Adele: the before and after of the star who defied the stereotype of what a singer should look like

Since the beginning of her career, the British Adele knew what it meant for people to talk about her body, her weight; of her appearance. Something in which the only person who has something to say is herself.

At this time, before the release of her fourth studio album, “30”, this song is making news again. Eventually, the subject comes up in interviews like the one Oprah Winfrey did.

2008 was the year Adele became known worldwide. On that occasion, during a photoshoot for Glamor magazine, she spoke about beauty stereotypes in the United States.

“You’re never going to please everyone, so what’s the point? Look at Nicole Richie. When she became known with ‘The Simple Life’, they said she had to lose weight. Then they said ‘oh, you’re too skinny’. If someone told you to lose weight, you would reply ‘Fuck off!’ and then I fire him.”

By 2011, Adele was already a consecrated star with victories in multiple awards, where the two Grammys that she won at that time stood out. But even so the topic of her weight continued as a topic of conversation.

She commented, in conversation with Rolling Stone magazine, that her business was not to show off the body, but to sing. “I don’t make music for the eyes, I make music for the ears”.

Adele’s career never stopped growing. In 2012, her work on the album “21” garnered six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Best Song of the Year for “Rolling in the Deep.”

In addition, that year her son Angelo Adkins was born, the result of her marriage to Simon. But that did not stop those who continued to mock the singer, by then one of the wealthiest women in the United Kingdom.

British singer Adele holds the Grammy Awards for Best New Artist and Best Pop Female Vocal Performance for “Chasing Pavements during the 51st annual Grammy Awards held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 8, 2009.

“I read a comment on YouTube that I thought would annoy me: “cake test pilot”. But I’ve always been a size 14-16 and been fine with it. I would only lose weight if it affected my health or sex life, which is not the case.” Had told the author just a year before Chas Newkey-Burden, author of “Adele: the biography”.

Being successful has not prevented people, other celebrities like her, from believing they feel entitled to comment on their body.

“She is a little fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice,” is what, for example, designer Karl Lagerfeld said about her; words that were criticized by the singer’s followers, for which the couturier apologized.

Adele, although she did not directly mention what Lagerfeld said, a day after what the designer said, People magazine published an interview with her where she talks about her body image, which is in line with her statements from previous years.

Adele arrives at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards (VMA) on August 28, 2011 at the Noika Theater in downtown Los Angeles, California.

“I would lose weight if I was an actress and had to play a role where you are supposed to be 20 kilos lighter, but weight has nothing to do with my career. Even when I was signing a contract, most of the industry knew that if someone dared to tell me to lose weight, they would not be working with me,” she counted.

2013, the year Adele won the Oscar, was also the year that American TV personality Joan Rivers made fun of her on Jay Leno’s show. Rivers assured that the singer demanded to apologize, but this did not happen.

British singer-songwriter Adele on stage at the 2012 BRIT Awards in London on February 21, 2012.

Eventually Adele lost weight, but she never said this was due to the comments others made of her body. The most recent change occurred between 2020 and 2021, when he lost 50 kilos in weight as revealed to Vogue magazine.

She lost the weight by exercising three times a day (weights in the morning, boxing in the afternoon, and cardio at night), something she was able to do because she was not working, which, she acknowledges, is not possible for many people.

Of course, she stressed that she did not diet. In the aforementioned interview with Oprah, Adele revealed that she took this exercise routine as a defense mechanism against the anxiety she felt following her 2019 divorce from Konecki.

Adele’s weight loss has not been taken positively by some people who, as she knew, would criticize her in any way. Also speaking to Vogue, she said that people who are shocked by her change are because she did not share her process.

“They’re used to people documenting everything on Instagram, and most people in my position would make a great deal with a dietary brand.”

“People have been talking about my body for 12 years. They used to talk about it before I lost weight. But yeah, I don’t care. You don’t need to be overweight to be body-positive, you can be any shape or size“, she held.

Adele in 2021, in a photo published on her Instagram account.

Given

“30”, Adele’s fourth studio album, is available on digital platforms such as Spotify, YouTube, Amazon Music, Apple Music, etc.