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Adele · S7 E6
Rich Paul
The sports agent she begins dating in 2021. The relationship that appears on the album only in its absence: the songs are about the pain before him, not the happiness after.
July 17, 2021, courtside at the NBA Finals in Phoenix. A camera catches Adele sitting next to a man nobody in the music press recognizes, laughing and leaning into him. His name is Rich Paul, and the internet loses its mind.
Adele wins Artist of the Year at the BRIT Awards 2022, presented by Sir Mo Farah. Her second BRIT of the night, and the culmination of the 30 era on British soil. The speech is pure Adele: emotional, funny, and completely unfiltered.
The Absence on 30
Rich Paul is not on album 30. Every song was written before they met. The entire record documents the pain of the divorce and the guilt about Angelo, but there is no track about falling in love again. His absence from the album is actually the most telling detail: 30 is the sound of Adele at her lowest, and Rich Paul is what came after. He's the future the album can't see yet.
The Sports Agent
Rich Paul is the founder of Klutch Sports Group, one of the most powerful agencies in basketball. He represents LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and a roster of NBA stars. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, without a college degree, and built his empire on relationships and instinct. In many ways, his story mirrors Adele's: working-class, self-made, no formal training.
“"Rich just brings me joy. He's not intimidated by any of it, and he's not interested in being famous. He just makes me laugh."”
TAP TO REVEAL: How did Adele and Rich Paul first meet?
What is Rich Paul's primary profession?
Crazy in Love, Beyonce feat. Jay-Z
From Beyonce's Dangerously in Love (2003). The ultimate falling-in-love song: reckless, joyful, and completely uncontrolled. The connection to Adele runs deeper than the theme. Adele broke her Grammy in half for Beyonce in 2017 because she believed Lemonade deserved Album of the Year. Now, years later, both women are in relationships with powerful men from the sports and entertainment world. Crazy in Love is the sound of the feeling Adele describes when she talks about Rich Paul: unexpected, overwhelming, and not on any album yet.
Crazy in Love, Beyonce feat. Jay-Z (2003)
Read the lyrics while you listen. Beyonce recorded this at 21, the same age as Adele's heartbreak album. The energy is the opposite: pure, uncomplicated joy. After four albums of loss and grief, this is the feeling Adele found on the other side.
Rich Paul
The new love is real, the album is out, and the awards are piling up. But there is one more song on 30 that needs its own episode. Next: "To Be Loved," the vocal that cracks, the take she couldn't do twice, and the emotional climax of four albums.
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