Q Magazine, Q300 is out today, featuring cover star Adele as part of our 300th issue celebrations.
"What day is it?" wonders a bewildered Adele, hung-over, smoking a fag, wearing comedy-colossal Jackie Onassis shades. "Sunday? Aw fackin' ell, it's chart day!" If it's Sunday, it must be another Adele record-breaking album day (10 April 2011), the day her second album, 21, stays at Number 1 in the UK for the 11th consecutive week, pulverising Madonna's previous generational nine-week milestone with 1990's The Immaculate Collection. She's been Number 1 in 15 countries, today the biggest pop star on the planet.
"Pff, doesn't look like it, does it?" she scoffs, clutching her crumpled black woollen overcoat, which appears to be a billowing bat-winged dog blanket. "Three grand coat on covered in dog hair [from her sausage dog Louis Armstrong]. Bobbly tracksuit bottoms. Fag an' a glass of Coke."
We're in wonderful-wonderful Copenhagen, perched in a hotel garden patio, Adele's pale, un-made-up face bearing four small spots, unwashed coppery hair piled into her neck, all gigantic lagoon-green almond eyes and lips like a pair of pink marshmallow Flumps. Here on her now preposterously tiny tour of European club venues more befitting the likes of Seasick Steve, Adele has been mainly oblivious to the record-breaking news back home (she knew about Madonna, "who'd've thought it!?") so Q fills her in to increasingly urgent pulls on her snout: today, consecutive Number 1 weeks-wise, she's Bigger Than Dire Straits (Brothers In Arms, 1986), "wow", Bigger Than Lady Gaga (more digital sales than The Fame, 2008/9), "that's quite massive" and Almost As Big As Bob Marley (Legend, 1984), "that's absurd!" She stubs her snout.
"But that stuff goes right over my head," she carries on. "I'm twenny two. So those things don't really interest me! I just love singing, innit? I mean, I'm really proud of making some people really proud in England. I've never seen my mum so happy [42-year-old single mum Penny, normally at her side, currently on a paragliding holiday in Spain]. She's like [drops voice an octave], Oh well, this is just ridiculous now, surely not, fuck off Adele. It makes me... really emotional actually."
Behind the shades, a moistness glimmers through the glass and her booming cockney blare plummets to a rare whisper.
"It's pretty overwhelming," she husks. "It's very extreme. I wasn't ever expecting any success like this. But if I listened to it all and Googled it all I'd 'ave a bit of a heart attack, I reckon. Cos really it's the small things in life that satisfy me."
ALSO IN Q300:
Q Icons interviewed: Liam Gallagher's last requests. Keith Richards's secret stash. Bono's bum deal.
Q: Year By Year
25 Years of Q Photography
A Round With... John Lydon
Cash For Questions - Dolly Parton
and much more... check out the online preview:
Q300: Online preview - featuring Adele, Liam Gallagher, Keith Richards, John Lydon and more.
11:45 AM | 25/05/2011
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Let's just hope the lovely Adele does stay grounded and doesn't turn in to a "pop diva" like all who have gone before her...like not having the driver speak to her before she allows, or ordering ridiculous things to one's hotel room....pleeeze no...
Posted by Lana at 3:02 PM | 13/06/2011 | Report Abuse
i am b d m n
Posted by k k singh at 4:37 PM | 03/07/2011 | Report Abuse
Q magazine is the most biased magazine i've read!
Posted by rhex santos at 6:09 PM | 20/08/2011 | Report Abuse
adele es la mejor artista
Posted by yenni at 2:05 AM | 16/09/2011 | Report Abuse
very nice
Posted by thine gosvig christensen at 11:06 AM | 23/09/2011 | Report Abuse
Funny how a good photographer turned her into an Angelina Jolie look-a-like on the cover.
Posted by Marite at 12:56 AM | 10/10/2011 | Report Abuse
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