordings and signed the contract on the spot. After the release of "19" in 2008, as the distributor of Adele's album in North America, Columbia arranged for her to appear on stage as a guest on an episode of the highly rated program "Saturday Night Live" to break into the United States. market.

Adele's album "21" released in 2008

At that time, the program was linked to the topic of the US election, which brought Adele immeasurable exposure. Soon, the sales of "19" soared in the United States, and Adele's popularity soared, reaching the top of iTunes and other charts. Looking back many years later, although the performance in the first album has not lost its youthfulness, it does have a precociousness and depth that transcends age.

Taking this as a coordinate, Adele established the core element of her music, which is the overlapping pull of creation, life and emotional experience. She also took advantage of this to start a leap to the world and become a palace-level actress with rapid momentum.

02 Conquering Billions of Ears

In the few years after Adele first became popular, the outside world recognized her not only as "good at singing", but also with a striking plus-size figure. The labels that are constantly being covered reflect the embarrassment of female artists in the industry. Even a singer who made his fortune in soul music and jazz and has a low-key style cannot escape the fate of being hotly discussed and judged.

Adele was not trapped by these voices, and she rarely felt inferior to her plump appearance. She once publicly choked to the media: "I don't want to go on a diet, and I don't want to eat unseasoned Caesar salad. Why do I do this? I don't want to Spend time on this, be happy and don’t be stupid. "

is cheerful, courageous, and has no burden of fame, which is why countless people fall in love with this girl. The same true temperament is also implemented by Adele in the collection of musical inspiration. In 2011, after breaking up with her second boyfriend, who was ten years older than her, Adele released her second album "21".

Adele's album "21" released in 2011

The album's landmark importance in the entire 10s and even a larger time span, no need to go into details. Although the album has a similar theme of "broken love" and material selection as "19", the overall production is more mature, full of surging resonance and penetrating power. Take the title track "Rolling in the Deep" as an example. This song has a fast tempo and emphasizes the role of drum beats. It is an improvised work that Adele collided with producer Paul Epworth under the catalysis of emotional instinct. It bursts with emotion. Restless rock and roll temperament.

Also not to be ignored is the lyrical king "Someone Like You" in the album. Adele gave full play to her thick and narrative voice, making this "song to her ex" both sung and valuable. In the music video of the same name, Adele is like everyone who has struggled in the emotional whirlpool, wandering and wandering alone on the streets of Paris, her hair blown in the wind, which further highlights the sad background of the song. After the release of

's "Someone Like You", it topped the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for three consecutive weeks. The most classic live version at present is Adele's performance at the Royal Albert Hall. Accompanied by the piano prelude that stretched like a stream, she stood barefoot in the center of the stage, telling her reluctance and nostalgia for the beautiful past. In the middle of the performance, she extended the microphone to the audience, and the venue was immediately overwhelmed by the chorus of thousands of people singing, tears and choked sobs.

At the 54th Grammy Awards the following year, "21" swept six awards, including album of the year, production of the year, song of the year, etc., and the name "Grammy's daughter" spread. The chart-topping dominance of the new album even led to a rebound in sales of the previous album "19" in the UK. This made Adele the first person after the Beatles to have "the top five in the UK charts at the same time in one week". artist who recorded two singles and two albums.

In 2012, marking a new breakthrough in Adele's career, she was invited to sing the theme song for the world-famous 007 series movie "Skyfall". Encouraged by director Sam Mendes, Adele and producer Paul drew inspiration from the theme song "Nobody Does It Better" from "007: Spynaut" and the script of the new film, and combined it with their own feelings of falling in love. , it finally took 18 months to deliver the epic work "Skyfall".

Just like the late Bond in the movie, the biggest highlight of "Skyfall" is its classical and magnificent arrangement, which supports Adele's unique voice, adding a touch of affection and charm to this "anti-hero" sequel. Adele also won the Oscar for Best Original Song.

Adele won the Oscar for Best Original Song for "Skyfall"

No matter by any standard, Adele's career in those two years was as terrible as a failure. Time magazine named her one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2012. Regardless of the blessings of fortune, her valuable talents and abilities are equally worthy of recognition. It is that fragile honesty that breaks through the armor of a superstar, allowing people to see that the writing of heartbreak and accusation can also be condensed into an existence as huge as the will of life, allowing people to be reborn after an emotional disaster.

03 A greeting from thousands of miles away

After "21" and "Skyfall" achieved phenomenal success, Adele did not pursue the victory, but chose to escape from the mainstream view. From 2013 to 2014, apart from occasionally attending awards events, she basically left little information on the Internet.

During this period, the British music scene continued to pump out new blood, including talented singer-songwriters such as Sam Smith and Labrinth, but the emotional resonance stirred by Adele still circulated among the crowd. In terms of influence and business achievements, it is difficult for any younger generation to equal her.

is safe in the face of big storms and does not compete. This is not only the nature of the singer, but also ignited the public's expectations for Adele's comeback. On October 18, 2015, the British reality show "X-Factor" inserted a 30-second clip of Adele's new song during the commercial. Although the screen was black throughout, when the soothing and magnetic singing sounded, people knew that the magical girl was back.

