The Other Side of Adele

On a rainy February night this writer wended his way through the streets of Belfast towards the Odyssey Arena and an appointment with one of pop’s more reluctant superstars. Adele, one woman saviour of the recording industry, had chosen the city as starting point for her largest ever world tour and, on that drizzle-flecked evening, questions hung over her ability to deliver before a mass audience.

Adele’s 122-date jaunt around the globe has gone on to become a proper blockbuster, with a cumulative 1.5 million fans forking out over $150 million to see her. The tour is now set to continue through to summer 2017 and a four night farewell at Wembley. However, ahead of kick off in Belfast, there were real doubts that a notoriously nervous performer could bend an arena to her will. Would this be a “hello” to remember? Or might her attempt to set fire to the rain prove a damp squib?

She had, until then, refused to play larger rooms. Her music was meant to be enjoyed intimately – and, so, should be performed in an intimate space. But with the clamour to see her reaching deafening levels, it was felt Adele no longer had a choice. This shy schoolgirl turned soul phenomenon was about to join Beyoncé, Madonna, Taylor et al at pop’s highest table.

Ten months later, she has indisputably lived up to expectations, as confirmed by her five Grammy nominations. Hot Press’ Woman of the Year has proved that in this era of music industry free-fall it is still possible to set cash tills chiming. She has also shown you can achieve vast fame without vacuum-sealing your humanity. In contrast to the distant figures cut by Bey, RiRi and friends, Adele feels like an old pal who nipped out for cigarettes and milk and accidentally ended up the world’s favourite singer.

Here I should make a confession. I was never a particularly huge fan of her music and on that night in Belfast, was braced for gallons of feel-good, yet essentially vacuous entertainment. In fact, Adele dazzled from the outset, her voice a thing of wonder, naturally, but her personality more winning still.

With the world’s media watching – I was squeezed alongside representatives of the New York Times and the New Yorker – she bantered non-stop. There were jokes about trying to push her baby’s pram up a hill at Belfast Zoo and endless references to the havoc pre-show nerves had inflicted upon her digestive system (she devoted endless minutes to singing the praises of Imodium). A girl next door had never felt more next door-ish.

The lesson was clear: Adele was at last ready to be a superstar but on her terms. She would bring her music to her public while refusing to become a commodity. It was an extraordinary achievement.

“What have I said ‘no’ to? Everything you can imagine,” she told a British newspaper. “Literally every fucking thing. Books, clothes, food ranges, drink ranges, fitness ranges... that’s probably the funniest. “They wanted me to be the face of a car. Toys. Apps. Candles. It’s like, I don’t want to endorse a line of nail varnishes, but thanks for asking. A million pounds to sing at your birthday party? I’d rather do it for free if I’m doing it, cheers,”

Not that she was a hermit. She was instead challenging the idea that the exceedingly famous inhabit a plane of existence separate from the rest of us.

“I’m not a recluse,” she said. “Can we clear that up, please? I didn’t stop going to shops. To parks. To museums. I just wasn’t photographed while doing it.”

In an era when our celebrities are a triumph of Twitter feeds over talent, Adele reminds us there is another, better way.

“Fame is a burden , because, the littlest thing you do wrong, you’ll have people going ‘How could you? My daughter loves you’,” she told me when I met her eight years ago in a small Dublin hotel. “I don’t really want to become a role model, to be honest.”

She has, it turns out, become exactly that. But not for us. Rather she serves as an instructive example to other celebrities. Adele has been garlanded in fame and wealth yet has stayed humble and grounded. If they can bear to tear themselves away from their Instagram feeds, fellow A-listers might consider following her example.