Okay, we’re just going to be honest for a second – pretty much everyone is obsessed with Adele, right? I mean, how can you not be? First of all, the songs that she puts out are amazing and worthy of repeat plays. The fact that her fans were eagerly awaiting her next album for years, still devoted and willing to pick up 25 as soon as it was released, proves the type of loyalty her talent inspires. And, finally, we’re obsessed because she just seems like the coolest person to hang out with. From her swearing to her infectious laugh, there’s just something really cool about Adele. We can imagine going over to her house for a cup of tea (or maybe a drink or two) and just having a blast.
However, unlike some pop superstars, Adele isn’t really in the tabloids very often. It’s not because the paparazzi don’t care about her – she’s a huge star. It’s just that she tends to live a fairly private life. She’s real, she’s honest, but she’s not spilling her guts about every single detail of her past, and that’s part of the reason we love her.
As you’re blasting 25 over and over again, you might find yourself wondering a few things about this awe-inspiring British import – and that’s what we’re here for. Here are 14 things you might not know about Adele. Cheers!
14 She went undercover
Adele went undercover with BBC's Graham Norton to shock some Adele impersonators. Posing as a very nervous Jenny, with a fake nose, black gloves and tattoos, the unsuspecting contestants were blown away once she began to sing.
13 Her middle name is Blue
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Once you get to a certain level of fame, you pretty much just go by one name – Beyoncé, Madonna, Adele, etc. It can make it tough to remember that celebrities were once just regular people with regular names – unless you’re Adele, in which case you have a really cool, creative middle name thrown in there. The songstress’ full name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins. Apparently, her parents even toyed with the idea of making Blue her first name, to honour her father’s love of blues music, but they ended up simply giving her a really unique middle name instead.
12 She went to a performing arts school – with some other celebs
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Everyone has heard of New York’s famous performing arts school, LaGuardia – it was the one that the hit movie Fame was based on. However, did you know that Britain sort of has its own version of the famous talent-filled school, and Adele was a student there? Before she became an international superstar, Adele was simply another student at BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology. She was classmates with now successful singers including Jessie J and Leona Lewis, and the school’s alumni include Imogen Heap, Kate Nash, Ella Eyre, Amy Winehouse and more. Adele graduated in 2006 (that’s right – less than ten years ago!)
11 She has a dachshund named Louie
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Her often emotionally charged and intimate songs have led many individuals to speculate about Adele's relationships and personal life, but the star is fairly private and doesn’t exactly like to give the tabloids a lot of information. However, there’s one part of her life behind the scenes that is actually fairly charming – she’s the proud mama of a miniature dachshund that she named Louie. The reason behind the name? Well, while she considered naming her new puppy after pop queen Britney Spears or one of her favorite soccer stars, she ended up naming him after jazz legend Louis Armstrong, because Louie apparently started howling along once Armstrong’s music started playing.
10 She’s banned from her own Twitter account
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Let’s be honest – many A-List celebrities probably don’t do all their own tweeting. Sure, they might post observations every now and then, but when they attain a certain level of fame, there’s a good chance that their ‘team’ might be behind their social media presence. This is definitely the case for Adele – and it’s for a very specific reason. Apparently, back in the day, Adele enjoyed having a few drinks and then getting on her Twitter account. After a few drunk tweets, her team took away her Twitter privileges, something that she revealed in a recent interview. Now, any tweet she posts has to be approved by her team first, lest she fire off any Chardonnay-soaked tweets to her 24+ million followers.
9 She was discovered on MySpace
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Nowadays, singing stars are getting discovered on Instagram, YouTube, and Vine. However, back in the day, MySpace was one of the most popular sites, and countless individuals posted their thoughts, pictures, recordings and more, for all their friends to see. Adele was one of them. The future superstar had recorded a three-track demo for a class project (remember – she went to a performing arts school) that ended up on MySpace. Someone at English independent record label XL Recording found the young singer’s material and immediately realized she was something special, and offered to sign her. See? While it’s pretty much obsolete nowadays, back in the day, MySpace really brought the world some great things.
8 She’s an only child
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Adele seems so fun-loving and down to earth that we can easily picture her having a blast hanging out with some rough and tumble older brothers. However, that’s not the case – she’s an only child. Adele’s father left her family when she was just two years old, so for many years it was just Adele and her mother, Penny Adkins, against the world. Hey, some of the greatest songwriters of all time had a bit of a tough start to their lives – perhaps the adversity she had to overcome coming from a single parent household helped shape her. Plus, we can’t help but think growing up in a tight female unit of two helped nurture her feminist side. While she has a long-time partner now, and has made her fair share of man mistakes in the past (like skipping part of a tour to be with a then boyfriend), now, Adele is definitely a girl who doesn’t need a man!
