Why Adele?

[PaperIz 7,308]

I feel the same way. Adele is definitely the queen of music, but I don't understand how.

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

On 11/25/2015, 8:02:40, Nino said:

I just don't understand this woman's success. I think it's wonderful that in 2015 people are ready to celebrate good art so much. I'm also very happy for her and her fans over the success, but I just really don't undestand why Adele of all artists is receiving this previously unseen level of praise by the people. Adele's career to me feels like some global inside joke that I'm just not in on.

I like her 3 albums, they are good listens for sure but she just feels dull and lazy in comparison to her contemporaries. Her voice is very obviously not properly trained, she makes so many mistakes that it's unacceptable for somebody marketed as an all-time great vocalist. Beyonce, for example has worked tirelessly all her life to achieve some degree of mastery over her voice and does so much to take care of it so that it won't degrade. Adele by comparison just screams until she can't scream anymore. Her visuals, including how she presents herself feels lazy. The others have to sweat for their incredible bodies and pay attention to fashion to a nearly unhealthy degree. They also have entire teams dedicated to making sure their visuals are consistent and polished. Adele by comparison doesn't feel like she cares. Her songs are excellent, but she hasn't shown any artistic growth throughout her career. The others have to always innovate and grow otherwise they become walking jokes(Focus comes to mind as an example). Adele has made it clear that she doesn't feel the need to, or that she can't. It feels to me like celebrating Adele and how she's going against the grain of the industry and breaking norms is celebrating a lack of effort. Even the least talented or the biggest sellouts of the pop landscape dedicate their lives and often sacrifice their own happiness for the sake of entertaining the masses. Adele has not. Adele never will. This brings me to my question: Why? Why does everyone love this woman so much when she's so clearly done so much less for her art and career?

Agree with everything, she doesn't bring anything special to the table

I still think her success is to do with the fact that we have a very misogynistic view on woman, the fact that she only uses her voice and covers up / is feminine draws a lot of people who have traditionalist views towards her aka most of the population

 

I think her strength is that she is extremely flawed, which is relateable to many many people

[Yves 1,891]

It's simple. She's not doing the norm: being pathetic (following what's relevant) so they can be relevant (Well, Gaga in the ARTPOP era). 

She doesn't overhype. She doesn't even hype. Also, she constantly delivers. Her songs might be lackluster, in your opinion, but it certainly connects with a lot of people.

Don't be a hater, dear.

[Whispering 18,865]

On November 25, 2015 at 11:19:00 AM, StrawberryBlond said:

I completely agree. There are plenty of artists, past and present, who have done or are doing what Adele's doing and they're so much better. Her songs are ok, very good in some cases, but as a whole, all have the same sound and rely on cliche, simple lyrics. Her voice is very strained at times, making it hard to listen to. She puts out the same sounding songs over and over but never gets criticised for it when other artists do. She doesn't evolve. She's all but given up playing instruments live and can't even play guitar for a complete song. She honestly doesn't seem to care about making music frequently or of overcoming her stage fright so she can perform for big crowds who are dying to see her. She doesn't seem grateful for her success, rather takes it all for granted and gave the impression that after 21, she would have happily taken the money and ran. So, I can't understand the adoration of someone who is so cliche and just doesn't seem to care. But as usual, the public always pick the most boring, vague, cliched artists to make famous. Typical.

There's constantly this idea put forward of "Adele stands out in a crowd of pop stars vying for attention," "Adele stands out in amongst all this generic music" and so on. But...there's lots of artists doing exactly what she does! But they're not getting noticed! She's the only one! Why her, out of all these other better ones? This is why I don't believe the theory of "Adele made ballads successful again." Um...how many ballads have been successful since she came along, other than hers? Adele has only found success for herself, no one else. If she truly had started a trend, the charts would be full of Adele clones and they're not. The charts are still full of the same old stuff, just with some Adele in there.

Adele plays instruments to write songs. Her performances are centered around her vocals and interpretation skills...not on playing instruments. She's going on tour, playing to hundreds of thousands of fans. Obviously, she is confronting her stage fright. The public has chosen Adele, because they identify with her and her music, enjoy her songs and her voice. 

As far as the Billboard 100, we have seen more ballads get significant Pop AirPlay since Someone Like You was successful. A few songs That fit that description : I Won't Give Up, A Thousand Years, It Will Rain, When I Was Your Man, Stay, Wrecking Ball, Say Something, All of Me, Stay With Me, and Thinking Out Loud. 

[StrawberryBlond 14,102]

Just now, Whispering said:

Adele plays instruments to write songs. Her performances are centered around her vocals and interpretation skills...not on playing instruments. She's going on tour, playing to hundreds of thousands of fans. Obviously, she is confronting her stage fright. The public has chosen Adele, because they identify with her and her music, enjoy her songs and her voice. 

As far as the Billboard 100, we have seen more ballads get significant Pop AirPlay since Someone Like You was successful. A few songs That fit that description : I Won't Give Up, A Thousand Years, It Will Rain, When I Was Your Man, Stay, Wrecking Ball, Say Something, All of Me, Stay With Me, and Thinking Out Loud. 

You've said this to me before. But my opinion still stands. And I said the stuff about her stage fright before I saw that she was doing an arena tour, so that point no longer stands. Yes, I know why the public has taken to her but my point is that there a lot of other artists like her. If they like this style of music so much, why haven't they made them successful too?

Ok, they've had more airplay, hardly ever the same level of success or #1's, though. I'll admit, Adele did start a trend and change some perception. She encouraged an general album sales boom (in the UK, where sales have never been all that high, artists were debuting with 100k left and right in 2011 and some of 2012 after Adele released 21 - unheard of here). And she also significantly stopped prejudice towards curvier female singers (you'll notice they're given more of a chance now, especially in reality singing shows). But has she really changed the public's music taste, caused a shift? No way.

