Adele’s incredible transformation

Adele. I know — She’s fabulous! I love her music! Those songs! At just 28 years old, Adele has become a sensation — an artist who will go down as a legend in music history. Known for her soulful storytelling, she makes people around the world feel that she knows exactly what they’re going through.

Through countless interviews, she always seems down-to-earth, and like someone we could all get along with. Both her personality and style reveal her old soul, and that vintage flair and cat eye makeup have been signature for the non-stop singer. So let’s take a look, starting from the beginning of this star’s career, to now — a time when it seems near impossible not to deeply know her name and her transcendent music.

During an interview with i-D, Adele opened up about the passing of her grandfather when she was just 10 years old. The loss affected her deeply, as she said, “I loved him so much, more than the world.” But she wasn’t yet writing songs about the pain. Instead, Adele decided she wanted to become a heart surgeon. She said in the interview, “I wanted to fix people’s hearts.”

So that next year, she took biology lessons. But as time passed, other distractions got in the way. She soon discovered “fun – and boys. I gave up on it. My heart wasn’t in it anymore.” And although Adele never went to medical school or became a heart surgeon, she instead brought her gifts to music, continuing to focus on mending the human heart. With i-D, she shared a story about when her mom first listened to her song, “Someone Like You.” Adele said, “I played her the unmixed version of ‘Someone Like You’…She was pretty teary. ‘You are a surgeon,’ she said, ‘You’re fixing people’s hearts.” It all came full circle for the singing sensation.

Thanks to a little carpool karaoke with James Corden, we know that Adele has always been a major Spice Girls fan (— join the club!). But Adele’s musical inspirations went even further back than the 90s. In 2008 the 19-year-old told The Telegraph how her perspective was altered once she found CDs from Ella Fitzgerald and Etta James in a bargain bin. “My whole perception of what a voice could be completely changed. I’m obsessed with voices now. I love pretty much everyone who is a singer, even if they’ve got a horrible tone – you can’t really deny a voice.”

Those voices not only inspired Adele but taught her to sing, as well. She said during the interview, “I’ve had one singing lesson in my life. It made me think about my voice too much. You can teach yourself. I listened to Etta to get a bit of soul, Ella for my chromatic scales, Roberta Flack for control.” The famous singer made it sound so easy, but she was the first to say she was still figuring out her own voice. “I’m 19, I’m not supposed to have my own sound yet. I could completely change in the next few months. My next album might be full of big Pussycat Dolls happy songs, you never know.” One thing that’s for sure: Adele’s voice can’t be denied.

After her debut chart-topping and Grammy-winning album, fans were curious about what Adele would do next. In 2010 she was already working on her next album, as her inspiration for this album began to shift — traveling a bit further South. During her tour around the U.S., Adele spent some time in the South and was introduced, musically, to some big-time country stars. Speaking later with Rolling Stone about the experience, the 21-year-old said, “I got addicted to this Wanda Jackson hits album…She’s so cheeky and so raunchy. She’s kind of like the female Elvis: really sexual, not afraid to embarrass herself.”

Adele drew from this style of music, along with Alison Krauss and Lady Antebellum, for inspiration. She was very clear on what she wanted her next album to be — and what she didn’t want it to be, as well. “I wanted the songs not to have anything glittery or glamorous about them, like an organic tapestry rather than like a Gaga album…I mean, I love Gaga, but I didn’t want to get wrapped up in all that European dance music.” The singer wanted to keep honest emotion in her music, and, as she told the magazine, that mission was accomplished. “It’s such an honest record, and I’m really moved by it…It’s not hidden behind anything, and even though that’s what I wanted, I was a little bit scared of it. It makes me want to burst out crying whenever I hear it.”

By 2012, Adele was busier than ever. Her album 21 had smashed the charts — the results of which were evidenced at the Grammys that year, where Adele swept six trophies. She was on tour, rarely taking breaks. It was around this time that she noticed something was wrong with her voice. She spoke later with Vogue about this time, saying, “I knew my voice was in trouble, and obviously I cried a lot. But crying is really bad for your vocal cords, too!” She went to the doctor, and it was discovered that she had a polyp on one of her vocal cords that required surgery.

Although a scary diagnosis, the 23-year-old made the best of it, finally taking time for herself. “[My schedule] was so fast-paced, I could hardly ever even remember the bulk of my day..I think I just needed to be silenced. And when you are silent, everyone else around you is silent. So the noise in my life just stopped. It was like I was floating in the sea for three weeks. It was brilliant. It was my body telling me to fix me.” This made her appreciate her life and success even more. “I’ve never fully appreciated the things that I’ve achieved until now. In fact, my entire life has changed in the last ten weeks. I’ve never been so happy, and I love it.”

After her big year of awards, Adele took time away to be a mom and work on music. It was then in late 2015 that the 27-year-old put out a new song and the promise of a new album. “Hello” immediately topped the charts, and had everyone asking what this song meant. Adele spoke with Rolling Stone, answering all the questions. First off, it’s definitely not about her ex. “If I were still writing about him, that’d be terrible…’Hello’ is as much about regrouping with myself, reconnecting with myself.” She then addressed the line “hello from the other side,” saying, “It sounds a bit morbid, like I’m dead…But it’s actually just from the other side of becoming an adult, making it out alive from your late teens, early twenties.”

When the music video was released, records were shattered. In just five days, the video was watched over 100 million times. Filmmaker Xavier Dolan directed the video with Adele and talked about the artist’s iconic style with Vanity Fair, saying, “Adele’s look is meticulously thought through and completely of her own traits. She has such a powerful beauty, such an emotional voice, and the kohl, the hair, everything feels organically molded to her personality.” She is an absolute stand-out.