7 She has stage fright
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Many entertainers have been extroverted hams their entire lives, constantly performing for anyone who would listen to them and waiting for the next time they can feel the bright stage lights on their face. While Adele is without doubt a fantastic performer, it turns out that she would much rather record her music in the studio than perform to sold out arenas on tour. Why? Well, she has a little bit of stage fright and actually gets scared performing in front of such big audiences. In true girl power fashion, she managed to find a way to cope with her anxiety on stage – creating an alter ego, Sasha Carter, who is a combination between Beyoncé’s alter ego Sasha Fierce and country legend June Carter.
6 She was a huge Spice Girls fan as a kid
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Every girl who grew up during a certain era was absolutely obsessed with the spice girls. Sporty, Baby, Scary, Posh, and Ginger… there was nothing about the British pop starlets that the world didn’t love, and everyone identified with someone in the group. It turns out that Adele definitely isn’t immune to the craze – the Spice Girls were one of her major influences growing up, and apparently, she would even belt out their songs at dinner parties. We would pay good money to see Adele covering some of our favorite Spice Girls hits!
5 She has three Guinness world records
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With the release of her newest album, 25, everyone lately has been buzzing about the records she’s been breaking by selling so many albums in such a short period of time. However, this definitely isn’t the first record-breaking feature of her career – just ask the Guinness World Records staff. Adele holds three records: one for her second album 21 holding the top position longer than any other album since 1985, one for being the first female artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to have three simultaneous Top 10 singles as a lead artist, and one for being the first female artist in Billboard Hot 100 history to have two singles in the Top 5. What records will she shatter next?
4 She’s halfway to her EGOT
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What, exactly, is an EGOT? Well, it’s one of the most coveted distinctions that an entertainer can get, and it’s something that very few people manage to achieve, even the most talented. EGOT stands for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony – basically, earning the distinction of being amazing across the board. Despite not yet reaching 30, Adele is already halfway there, with a Grammy (okay, a lot of Grammys) and an Oscar under her belt. Now, all she needs is that Emmy and a Tony. Somehow, we don’t think it’s going to be much of a problem – we’re predicting she snags the EGOT title to join her MBE designation by the time she’s 40.
3 She has five tattoos
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Adele’s whole style is fairly classic, sophisticated, with a little bit of a retro edge thrown in thanks to her hair style choices and frequent cat eye make-up looks. I mean, no one rocks a killer black gown like Adele does, especially on stage. She’s probably the last person you would expect to have a tattoo, let alone several of them – but she does! The superstar has two tattoos on her left writer, one on each hand, and one behind her right ear. In typical proud mama fashion, two of them are in reference to her son, Angelo – the tattoos on her hands are a beautifully scripted “Angelo” (her son’s name) and “Paradise.”
2 She’s had the same BFF since school
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In the entertainment industry, friends seem to be fairly tough to come by. Sure, countless celebrities are ‘friends’ with someone, in that they’re spotted out shopping together or grabbing skim lattes. However, they always seem to part ways a few months later – there are very few enduring friendships that have lasted 10 years. The loyal and compassionate Adele manages to buck the trend, and is still BFFs with someone from her years at the BRIT school. The friend in question, Laura Dockrill, is similarly creative – she works as a performance poet illustrator, and writer. In fact, she was the inspiration between Adele’s earlier song “My Same.” They’ve had their fair share of squabbles, but they’re always there for one another, no matter how famous Adele gets.
1 She was inspired by Amy Winehouse – but not because of her vocals
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Countless aspiring singers were endlessly inspired by the late Amy Winehouse’s incredible, rich, bluesy vocal style – and continue to be inspired to this day. Adele likewise found inspiration in the young talent, but not in the way you might think. No, Adele had her vocals down – it was the fact that Amy played instruments as well that inspired a young Adele. She’s gone on record saying that “if it wasn’t for Amy and Frank (Winehouse’s first album), 100 percent I wouldn’t have picked up a guitar, I wouldn’t have written “Daydreamer” or “Hometown,” and I wrote “Someone Like You” on the guitar too. If the super talented Winehouse were still around, we bet these two British powerhouses could have done a jaw-dropping collaboration together.
Sources: popsugar.com, news.iheart.com
