When it comes to modern singer-songwriters, few are as popular or successful as Adele.
Though most of us probably know already, Adele’s full name is Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, and she was born in 1988 in England.
The singer released her first album, 19, in 2008—and it was a huge success. It went platinum three times in the United States and a whopping eight times in the United Kingdom, but she didn’t stop there. After that, she followed that album with 21 in 2011.
Once again, the album was massively successful.
In both cases, the albums were dedicated to themes and topics covering what was happening in Adele’s life at those ages.
Although her songwriting has touched the hearts of millions of fans, it’s easy to forget that Adele was once trying to make a name for herself just like any other artist. In fact, her first album came out when she was only 19.
From the very beginning, one of the hallmarks of her style was her incredibly powerful and soulful voice, one that has a nearly operatic quality about it. While we mostly know Adele from her world-class recent performances, she’s been just as talented from the very beginning.
To prove the point, just consider a recently unearthed performance from Adele at the beginning of her career.
The video in question comes from Billboard and was originally recorded in 2008.
The song is “Chasing Pavements,” a song from her first album that she wrote after a bad breakup with a boyfriend.
Though the recorded version of the song is great as it is, this rediscovered video has Adele doing a live performance of it in the Billboard studio with a simple acoustic guitar backing. Although Adele is only 31 years old today, one of the more striking things about the video is just how young she looks!
Even though she’s a very young adult in the video, her voice is just as powerful as it ever was.
Although she has a very polished delivery on her albums, there’s something much more raw and electrifying in this live video.
In the verses, Adele sings gently and with a slight raspiness to her delivery. As soon as she hits the chorus, though, her voice sails up to high notes so easily and with so much power!
Although it’s not a huge arena performance, there’s something so intimate and revealing about this smaller version of a song that any Adele fan knows and loves.
While the video only has a few million views on YouTube, it’s been getting a second life from being shared around on Facebook.
After watching this video, we’re reminded of just how difficult it is to make it as an artist or a performer.
While we think of Adele as a relatively new star, the truth is that she’s been working hard at it for quite some time—and she has a one-in-a-million voice!
Not everybody has the raw ability and talent that Adele does, and even she has needed to work for a long time to achieve the visibility she has today. Fortunately, we still have videos like this one so we can look back on the journey.
Congratulations to Adele on all her success over the years! Be sure to watch the full performance in the link below:
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