Adele talks record sales and making Beyonce a 'priority' in 'Time' cover story
After closing out 2015 with record-shattering numbers for her album 25, Adele is now rounding the bases with year-end reflections on what this kind of unprecedented success has meant for her and her family.
She spoke to Time for their "The Year Ahead" issue (whose cover she graces) about why Americans bought her album in such droves; why the notion of artist-as-brand does not go over well with her; and why the idea that she would turn down the chance to duet with Beyoncé couldn't be more implausible.
Below are five highlights from the interview which was conducted, in cool Adele fashion, sitting on the floor of her New York hotel room:
Adele's theory on why Americans bought her record in unprecedented numbers is both self-deprecating and endearingly snarky.
"Maybe they think I'm related to the Queen," she quips about how she was able to sell 5.98 million copies in the U.S. in four week. "Americans are obsessed with the royal family."
Her best guess at the album's appeal is summed up in that old adage, "misery loves company."
"Everyone falls apart, I think. A lot of people try to be brave and not shed a tear. Sometimes when you know someone else feels as s— as you do, or approaches things in a certain way just like you do, it makes you feel better about yourself. Even though my music is melancholy, there's also joy in that."
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Do not talk to Adele about her "brand." She is not a bag of potato chips.
"I don't like that word," she says about the notion of "brand" itself. "It makes me sound like a fabric softener, or a packet of crisps. I'm not that."
She's going to be one of those really cool open-minded moms...
Of her 3 year-old son Angelo, she declares, "I can't wait to know who his best friends are going to be, who his girlfriend or his boyfriend is going to be or what movies he likes...Whatever my kid wants to do or be I will always support him no matter what."
...but she will never be a pushover.
Her son can be whoever he wants - as long as he does his own laundry. "I'm very self-conscious that I have a kid, and I don't want him being one of those dickheads, who grows up being, like, 'Driver, driver!'" she says. "'I have no clean clothes!' 'Well, have you washed them?' I really don't want him growing up like that. I'm very conscious of it."
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And for the biggest reveal of all: The greatest love of Adele's life (besides her son) is Beyoncé.
Regarding the rumor that Adele was offered the chance to sing a duet with Beyonce on 25 but turned it down is apparently ludicrous, for the most endearing reason. "Whoever started that rumor must have been having a laugh," she declares, "because anyone who knows me knows that my main priority in life outside of my child is Beyoncé."
See more from Adele in the gallery below!
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