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Adele · S1 E4
The Spice Girls and Ella Fitzgerald
Two obsessions that don't belong together: bubblegum pop and jazz standards. Both shape the voice before she knows what the voice is for.
A nineteen-year-old walks into a recording studio in London to make an album named after her age. The record she emerges with sells millions of copies and earns two Grammy Awards before she turns twenty-one.
Rolling in the Deep -- Adele. The lead single from 21, written with producer Paul Epworth in a single afternoon. Built on a stomping beat and powered by one of the most recognizable vocal performances of the century.
Rolling in the Deep
Adele and Paul Epworth write "Rolling in the Deep" in a single session, fueled by the breakup that will define album 21. Epworth builds the beat first: a stomping kick drum layered with handclaps that sounds like an army marching. Adele's vocal enters low and builds through each verse until the chorus explodes. Listen for the backing vocals in the final chorus, stacked so densely they sound like a gospel choir. Epworth has said Adele sang the vocal in just a few takes. She was too angry to need more.
19
Adele's debut album, 19, is released on January 28, 2008 by XL Recordings. Named after her age when she writes most of the songs, it is a collection of heartbreak and observation built on soul, jazz, and acoustic pop. Produced primarily by Jim Abbiss, it reaches number one in the UK and eventually sells over seven million copies worldwide. Critics notice the voice immediately.
TAP TO REVEAL: Why is the album called 19?
“I wrote about things that happened to me. I didn't plan it. I just sat there with a guitar and said whatever came out.”
— Adele, Rolling Stone, November 2015
Bonus Listening: Cold Shoulder
Produced by Mark Ronson with a Motown-influenced rhythm section and vintage soul horns. This is the track on 19 that most directly channels Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald. The vocal is cool, controlled, and dripping with understated attitude.
Adele names her albums in a distinctive way. What pattern does she follow?
Album 19 makes her a star in the UK, but America barely notices. That changes on one extraordinary night in October 2008. Next: Saturday Night Live, Sarah Palin, and the accident that makes Adele famous in the United States overnight.
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