A few days later, this first mv featuring "hello" was launched. Under the photography of talented Canadian director Xavier Dolan, the MV wanders between yellow and black and white tones, surging with a sophisticated and nostalgic texture. From the low "hello, it's me" at the beginning to the huge span of the chorus, from the several long and unfinished calls, one can hear that Adele's singing skills are still superb, but at the same time there is a little more vicissitudes of life after experiencing glitz. Fireworks.

's debut after four years of absence, "Hello" broke several records including "Highest First Week Single Sales in the United States" and won three consecutive Grammy Awards for Production of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 59th Grammy Awards. , and in the following years, it became a "must cover" track for many audition singers and professional singers, like a transoceanic phone call to the world, spreading ripples.

However, looking at the entire "25", my personal preference is still "when we were young". As she sang: "oh i'm so mad i'm getting old, it makes me reckless." (The years are like a torrent, washing away my reason, leaving me reckless and frivolous.) Adele expresses In remembrance of yesterday, in addition to lamenting the perishability and irreversibility of life, there is also an attitude of indifferent scrutiny.

In terms of market performance, although "25" failed to completely replicate the myth of the previous album, it still received diamond certification only 9 months after its release. What is intriguing is that "25" was not available on any streaming media platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music when it was first released. Fans can only enjoy all the new songs in the album through physical CDs and regular digital downloads.

's "deviant" behavior puzzled many people in the industry, but for Adele and her promotion team, the reason was simple: streaming services were in their early stages of development, and they wanted to ensure that the album was At the same time, fans can welcome the birth of "25" with a solemn mood of reuniting with old friends and chatting face to face.

Adele's album "25" released in 2015

If the unprecedented praise and sensation brought by "21" is a concentrated burst of Adele's creative energy, "25" shrinks and explores her thoughts on a new identity. superior. During the preparation of the album, Adele and her husband Simon Koneski had just given birth to their son Angelo, and the experience of motherhood was not as easy as expected. She suffered from postpartum depression and needed to withstand the torrent that hit her again and again.

's introspective balance and in-depth confession make "25" more like a gentle coming-of-age ceremony compared to the restrained ignorance of "19" and the tragic love and hate of "21". Adele said: "The last album was about breakup. If I were to give this album annotation, I would say it represents reconciliation and making up. Making peace with myself, making up for the lost time, making up for all the things I have done and missed. "I don't have time to hold on to the fragments of the past like before."

starts from the music itself, returns to the deep tradition of singer-songwriters, and downplays irrelevant topics. Since Adele’s debut, these characteristics have been engraved in the narrative and route of her works. Every time I make an album, I release my personal emotions and provide fans with a good medicine of comfort. Rather than reaching new peaks to prove herself, "accompanying" is more suitable to describe her current connection with music and the audience.

04 and Yesterday

After more than two years of tug-of-war, Adele and Simon completed their divorce lawsuit on March 6, 2021, putting an end to their three-year marriage. There are many rumors about the breakdown of their relationship, including the hundreds of millions of "breakup fees" paid by Adele to her ex-husband, which have also become a hot topic of discussion.

In Adele's eyes, she and her partner can be easily reunited and separated. When she was trapped in the halo of fame and fortune, Simon was the savior who appeared in time and gave her a sense of stability. In the end, they separated only because of their different personalities and family values, and there was no grudge between them. What she cares more about is that after the property is divided, she and Simon will jointly raise Angelo to make up for her guilt for her younger son.

In order to get through the low moments, Adele made a lot of adjustments in her living habits, such as quitting drinking, exercising, dieting, and meditating.When she appeared with a 90-pound weight loss, controversy ensued: some said she lost weight to conform to mainstream aesthetic disciplines, while others said she looked "10 years older" after losing so much weight.

Adele lost 90 pounds

Comments that objectify and make fun of celebrities’ bodies have never stopped since Adele’s debut. But she knows very well that fitness is purely to eliminate the anxiety of body load through physical concentration, so as to keep a clear mind and regain control of the body. She especially loves weight training. When she is in the best condition, she can deadlift more than 70 kilograms. She will also joke with the coach: "I will participate in the Olympics and win the gold medal soon."

Experience is the best creative material, October 15, 2021 On the same day, the first release of the new album "30", "Easy on Me", was released, setting a new record for Spotify's global single-day streaming volume. In the music video directed by Dolan for the second time, Adele wears a black patent leather trench coat and heavy makeup and drives away alone, saying goodbye to everything in the past like looking through a dusty photo album.

This touching scene outlines the most important emotional word of "30", which is "divorcing yourself" and rebuilding yourself and your inner world after digesting and cleansing the pain. Fans are excited to see a new Adele: tougher, more confident and unafraid to pursue romance than ever before.

Adele's album "30" released in 2021

Her relationship with top NBA agent Rich Paul has attracted much attention since it was exposed in September 2021, and their engagement is also very high-profile. Adele, who is filled with love, seems to be particularly expressive and has evolved into a relaxed and unrestrained state, just like the MV of "i drink wine", floating down the river, the waves swaying, and the wine falling into dreams .

