Adele hosts Saturday Night Live, singing her greatest hits and acknowledging weight loss
It’s Adele as we’ve never seen her before, hosting Saturday Night Live – and the superstar addressed the elephant in the room right away.
Adele had earlier admitted she was “terrified” about her surprise gig hosting Saturday Night Live. She needn’t have been – the singing superstar dazzled across a multitude of sketches in the live US sketch comedy show.
And fans eager to hear her sing as well as act weren’t disappointed – Adele performed snatches of some of her biggest hits during a hilarious Bachelor-themed comedy skit.
The British singer, who hasn’t released an album since 2015, got the two big talking points out of the way at the top of the show: No, her album isn’t quite finished, and yes, she’s aware she looks “really different” after the dramatic weight loss of the past year.
“My album’s not finished, and I’m too scared to do both. I’d rather put on some wigs, have a glass of wine or six and just see what happens,” she said during her SNL opening monologue, explaining her decision to appear on the show as host rather than musical guest.
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“And I know I look really, really different since you last saw me. But actually, because of all the COVID restrictions and the travel bans, I had to travel light – I could only bring half of me, and this is the half I chose,” she said, to cheers from the audience.
RELATED: Why Adele’s radical transformation is more than skin deep
The episode’s Bachelor sketch is a must-watch for Adele fans eager to hear her sing live for the first time in several years, as she belted out iconic hits Rolling in the Deep, Hello and Someone Like You:
Adele singing Rolling in the deep, Hello, Someone like you and When We Were Young is easily one of the greatest things to come from 2020. pic.twitter.com/6JQhoCrriT
— #ENDSARS #CONGOISBLEEDING (@chuuzus) October 25, 2020
Elsewhere, Adele also fell victim to that classic SNL celeb guest pitfall, cracking up during one live comedy sketch:
Adele already in the Hall of Fame of #SNL breaks pic.twitter.com/1soFWX7p2u
— Jillian Sederholm (@JillianSed) October 25, 2020
It was a rare, very public showing for the reclusive star, who does virtually no press or public appearances outside of album promotion. Fans eager to follow her dramatic transformation over the past 12 months have only really seen the star via occasional photos posted to her Instagram account.
She’s certainly come a long way from her first Saturday Night Live appearance, as a musical guest way back in 2008:
RELATED: Adele looks stunning in SNL promo
The star revealed she’d be the host of SNL in an Instagram post just one week ago, saying she was “excited” but also “terrified” of the gig.
“My first ever hosting gig and for SNL of all things,” Adele wrote. “I’ve always wanted to do it as a stand alone moment, so that I could roll up my sleeves and fully throw myself into it, but the time has never been right.
“But if there was ever a time for any of us to jump head first into the deep end with our eyes closed and hope for the best it’s 2020 right?”
She added it had been almost 12 years since she first appeared on SNL, which was also during a US election. She said the appearance helped her break through in the US.