Adele has set record after record with her groundbreaking album, 30, but she revealed in a new interview that we never would have heard it had it not been for “Hotline Bling” rapper Drake.
Speaking to Rolling Stone on Thursday, the “Easy on Me” singer admits it was once very possible the album would have never seen the light of day because of its pandemic-related delays.
After 30‘s release was pushed back by over a year, Adele began flirting with the idea of never releasing it because it chronicled a set chronological point in her life — her divorce from husband Simon Konecki. The Grammy winner felt every delay further distanced her from that time, and another setback would cause 30 to lose its full emotional impact.
“If it wasn’t coming out now, I think I probably would never put it out,” Adele confessed. “I know I would’ve changed my mind and been like, ‘It’s moved on. Let’s start the next album.'”
Luckily, it didn’t come to that and we have Drake to thank for changing her mind.
“I had that conversation with Drake… He kept having to push his album [Certified Lover Boy] back,” she recalled. “Suddenly he just announced that it was out and was like, ‘I feel like I’ve been working on it for so long because I’ve been sitting on it.’ I feel a bit like that.”
“I couldn’t do that to this album. I feel like it deserves to come out,” Adele said.
30, which was finally released on November 19, 2021, is now the top-selling album in the U.S. and has set multiple streaming and radio records.
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