[NCgaga 4,279]

If you don't think Adele has a good voice, then you have no music credibility. It's your opinion to not like her. You own that. But to say things as if they are fact or correct, is wrong. Why compare Adele to Beyonce or anyone? Her voice is incredible, not because she has an extremely large range, or that she over does it with Melizmas and runs... Her voice has a deep and sensual tone that evokes emotions. She has thethick and colorful voice that Etta James, patsy Cline, Karen carpenter, etc have. They are none for the tone and tecture of their voices, not their range. Adele is extremely talented vocalist. Her phrasing is brilliant, her tone is executed effortlessly. To even compare her to most of her contemporaries like Beyoncé, Katy, Riganna, Taylor, etc is beyond ignorant. She is simply in a different league. It's your right to not view her as your cup of tea, but to say she is not a trained vocalist and to compare her voice to someone like Beyonce's is absurd. Please get an education on vocal performance, technique before you try to odd your opinion off as fact. 

[Essence 155]

20 hours ago, ARTPOPdidntflop said:

Agree with everything, she doesn't bring anything special to the table

I still think her success is to do with the fact that we have a very misogynistic view on woman, the fact that she only uses her voice and covers up / is feminine draws a lot of people who have traditionalist views towards her aka most of the population

 

I think her strength is that she is extremely flawed, which is relateable to many many people

2

Oh please. Just because she doesn't break gender stereotypes doesn't mean her sense of s-xuality is being oppressed. Now I'm not denying that we live in a misogynistic world, because we do, but maybe, just maybe, in a world where Mileys and Gagas can achieve mainstream success too, society simply appreciates a simplistic, minimalistic, and fantastic voice. With Adele, you're getting a musician through and through. Nothing more, nothing less.

[Essence 155]

20 hours ago, ARTPOPdidntflop said:

I think her strength is that she is extremely flawed, which is relateable to many many people

1

*human

[Whispering 18,865]

6 hours ago, StrawberryBlond said:

You've said this to me before. But my opinion still stands. And I said the stuff about her stage fright before I saw that she was doing an arena tour, so that point no longer stands. Yes, I know why the public has taken to her but my point is that there a lot of other artists like her. If they like this style of music so much, why haven't they made them successful too?

Ok, they've had more airplay, hardly ever the same level of success or #1's, though. I'll admit, Adele did start a trend and change some perception. She encouraged an general album sales boom (in the UK, where sales have never been all that high, artists were debuting with 100k left and right in 2011 and some of 2012 after Adele released 21 - unheard of here). And she also significantly stopped prejudice towards curvier female singers (you'll notice they're given more of a chance now, especially in reality singing shows). But has she really changed the public's music taste, caused a shift? No way.

Yes, I know and the fact that Adele isn't primarily an instrumentalist, but a vocalist and songwriter still stands. They...meaning the listening public and the music buyers, prefer Adele's vocals and her lyrics to others who are doing the same "style". Simple as that. 

Like I stated in the comment you quoted, there were more ballads that Pop radio was willing to give a chance to and to play....and yes, some of the ballads I listed went to number one on CHR and sold just as much of close to what SLY sold. 

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

1 hour ago, Essence said:

Oh please. Just because she doesn't break gender stereotypes doesn't mean her sense of s-xuality is being oppressed.

Not what I was saying at all but okay  

[Born To Slay 10,996]

2 hours ago, Essence said:

Oh please. Just because she doesn't break gender stereotypes doesn't mean her sense of s-xuality is being oppressed. Now I'm not denying that we live in a misogynistic world, because we do, but maybe, just maybe, in a world where Mileys and Gagas can achieve mainstream success too, society simply appreciates a simplistic, minimalistic, and fantastic voice. With Adele, you're getting a musician through and through. Nothing more, nothing less.

I don't think he's saying she's being oppressed in that sense. He's saying that the public looks down on female artists who use s-xual imagery because of mysogonistic views the public has on how women should act and Adele's success and praise is a byproduct of that (ya know, she acts how society feels a women should act and therefore gets praise for not using gimmicks to sell) 

[ARTPOPdidntflop 3,987]

7 minutes ago, Born To Slay said:

I don't think he's saying she's being oppressed in that sense. He's saying that the public looks down on female artists who use s-xual imagery because of mysogonistic views the public has on how women should act and Adele's success and praise is a byproduct of that (ya know, she acts how society feels a women should act and therefore gets praise for not using gimmicks to sell) 

Which is exactly why Gaga is seen as a joke most of the time, because she presents Sex as the forefront of her work.

[Born To Slay 10,996]

Just now, ARTPOPdidntflop said:

Which is exactly why Gaga is seen as a joke most of the time, because she presents Sex as the forefront of her work.

Same with Miley, Madonna, partially Britney and others. My dad even does it, he has no problem with male rock stars wearing racy outfits but when I'm watching a Gaga or Britney performance, he's like "the only reason they like her is because she takes her clothes". As if that's all a women is worth. It's infuriating.

[NewYorkCity 10,515]

I agree with everything you said.

And I love so much how the ones who consider themselves the mature ones on the site always say "jealous" "pressed" when you say something bad about the current #1 act. Lol.

[Judas Oyster 1,883]

I understand your point of view and I actually agree somehow.

The only answer I can think of to your question is:
Perhaps it is Adele being Adele, being natural and real, including her flaws... She's human, not manufactured.

Maybe it is as simple as that. + what people already have said about her lyrics relating to so many people and the fact that people from all ages can listen to her music, not only youngsters into pop/electronic.