Adele Needs Heartbreak to Write Music

Posted on Jan 24th 2011 12:15PM by James Lawrenson
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Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images

Adele has revealed that she cannot write music unless she is in a state of heartbreak.

Speaking to the Daily Mail about new album '21', she said: "My music is based on personal experience, so I have to live a little before I can write anything. It took a break-up to get me going. When I'm happy, I don't have much to write about."

Debut album '19' was about Adele's "first teenage love",where things didn't end so well, while '21' is about the break-up of her second serious relationship.

"He cheated on me, so ['19'] was a traumatic record. This time [on '21'], nobody did anything wrong. We just fell out of love with one another and I had to deal with the devastation of feeling like a failure because I couldn't make things work."

She added, "I felt bitter, and that inspired me. But the album isn't just me bitching about an ex-boyfriend. I've also written songs on which I'm trying to be honest about my own flaws.'

Adele has worked with Rick Rubin, the legendary bearded producer of the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy and, most famously, Johnny Cash's 90s renaissance, on four tracks for the new album.

"Working with Rick Rubin was daunting -- he made some of the records that defined my youth, like 'Californication' by the Red Hot Chili Peppers -- but he was lovely. I'm a control freak and I don't like spontaneity, but he made me go with my instincts and loosen up as I was singing."

Help came from a surprising corner when Adele was reeling from the shock of winning two Grammys in 2009.

"I met Robbie Williams shortly after and [he]... was brilliant. I was getting criticised for the first time, with people saying I only won because I'd been to the Brit School. They thought I'd been manufactured.

"He told me the prize was just a leg-up: it had put me in a position where people would listen. That helped."

Given that first single from '21,' 'Rolling in the Deep,' entering the UK charts at No. 2 on Sunday it looks like the heartbreak might be worth it.