To commemorate this grand comeback, Adele carefully planned a special concert at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, called "one night only". Under the pink and purple sunset, she appeared in a fishtail skirt and Saturn-shaped earrings, showing the elegance and brightness of the "Saturn Return".

Adele's "one night only" concert scene

In addition to presenting music, the concert was interspersed with an exclusive interview with Adele by the famous host Oprah Winfrey. When asked about the process of creating the new album, Adele said frankly: "I have wanted to have a happy family all my life, because my native family is not happy, and the families depicted in movies and books are so happy. I always feel that this is what a family should be."

Out of an obsession that she could not let go of, when her marriage to Simon came to an end, she felt a little embarrassed - both the disappointment of her failed dream and the difficulty of facing her son. Guilt. "When he asked me, 'Do you no longer love Dad?' I couldn't answer." For this reason, Adele tried her best to talk to her 9-year-old son through the language of music in "30". She hopes that when Angelo grows up, he can understand the codes buried deep in the album and understand his mother's original choice.

Taking an impulse similar to reconciliation as an opportunity, Adele also put aside the grievances she had had with her father Mark for many years. When Mark's cancer recurred, Adele played "30" to him remotely and said many things that he had not had the chance to say over the years. After her father passed away, she felt that the huge gap in her childhood had been filled, and she regained the strength to open up to others.

Forgiving others also relaxes oneself. Today, Adele is no longer bound by secular emotional standards. When it comes to her expectations for her son Angelo, she expresses her hope that he will be a kind and happy person. She doesn’t care what career he pursues, “as long as he is full of enthusiasm for his career.” Enthusiasm, as long as he is happy, that is enough.”

05 Music and Spiritual Heritage

For today’s European and American pop music circles and fans around the world, although Adele’s “retirement” is explosive, it is not without warning.

As early as 2011, Adele was diagnosed with symptoms of benign vocal cord polyps and bleeding. She was forced to cancel performances and underwent vocal cord laser surgery; in 2017, she canceled the "Adele Live" world tour due to voice problems. The last two performances; when she sang in a Las Vegas casino earlier this year, she also apologized to the audience for her poor condition. Her self-deprecating voice became as deep as the witch Ursula in "The Little Mermaid", and she urgently needed to sing. Make time to recuperate and recuperate.

In addition to worrying about wearing out her voice and increasing the burden on her body, Adele has no nostalgia for singing on stage. Before starting her Munich tour, she said in an interview with German broadcaster zdf: "I miss everything before I became famous. I think what I miss most is probably the life of obscurity. I don't like being famous. I like to create music anytime, anywhere, and people can Accept it and like it, because it is unimaginable and ordinary people will never feel this way. "

On the other hand, this kind of civilian temperament that puts aside the baggage of idols has also earned Adele a lot of favor from passers-by. She will use a Gatling launcher to send T-shirts to the audience at the concert to help fans reveal the gender of her baby. She will also suddenly interrupt the performance and let the audience watch the Olympic women's 100m final with her... These social networks The moment of the viral skit confirmed her heart-warming fun and enriched the depth and dimension of the label "diva".

Even though there is no shortage of examples of vivid and distinctive personalities among other influential female singers of the same generation, Adele's low production and the accumulated discussion of her works still have their own unique research value.

Her signature singing style inherits that of many benchmark figures in British soul music, and at the same time, it can accurately touch the emotional lifeline of modern people, such as the lack of inner security, the sweetness and bitterness of being in a relationship, and the longing for the good times to no longer exist. Sighs and self-acceptance are nourished by these ordinary materials, combined with her own stable technical output, and build a bridge between her and people's hearts.

Of course, if we delve deeper into professional musical analysis, Adele's creations after "21" seem to be operating in a safe zone, so they cannot reach the level of "amazing". Most of the criticism surrounding her regards her as a boring, mediocre and conservative representative of "adult lyricism". She is more like an industrialized singing textbook and a universal template for reality show aesthetics than a singer with substance. Compared with Amy Winehouse, one of her idols who had a great influence on her and another sultry talent who died young, Adele seems to have less aura, without much aggressive edge and posture.

The above accusations do have some truth, but they also lead to a misunderstanding of Adele's musical personality. What she wants to do is never something that is full of energy and cool, but like a beginner, dig into the experiences and experiences she has learned from life. This simple but clear sense of subjectivity allows her to always gather the greatest common denominator of emotions, resonate with the times, and as the intervals between releases continue to lengthen, she can still consolidate the next batch of passionate diehards.

Behind the many business myths, Adele has always resisted the temptation of mainstream trends. Before the release of "30", the team suggested that she open up a new battlefield in TikTok, but she chose to refuse, explaining: "If everyone writes songs for TikTok, then who writes music for our generation?" She doesn't want to please anyone. Specific groups of people and platforms, because the meeting between the people who write and sing songs and the people who listen to the songs relies on nothing more than the word "fate".

Now, with Adele's music map temporarily coming to an end, fans are destined to take some time to continue the lingering warmth in their ears. However, this is just a comma. As a superstar figure who will forever be remembered in the history of recording, her charm and style narrative will continue to conquer everyone who is eager to pull themselves out of the mud and overcome the feeling of duckweed.