Adele tells Liz Hayes: ‘I didn’t believe in myself’

ADELE, who’s on track to become a billionaire by the age of 30, has revealed why she disappeared from the public eye.

WHEN Liz Hayes sat down with Adele, one of the most successful singers of our time, she wasn’t expecting such an emotional and candid interview.

The British singer-songwriter, who soared to fame after the release of her debut album 19 in 2008, has since landed an astonishing 10 Grammys, four Brit awards, an Oscar and a Golden Globe. She’s already on track to become a billionaire by the age of 30, but admits there’s never been a time that she hasn’t felt nervous or unsure of herself.

“There was quite a long period where I didn’t believe in myself,” the 27-year-old star told Hayes in the exclusive 60 Minutes interview. “I’m waiting for someone to send me back to Tottenham or something.”

Despite already having two hugely successful albums under her belt, and with her long-awaited third album, 25, released last week, the Rolling In The Deep singer said it’s only now that she feels like she’s taking control of her life. “For the first time in my entire life I feel like I’m dealing with myself,” she told Hayes, adding that she was an “emotional wreck” and was paranoid about disappointing her fans with her latest album.

Hayes, who spent several days with Adele in London while she was recording 25, says the young woman she got to know is incredibly hard on herself and felt immense pressure to succeed after taking several years off.

“She basically disappeared for about three years by her own choice after the album 21,” Hayes told news.com.au. “In that time she’s had a child and just really wanted to take time out ... I just think she felt very overwhelmed.”

25, the latest release by Adele.

The cover of Adele’s new single, Hello.

Adele’s years away from the spotlight coincided with an operation to remove a benign polyp on her vocal cords in 2011. The next year she made a spectacular comeback, winning an Oscar for her Bond theme song, Skyfall.

Hayes added: “Adele has struck success from the get-go and even she finds it hard to believe. She feels the pressure because she was so successful so early, she felt pressure to maintain great work and so that’s why she felt so very nervous about releasing this album, she was just so worried that it wasn’t going to be up to everybody’s expectations.”

The TV presenter said her time with Adele left her with no doubt that the singer is uncomfortable with the notion of being a ‘celebrity’.

“She’s the kind of artist who likes to try to maintain her authenticity. She likes to feel real, for want of a better expression, and that means she was quite uncomfortable with celebrity, so she quite deliberately took time out,” Hayes said.

“She’s been in the business now, full blown, for seven years or so but it’s been enough for her to realise what is important to her and I think being a celebrity is probably the last thing that she wants to be.

“She absolutely doesn’t feel comfortable being called a celebrity, because she just thinks she sings.”

Liz Hayes spent time with Adele in many of her favourite places throughout London.

The notoriously private star welcomed her first child, a boy named Angelo James, with partner Simon Konecki in 2012, but decided to keep her newborn baby’s name a secret from the rest of the world for several months.

Hayes said in the days she spent shadowing Adele in London, she never once met or discussed Angelo, now three years old.

“She’s highly protective of her son and she has actually taken legal action against the paparazzi in the UK and won damages. So she’s hugely protective of him, so much so that she doesn’t even want you to describe what he looks like.

“That’s the one very private part of her life that I think very few people will get access to, if she has her way.”

Adele opened up to Hayes about her love for her long-term partner, describing it as “the ultimate love story.”

“Being in such an amazing relationship with someone that’s so there for me and so loyal and is really part of my core now, that’s what made me write about everything I’ve ever done, because I’ve got his love,” she said.

“I know that sounds a bit like I’m trying to write a Hollywood movie but it’s only because of him and our kids and stuff that I’m all right,” Adele added of Konecki, 38, who has a daughter from his first marriage.

The international superstar served up an exclusive performance on Sunday night’s 60 Minutes, performing a previously-unheard song from her new album — a Tobias Jesso Jr. collaboration called When We Were Young.

Declaring it one of the more inspiring interviews she’s had the pleasure of conducting, Hayes described Adele as “a very funny young woman who laughs very easily,” adding, “it really is quite lovely to see, she’s easy to be around, she laughs easily and that’s part of the delight of Adele.

“She doesn't take anything for granted, she doesn’t for a minute expect that success is going o come her way. She isn't somebody at this point that just believes that she’s so good that it’s impossible for people not to want to listen to her music, so it is an extraordinary journey that she’s on and it's been a whirlwind.”

Despite having one of music’s biggest voices, Hayes says Adele is refreshingly irreverent and very candid.

Liz Hayes’ exclusive interview with Adele and her full performance aired 8.10pm, Sunday night on Nine’s 60 Minutes.