THE GLORIOUS AGE OF ADELE

FIRST CAME A BRUTAL PANDEMIC YEAR. THEN A CAREER LOW POINT. IN AN INTIMATE NEW INTERVIEW, ADELE TALKS ABOUT THE ARTISTIC AND PERSONAL REBIRTH THAT HAS HER AS HAPPY AS SHE’S EVER BEEN.

- EMMA CARMICHAEL

Adele’s career does not have much by way of low points. The British singer-songwriter has been on a steady, galactic trajectory since the 2008 release of her celebrated debut album, 19. She has won 15 Grammys and, with her devastating vocal power and narrative command, has achieved such celebrity that her name has become shorthand for heartbreak itself. Last November, after a six-year hiatus, Adele released her fourth studio album, 30, which became the best-selling album of the year in the U.S.

But sitting in her Beverly Hills kitchen one blistering afternoon in June, Adele can easily identify her own professional nadir: It was the morning of January 20, when she uploaded a teary video to Instagram to inform her fans she was canceling her Las Vegas residency at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, which was set to premiere the following evening. “It was the worst moment in my career, by far,” she says, within 10 minutes of us sitting down. She hasn’t spoken publicly about the debacle in the five months since, even as rumors about production issues and set disagreements swirled, and she’s eager to address it right away. “By far. I was so excited about those shows. It was devastating.”