You’ve heard us speak of the balanced 360-degree Notable life – all of our YPs strive to achieve a balance of professional, social, charity and living life. To feed your weekly guilty indulgence of both male and female eye candy, coupled with 360- degree inspiration, we will profile a different celeb each week that we feel embodies this. This week we feature Adele, who has taken the music world by storm and recently took home a record-tying six Grammys.
Professional:
At just 23 years old, Adele has accomplished more than most musicians can even dream of in their lifetime. At Sunday’s Grammys, she succeeded in every way possible, winning in all six categories for which she was nominated, including the year’s top record and best song (Rolling in the Deep), best album and pop vocal (21), top pop solo performance (Someone Like You) and best short video. Her career has progressed at an extremely rapid rate after she was discovered and offered a recording contract from XL Recordings after a friend posted her demonstration on MySpace in 2006. The very next year, she received the Brit Awards’ “Critics’ Choice” and won the BBC Sound of 2008.
When her debut album, 19, was released, it was met with huge success in the UK, certified four times platinum. This year wasn’t her first time receiving a shiny piece of Grammy hardware, either. At the 2009 Grammy Awards, Adele received the awards for Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. When 21 was released in early 2011, it globally became her most commercially successful album to date, becoming certified 14 times platinum in the UK and holding the top position in the US longer than any other album since 1993. In the UK, she became the first artist to sell more than 3 million copies of an album in a year.
At an all-time high after Sunday’s big wins, her career shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.
Social:
Like many young professionals, Adele works hard and plays hard, too. She is a regular at awards shows and UK pubs alike and seems to have healthy social relationships with friends and boyfriends. She is vocal about her love for fine wine and food and sharing it with friends.
Adele has high regard for her friends and friendship in general. Keeping it classy, she has refused to publicly name the ex-boyfriends responsible for her heartbreak-filled 19 and 21 albums. At the same time, she doesn’t let anyone walk all over her. After one ex demanded he receive royalties for his influence to 21, Adele said, “for about a week he was calling and was deadly serious about it,” and “finally, I said, ‘well, you made my life hell, so I lived it, and now I deserve it.’” Well said. Her friends don’t have it so easy either. After being burned by “friends” early on in her career when key information was leaked to the press, Adele says she now makes up fake rumours to test friends. With her insane schedule and constant scrutiny, there is no way she has time for toxic friendships.
Once she is your friend, however, she is a good one. Adele understands what it means to struggle as a result of her modest upbringing and likes to help as many loved ones out with her wealth. She has kept many of her pre-fame friends and regularly gives her money to friends, family and charity. Furthermore, Adele treated friends with a performance at her own birthday party, when she hosted a karaoke party and performed some of her favourites, including R. Kelly’s Ignition.
These days, Adele seems to be living a healthy life with new boyfriend Simon Konecki. The pair recently shared a date night with some of Adele’s friends at a London restaurant, where they sat in a VIP section drinking champagne. Eagar not to put on a show for the cameras (unlike some attention-starved celebrities), Adele kept all PDA sparse and PG.
Charity:
In addition to donating a substantial amount of her own money to charity, Adele relies on her own tactics to encourage her fans to become aware of and support some of her favourite charities as well. She recently required that anyone who scores a gratis concert ticket from her, concert promoters or venue staff contribute $20 to Sands, a UK-based charity that supports anyone who loses a baby and that promotes research to reduce the number of stillborns and neonatel deaths. The initiative resulted in $13,000 for Sands during the UK and European leg of her tour.
When Adele joined Twitter, she tweeted: “Right! Its me! I will start tweeting if 10k of u start following @drop4drop & their trip to India this wk. Its a wonderful charity. Go! A xxx.” Drop4drop works to help alleviate the global water crisis, a charity that Adele’s fans were quick to follow after she sent out her message.
Living:
As we mentioned, Adele demonstrates that it is possible to take an ultimate low point in your life and make it the most positive experience. Songs like Someone Like You and Rolling in the Deep are universally relatable and strike chords with anyone who has experienced a turbulent relationship or had his or her heart broken. It was heartbreak and “rubbish relationships” that inspired her much-loved music and it provided an outlet for her to express her feelings. This is an example of taking a bad situation, perhaps at a time when you’ve been at rock bottom, and turning it around for the positive.
Adele now seems to enjoy a life rich with meaningful experiences. She remains exceptionally close with her mother and her boyfriend is far from a troubled bad boy and happens to head Life Water’s Drop4Drop charity.
Adele has been scrutinized for her weight and, though we believe that physical fitness is an essential element of a balanced 360-degree life, Adele has handled these comments with grace, saying she is proud of who she is and what she looks like. She has recently dropped a noticeable amount of weight but her smaller frame is likely attributed to her recent throat surgery. Although she would like to lose weight, her fame has never been the product of her sexuality, and she has said “I’ve seen people where it rules their lives, who want to be thinner or have bigger boobs, and how it wears them down. And I don’t want that in my life. I have insecurities, of course, but I don’t hang out with anyone who points them out to me.”