Adele: Rising star's secret love

SHE’S hot, she’s heading for number one tonight - and she has a mystery lover to thank for it.

For new pop sensation Adele admits her debut album 19 is sprinkled with references to a certain lad she’s obsessed with.

“If I want, I can go out and pull any bloke I want—and I sometimes do. But I can’t stay away from this one boy I keep going back to,” she confesses.”

“Some of my songs are about him. He’s not a wrong ’un, but we might be wrong for each other. He’s a lovely bloke—but we just can’t get it right between us.”

At least it makes for great soul numbers though, Adele.

“That’s dead right,” laughs the beauty whose unique voice has propelled her to stardom. Adele—full name Adele Adkins— graduated from the BRITS School in Croydon, South London, in 2006. Other past pupils include Katie Melua, Kate Nash and The Feeling.

“I know it looks dodgy for my credibility that I went there,” admits Adele, from Tottenham. “If I hadn’t been there, I’d look at my background and go ‘Eurgh, you must be a right brat’.

“But it isn’t like that when you’re there. You get to muck about with guitars all day, learn how to sing properly and write songs.”

Adele made friends with Shingi Shoniwa—now the singer with cult band Noisettes. “Shingi’s brilliant, she gave me loads of confidence.”

And she penned her first single Hometown Glory in just 10 minutes. “I had a big row with my mum,” she says. “I stormed up to my bedroom, and wrote Hometown Glory. I wanted to cheer myself up, so I wrote about how much I love London.”

Adele’s demos soon made her a sensation on MySpace and led to an appearance on BBC2’s Later With Jools Holland last May.

Her new single Chasing Pavements is a smash hit, and 19—which refers to her age—is also a sensation.
But Adele is determined to take it all in her stride. “I won’t make my second record until I think it will be good enough,” she insists.

“I hate it when bands make second records really quickly that are just s*** versions of their debut.

“I loved Kaiser Chiefs’ first record so much I wanted to marry Ricky Wilson. Their second one is so bad I don’t want to marry him any more!”
DEAN WALSH