Adele Laurie Blue Adkins MBE (/əˈdɛl/; born 5 May
1988) is an
English singer and songwriter. Graduating from the
BRIT School for
Performing Arts and
Technology in
2006,
Adele was given a recording contract by
XL Recordings after a friend posted her demo on Myspace the same year. In
2007, she received the
Brit Awards "
Critics' Choice" award and won the
BBC Sound of 2008. Her debut
album, 19, was released in 2008 to commercial and critical success. It is certified seven times platinum in the UK, and double platinum in the US. An appearance she made on
Saturday Night Live in late 2008 boosted her career in the US. At the
51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, Adele received the awards for
Best New Artist and
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
After taking a three-year hiatus, Adele released her third studio album, 25, on
20 November 2015. The album debuted at number one in most major markets and broke first week sales records in the UK and US. The lead single, "
Hello", debuted at number one in many countries around the world, and became the first song in the US to sell over one million digital copies within a week of its release.
On 27
August 2015,
Billboard reported that Adele's label, XL Recordings, had intentions of releasing her third studio album sometime in
November 2015.
Danger Mouse has contributed a song, while
Tobias Jesso Jr. has written a track, and
Ryan Tedder is "back in the mix after producing and co-writing "
Rumour Has It" on 21." At the
72nd Venice International Film Festival in early
September 2015, Sia announced that her new single "
Alive" was co-written by Adele, and had originally been intended for Adele's third album. On
18 October, a 30-second clip of new material from Adele was shown on UK television during a commercial break on
The X Factor. The commercial teases a snippet from a new song from her third album, with viewers hearing a voice singing accompanied by lyrics on a black screen.
In a statement released three days later she confirmed that the album is titled 25, with Adele stating, "My last record was a break-up record, and if I had to label this one, I would call it a make-up record. Making up for lost time. Making up for everything I ever did and never did. 25 is about getting to know who
I've become without realising.
And I'm sorry it took so long but, you know, life happened." On
22 October, Adele confirmed that 25 would be released on 20 November, while the lead single from the album, "Hello" would be released on
23 October. The song was first played on
Nick Grimshaw's
Radio 1 Breakfast Show on the BBC on the morning of 23 October with Adele interviewed live. The video of "Hello", released on 22 October, was viewed over 27.7 million times on YouTube in its first 24 hours, breaking the
Vevo record for the most views in a day, surpassing the 20.1 million views for "
Bad Blood" by
Taylor Swift. On
28 October, news outlets, including BBC
News, reported that "Hello" was being viewed on YouTube an average one million times an hour. The song debuted at number one in the
UK Singles Chart on
30 October, with first week sales of 330,
000 copies, making it the biggest-selling number one single in three years. "Hello" also debuted at number one in many countries around the world, including
Australia,
France,
Canada,
New Zealand,
Ireland and
Germany, and on
2 November, the song debuted at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming the first song in the US to sell at least one million downloads in a week, setting the record at 1.11 million.
On
27 October, BBC One announced plans for
Adele at the BBC, a one-hour special presented by
Graham Norton, in which Adele talks about her new album and performs new songs. This was her first television appearance since performing at the
2013 Academy Awards ceremony, and the show was recorded before a live audience on 2 November for broadcast on 20 November, coinciding with the release of 25. On 27 October it was also announced that the singer would make an appearance on the US entertainment series Saturday Night Live on
21 November. On 30 October, Adele confirmed that she would be performing a one-night-only concert titled "
Adele Live in New York City" at the
Radio City Music Hall on
17 November. Subsequently,
NBC confirmed they will air the concert special on
14 December.
On
27 November, 25 debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart and became the fastest selling album in UK chart history with over 800,000 copies sold in its first week. The album debuted at number one in the US where it sold a record-breaking 3.38 million copies in its first week, the largest single sales week for an album since Nielsen began monitoring sales in
1991. 25 also broke first week sales records in Canada and
New Zealand.
- published: 11 Dec 2015
- views: 160056