all of my relationships are more important to me than any tour I’ll ever do. If my relationship with Simon or my relationship with Angelo started to flounder a bit now, I would pull out of my tour. My life is more important to me than anything I’m doing because how the fuck am I supposed to write a record if I don’t have a life? If I don’t have a real life, then it’s game over anyway.”

fuckin’

ask why, during her onstage “chat” (her word), she refers to her songs as “miserable” when they actually are more reflective.

And Bette, who had been at Adele’s show at Staples the previous night, told me, “Adele’s voice is so beautiful, so flexible, and she can do anything with it. The main thing is she hits you where you live. She is utterly hilarious and her shows are a riot—not just because of the great music and musicianship but her complete connection with her audience and her ability to make them laugh and then turn around and reduce them to tears.”

me

She tells me she considers herself a “wailer” more than a singer,

Just imagine an annoying three-year-old who knows something’s wrong; it’s hell.”

We order no alcoholic beverages

We discuss her show and how she manages to make an arena seem intimate. She brings people up from the audience onto the stage for a hug or, in the case of the night before, a plug—when she brought up a drag-queen Adele impersonator named Delta Work, who shamelessly announced her own upcoming appearances to the audience.

The day after Adele’s second L.A. concert, on her day off, we meet in a private room at the Soho House for lunch. She arrives exactly on time, wearing a black tunic and gladiator sandals. Her hair is up and, once again, she’s makeup-free. She says she can’t drink caffeine anymore, orders a decaf latte and some avocado-on-toast sandwich situation, and shares my French fries. She checks her phone only once—to make sure her son is napping—and we talk for over two hours

“THERE IS SUCH A MASSIVE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT I DO FOR MY WORK AND WHAT I DO IN MY REAL LIFE.”

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born 28 years ago in Tottenham, London

According to Beyoncé, “It is so easy to talk to her and be around her. She’s funny as hell and her comebacks are legendary. The most beautiful thing about Adele is that she has her priorities straight. She is a gracious woman and the most humble human being I’ve ever met.”

I love being famous for my songs, but I don’t enjoy being in the public eye

“It’s probably from my upbringing. I come from a very big family of a lot of women who did everything on their own.” (Later, her manager, Jonathan Dickins—the only person she says she completely trusts besides her boyfriend—tells me, “I met her when she lived [in London’s Brixton] above a convenience store, next to a gas station, an

We walk into her large, private dressing room, and I note that she’s taller than I imagined—she tells me she’s five feet nine.

We talk about the U.S. presidential election. “We only know Trump from The Apprentice,” she says, “so we think a reality star is running for president. I just don’t think anybody should be building walls or shit like that right now. I think we need to look after each other. Everyone must vote.” She tells me how, when she couldn’t speak for seven weeks following vocal surgery in 2011, “I wrote everything down. Which is nice, because it was the beginning of my relationship with my boyfriend, and now we have a record of all that for our kids.” She adds that she and Simon are not married, and she doesn’t need it; she thinks having a child together is the bigger commitment. And in her “real,” non-work life, she is fiercely private and so protective of her son that, she says, “I’d sue the fuckin’ ass off anyone that comes anywhere near my child.”

“I COME FROM A VERY BIG FAMILY OF A LOT OF WOMEN WHO DID EVERYTHING ON THEIR OWN.”

The Vanity Fair Cover Shoot: Adele, the Queen of Hearts

. . . .

‘Fuck that, I ain’t hanging around with a fuckin’ bunch of mothers.’

We

“Actually,” she says, “I think it’s the bravest thing not to have a child; all my friends and I felt pressurized into having kids, because that’s what adults do. I love my son more than anything, but on a daily basis, if I have a minute or two, I wish I could do whatever the fuck I wanted, whenever I want. Every single day I feel like that.”

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Since her chart-topping coronation, the superstar singer has been determined to balance her real life with her record-breaking career. From behind the scenes of her world tour, she opens up about the challenges of motherhood, melancholy, and mega-stardom.