instepeye
Adele: As genuine as talent gets



She rocks, she rolls, she pops and can even be the quintessential lady who sings the blues. Here’s why Adele rules music now...

It's rare for Bond films to make it to Oscar nominations; even the title tracks, always named after the film with those killer opening credits that are as anticipated as the movie. But this year was different. Skyfall became a raging hit and the song of the year with the powerhouse vocals of British songstress and musician Adele. It was a given that she would win, a voice like hers doesn't come around everyday. And as much as people may jibe her about her weight and her disinterest in the showgirl side of music, the fact is she blows it all away with that magical voice...

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born in Tottenham, north London, to an English teenager. Her father walked out when she was two leaving her mom to bring her up single-handedly. Born in 1988, and very much a 90s child it is not Madonna who informed Adele artistically, but rather the Spice Girl and Pink with her Missundazstood record. Adele was 14 when she started to listen to blues singers Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald which was when she found the process of “discovering my own voice”. She is a graduate of the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology in Croydon where she was a classmate of Leona Lewis. She studied to get where she is and apart from singing, she can play guitar, keyboards, bass guitar and percussion.

And that how this girl immediately got the admiration of her peers. She didn't arrive with shock value theatrics ala Lady Gaga. She came in via two simply named heartfelt albums 19 and 21 (her age when she made them) that she wrote her self and blew the music industry away with her live performances. To date she has release some 9 videos and doesn't really pay attention to them. Hers is not music to watch, it is music to listen to. No wonder she counts everyone from Beyonce, Madonna, Kanye to Slash and David Grohl to Celine Dion as fans.

From  the passionate 'Set Fire To The Rain'  (“I set fire to the rain, And I threw us into the flames) to the sublime Skyfall (Let the sky fall, We will stand tall) Adele stands at a musical height that makes other musicians look like pygmies. After all, if you've got 'IT' you don't need to flaunt anything else.

Much was made about this girl when photos of her came out posing with the coveted Oscar statuette making a V sign before she had won! But that’s Adele for you. Unaffected, natural, making no bones about tweeting, “Thank you guys! I feel just like Meryl Streep.” And “I just met Daniel f@(king Day Lewis!!!” without inhibitions about her Oscar experience. This one ain't letting stardom get to her.