I remember a time when I didn’t object to Adele. Working-class in the increasingly posh world of popular music, always pretty but not a glamour girl in a profession where female singers are expected to be hyper-sexualised, she was prized for her voice more than her looks. That I might have referred to that voice as sounding like ‘a moose with the worst case of PMT ever’ is not important; these things are a matter of taste.
Adele’s luxury grief has steadily grown over the years
It feels as if Adele has always been with us; her first album was called 19 and she’s still only 36. Her success has been both rapid and solid; in 2017, she was ranked the richest musician under the age of 30 in the UK; now she has a net worth of £170 million. The best-selling female artist of the 21st century in the UK, she is also the best-selling artist of the 2010s worldwide; awarded the MBE in 2013, in 2014 she was named by young adults outside of the UK as one of the most recognised British cultural icons, alongside the Queen, Shakespeare, Charlie Chaplin and The Beatles.
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