Has Adele changed the music industry?

A review on the best-selling artist of the 2010s

In the century of commercialisation, where music equals vulgarity, coarse language and repeated electronic beats, and music videos have become a synonym to nudity and provocative dancing, there comes British singer Adele to prove that there is still hope for real, quality music in this industry.

Adele Adkins, who in 2008 graduated from the BRIT School for Performing Arts & Technology, in Croydon – along with singers Leona Lewis and Jessie J – has already, at only 28, broken several records.

 

Her album 21 sold more than 35 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album of the 21^st century. She also became the first artist to ever sell three million albums in the UK in one calendar year and was recently named the most successful British female artist of the past century. But records in the music world are not what make Adele a “different” type of artist.

 

In 2017 it almost comes as no surprise to hear that even A-list singers use auto-tune to sing digitalised songs with cheap productions.

Adele, on the other hand, only uses real instruments on her records and usually sings with only the help of a background piano (Someone Like You) or a background acoustic guitar (Daydreamer).

Every single song from her studio albums 19, 21 and 25 is written by her (except Make You Feel My Love, which is a Bob Dylan cover) and as she admits, all the lyrics come from personal experiences. That easily explains why her voice sounds so genuine and full of emotion.

She has succeeded in differentiating herself from her peers, with music that does not sound like anyone else’s at this time. Who else sounds like Adele?

As the iHeartMedia president, John Sykes, said “[Adele] is an artist who comes around once every generation. There may not be a voice more precious to the music industry than Adele’s today.”

 

Unlike the majority of singers today, she does not use her image – or rather her body – to sell records. She does not wear extremely short skirts, shorts and bralets – which cover as much as a swimsuit – and does not dance like a wild maniac on stage. She also does not tend to get naked at any possible chance and call that “confidence”, “feminism” or “girl power”. On the contrary, she prefers to wear simple black lace dresses, leggings and flat shoes. She never tries to shock and she does not seem to care about gaining publicity.

Many people would say that the main reason Adele does not choose to show much skin is because her physique does not match that of a stereotypical modern pop star (basically she is normal and does not starve herself to death for fame). I say the reason is that Adele respects herself and her body too. She does not need to have an oversexualised image to attract attention, simply because she can still be gorgeous and radiant with clothes on, and simply because it is all about her music, her voice and her talent.

Her music video for Hello, which was filmed in a sepia tone at a small house in the woods, became the most viewed video (27. 7 million views) on YouTube within 24 hours, knocking Taylor Swift’s Bad Blood off the top. The video has over 1 billion views today!

More recently in the US, her latest album 25 became the fastest-selling album in one week, with 2.4 million sales, a record which was previously held by NSYNC for 15 years.

She has truly become unstoppable.

It feels like Adele has something special that is missing from the music industry today; elegance and class. Surprisingly though, she is a very approachable person. You would think she would speak the Queen’s English with the poshest accent possible, but once she opens her mouth you would be stunned by her heavy cockney accent. You would swear that Adele’s speaking and singing voices are coming from two different people.

She might be a mega global star, but at the same time she looks like your lovely auntie that you want to hug or your funny friend that you go for a pint in the local pub with.

She is also very British in the way she talks and in the way she sings and acts – unlike most English performers today who lose their identity and try to ‘Americanise’ themselves, their style, their attitude and their music.

Adele usually likes to take off her shoes and sing bare feet on a little carpet when she is on stage. She always talks to the audience, says a little story behind the songs and also has a laugh. Just simple and human, like everybody else.

Her songs are about real events and real people. And that is why her fans can relate to her.  

But no matter her audience’s age, Adele has managed with her music to make people feel pain and heartbreak, even if they have never been in love.

On a YouTube video of her live performance of “When We Were Young”, one fan writes: “I miss you my imaginary ex-lover.” That sums it up.

I would go as far to say that we are witnessing a music legend that will still be playing in our CD players and on our radio stations for many more years to come. And I am looking forward to hearing what story Ms. Adkins will talk about next.