Adele - Early Interview.  With Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2 - video Dailymotion

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00:00So, Adele, welcome to Made of Ale.

00:08Thank you.

00:09So, you're a new name for most people listening to this and watching it online.

00:16Give us your life story in 30 seconds.

00:19I was born in Tottenham, moved to Brighton when I was nine, moved to Brixton when I was

00:25ten, went to normal, rubbish, rough school, and then I went to the Brit school for four

00:33years, did music.

00:34And then when I was 16, I wrote Hometown Glory, and somehow, without even realising, my own

00:38voice just kind of popped up.

00:39I think that was when I started writing my own tunes, that happened.

00:43So it was Hometown Glory the first?

00:44Yeah.

00:45And what inspired that?

00:46I had a meeting with my school about going to university, and my mum thought I should

00:50go to Liverpool, and if I didn't want to, I wanted to stay in London.

00:55So I ran upstairs and wrote it, and then come back downstairs, I was like, this is where

00:58I'm staying.

00:59And then she was like, fair enough, and I stayed.

01:03I was going to go to Liverpool, though, I got in, but I got a record deal, so I'm going

01:08to stay.

01:09So you performed to your mum?

01:10Oh yeah, I always perform to my mum, yeah, she's mine, that's quick.

01:13I guess you could say that's perhaps the most important performance that you've done so

01:17far, then?

01:18Yeah, yeah, I guess so.

01:21Who were your main influences, then, growing up?

01:23Because you said, for a long time, you were just copying other people, which I guess a

01:26lot of people do, it was a while until you found your voice, who were the people that

01:29you listened to growing up?

01:31When I was little, I used to listen to Jeff Buckley a lot with my mum, but my main influence

01:34was the Spice Girls, and East 17, the performing side of it, which I'm not actually that great

01:40at, I can't move around stage very well, I feel a bit uncomfortable, but then Eva Cassidy

01:44and Etta Jones, Ella Fitzgerald and Bjork, Karen Dalton, Roberta Flack and Peebles,

01:49all the soul people, that I got into by accident by trying to be really cool and go into that

01:53glass section at HMV on Oxford Street, I was pretending I liked Slipknot and Korn, I was

02:00petrified of them.

02:01But you didn't?

02:02No, I hated them.

02:03And then when I was about 14, I started listening to them, and then, yeah, but I do love Destiny's

02:08Child as well, and I think Beyonce is amazing, obviously I'm not really influenced by her,

02:12like, you know, I don't dance around and get my bum out, but I do love her.

02:18Might that develop later on, do you think?

02:19Maybe, might be the new Britney, but not now, like, a few years ago.

02:23Sorry.

02:24I don't know what on earth you're thinking of there.

02:29It's interesting that you said, the first names that you mentioned there were the Spice

02:32Girls and East 17.

02:33It might be the opinion of a lot of people listening to this and hearing you sing, that

02:37actually you can sing better than all of the Spice Girls and all of East 17 put together.

02:43Oh, that's lovely.

02:44But it was the performing side of them, it weren't so much their vocals.

02:48Even when I was like six, I knew that some effect had been put on their voice, because

02:53I couldn't make mine sound all robotic.

02:55And so I knew that, but I don't know, there's something special about them, their gigs were

02:58amazing when I was little.

02:59Tell me about playing on Jools Holland, that's an extraordinary show to be on, isn't it?

03:04Yeah, it was amazing, that's one show I've always, always watched since night two.

03:08Paul McCartney's there, Bjork's there, Billy Bragg's over there, and my mum's there crying.

03:12So it was really hard.

03:14But you were overcome by the whole thing?

03:15Yeah, yeah.

03:16I think she was really excited, a bit overwhelmed.

03:18How nervous were you then?

03:19Really, really nervous.

03:20So in comparison, tonight's going to be rather straightforward, really, isn't it?

03:24Well, it's not in front of Paul McCartney or Bjork, is it?

03:27Well, as far as you know.

03:28Well, if they come in, I'll probably walk out that door.

03:31If they walk in the room, no, but I'm really excited tonight.

03:34I wasn't that excited on Jools Holland, I was just really, really like, eh.

03:37But I'm really excited for this, and it's my first little gig with my band.

03:42You've got a cover version, which you mentioned.

03:44It's a Bob Dylan song.

03:45It is a Bob Dylan tune.

03:46It's not an old, old one, like his protest ones.

03:49It's called Make You Feel My Love.

03:52Why have you chosen that one?

03:53Because I don't actually like Bob Dylan, he really annoys me.

03:56His vocals really, really annoy me, but he has got amazing lyrics.

03:58And this song, my manager played to me when I was in New York,

04:01and I'd just kind of finished the album.

04:03And it's kind of tied the whole album up about the relationships I've been writing about.

04:10Because the album's like, I'm really pleased with the album,

04:13but the lyrics, listening back, I'm a bit like, God, I'm so pathetic.

04:16I really can't stand up to these rubbish boys.

04:21Tell us about Chasing Pavements.

04:23It doesn't really make sense when you just say the phrase, does it?

04:26But I think it makes sense when it's in the song.

04:28It's about chasing.

04:31My makeup artist came up with a really, really good description of what the song's about.

04:37It's about not giving up, basically.

04:39It's about chasing.

04:40If you imagine in Labyrinth, the film,

04:42she's trying to go and reach her baby brother,

04:44and the floors just keep going the other way,

04:46and it's like, keep trying to go, though,

04:48even though it's not worthwhile when you know it's not.

04:50Obviously I'm trying to find the boy and not my baby brother, though.

04:53Well, thanks for talking to us.

04:55Thank you.

04:56And we wish you a rather successful 2008.

04:59Thank you very much.

Adele - Early Interview. With Simon Mayo on BBC Radio 2

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