ADELE at Massey Hall (178 Victoria), Wednesday (April 29), 8 pm. $34.50-$39.50. 416-872-4255.
Her voice comes over the phone all bright and bubbly, a full-on North London accent – “f” for “th” – cheerfully asking how my morning’s been. Soulful pop revivalist Adele is preparing for a North American victory lap after spending a good part of last year working to crack our continent.
[rssbreak]
Crack it she did, culminating with two Grammy clinches this past February, including one for best new artist.
Still amazed that her first record’s a success, Adele bluntly says she “wasn’t expecting anyone to care about it,” but when asked if playing the same bunch of songs again and again might be making her a bit antsy to start work on a follow-up, there’s no mistaking she’s keen.
“Fucking hell, yeah! I wrote these songs in 2007, the bulk of them. I’m not bored of singing my songs at all, cause I’m very proud of my first album.
“If I was still singing [single] Chasing Pavements in England I’d be tearing my hair out, but I’m still brand new in America and Canada. People have never seen me sing live, so I get really excited. But yeah, I’m dying to put my head down and do my second album properly.”
Her first record, 19 (XL), a sort of soul-baring breakup diary, won plenty of attention from snooping papers back home. For Adele, the heartbreak helped her writing plenty, but she’s not planning to make a habit out of breaking up for inspiration.
And drawing even more notice to her personal life, à la Amy Winehouse, isn’t something she wants either.
“I don’t make my life public, I don’t put it on show. Amy and Lily [Allen] are in the papers a lot, and there’ve been a few slip-ups that have made people want to read about them.
“At the beginning, the paparazzi were outside my house all the time, so I completely changed my life so they won’t care. I live a very normal life when I’m not working. Why would they want to read about that?”
For all her talent and luck so far, Adele remains refreshingly nonchalant about her future as a recording artist, and the idea of losing cash to downloading doesn’t seem to faze her.
“I’m not making music to make money or anything like that. It’s what I like doing, and I can’t do anything else.
“My manager talks about the state of the music industry, and I’m like, ‘I’m still fucking playing shows for people.’
“If I never sold a record again and people downloaded my music and liked my shows, then I’d be really, really happy.”
Interview Clips
Adele discusses looking forward to writing her second album:
Discusses how she’s matured musically since her first record:
On whether she cares about the media’s fixation with her appearance:
On an upcoming show opening for Etta James:
On whether she cares about people downloading her music:
music@nowtoronto.com