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February 1, 2011

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A half an hour before her second album goes on sale in the United Kingdom, Adele is in a mellow state of mind.

"Everything's less frantic than it was the first time around," she says from her home in London, winding down after a night out with friends. The singer is referring to the promotion of her hit 2008 debut, "19," which, with worldwide sales of nearly 2.4 million copies, turned this recent graduate of London's BRIT School into one of England's brightest young pop stars. "I was nervous and uptight because it was all brand-new. The reception was so unexpected that everyone just sort of went along with it." She lets loose one of her frequent gut-deep chuckles. "Not that I'm saying I'm a professional now. But I've learned to sit down and enjoy it all. I feel more free than I ever have."

That sense of freedom is audible throughout "21," Adele's bold sophomore set, due Feb. 22 in the United States from Columbia Records. (It came out Jan. 24 in the United Kingdom.) Created collaboratively by a transatlantic dream team of A-list writers and producers including Rick Rubin, Paul Epworth, Ryan Tedder and Francis "Eg" White, it expands upon the delicate folk-soul sound of such "19" cuts as "Chasing Pavements" and "Hometown Glory" with headstrong forays into fiery disco-gospel, stomping blues and '70s-styled R&B.

This week the album's lead single, "Rolling in the Deep," debuted in the United Kingdom at No. 2 (ahead of Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" and behind Bruno Mars' "Grenade") on the Official Charts Co.'s singles tally; the groove-heavy kiss-off also soundtracks a fresh Nike spot featuring tennis star Maria Sharapova.

"As much as I love '19' -- and I do -- this is a giant leap forward for her," says Tedder, the OneRepublic frontman who's written and produced hits for Beyoncé ("Halo") and Leona Lewis ("Bleeding Love"), among others. "With a couple of exceptions, "19" was very subdued," Tedder continues. " '21' isn't."

"She's got a little more swagger now," adds Rick Krim, executive VP of music and talent relations at VH1. The network selected Adele as a You Oughta Know artist in 2008, and will premiere "VH1 Unplugged: Adele" on March 4. "A lot has happened to her since her first record, so you expect to hear some growth. The first single, it's just instantaneous -- it doesn't sound like anything on her debut."

A Master Plan

Born Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, the singer comes by that swagger honestly: In 2006, England's super-hip XL Recordings signed Adele on the strength of a three-song demo a friend of hers had posted on MySpace; within two years she'd won the BRIT Awards' Critics' Choice prize and been tipped by the BBC as the "Sound of 2008." In 2009 she beat out the Jonas Brothers (as well as fellow U.K. import Duffy) for the best new artist Grammy Award, and capped her world tour in support of "19" with a sold-out show at Los Angeles' 17,000-capacity Hollywood Bowl.

Adele says much of the inspiration for "21" came from the country and roots music she heard while on the road in America; she singles out Lady Antebellum and rockabilly pioneer Wanda Jackson as particular influences.

"She'd definitely been exposed to things that opened her eyes musically," says Epworth, who co-wrote and produced "Rolling in the Deep." "So much of the music from the United States over the last century was formed from various trials and tribulations, and I think that's reflected on Adele's record -- that she identified with these artists singing about their lives."

Virtually all of the album's lyrics refer to a single breakup Adele experienced between "19" and "21," often in disarming detail, as in the disc's hushed closer, "Someone Like You": "I heard that you're settled down/That you found a girl and you're married now," she sings, "I heard that your dreams came true/Guess she gave you things I wouldn't give to you."

"We didn't try to make it open-ended so it could apply to 'anybody,' " says that song's co-writer/producer, former Semisonic frontman Dan Wilson. "We tried to make it as personal as possible." He and Adele wrote together after being hooked up by Rubin, who has enlisted Wilson's services on other projects by Dixie Chicks and Josh Groban. "She may not have had a melodic hook or a specific lyrical idea," he says, "but she always knew what she wanted to say. She definitely had a master plan."

According to Adele's London-based manager, Jonathan Dickins, that emotional certitude is what has fueled the singer's success. "The key to great singers is believing every single word they sing," he says. "And I think you believe every word that comes out of Adele's mouth." "People feel like they can relate to her because she's relatable," XL chief Richard Russell adds. " 'Down to earth' is such an overused phrase, but it's never more applicable than it is to Adele."

Rubin says with characteristic Zen-like flourish: "You can feel her life force through her voice."

Old-School Approach

When Dickins began gearing up for the release of "21," one fact loomed larger than all others: the number of sophomore slumps littering the music-industry landscape. "And I don't mean a slump just in terms of sales," he says. "I mean, Is the artist still relevant? Adele's achieved that. She's made a great record that we're immensely proud of. And it's just another step in a long, fruitful career. Everything we try to do -- every decision -- is absolutely focused on the long term."

That's the strategy Dickins says Columbia took with "19" upon the album's American release, six months after its U.K. appearance. "When she won the BRIT Award and the BBC poll, what came with that [in England] was a tremendous amount of hype," he says. "But no one cares about the BRIT Awards in the U.S., so Columbia was brilliant in thinking, 'Right, OK, let's build this record at a grass-roots level.' It wasn't about flying the record out and going for the jugular. It was a slower process, looking for the right TV looks, building at triple A and hot AC, generally snowballing through multiple platforms. Consequently, people bought into her, not into a song."

"At the time we really had no other choice," Columbia chairman Steve Barnett says. "The American market is a world of niches, and Adele didn't fit perfectly in any of them -- certainly not at radio. But we knew people had to experience her, so we took an old-fashioned approach. She had to go out and play, and because she's so captivating, we felt that if we got the right TV opportunities, she'd be able to cut through."

The most important of those opportunities, Columbia senior VP of marketing Scott Greer says, was Adele's October 2008 appearance on "Saturday Night Live," in a highly rated episode that also featured a guest appearance by Sarah Palin. Dickins, who was in New York at the time, remembers going to bed after the "SNL" taping with "19" at No. 40 on the iTunes sales chart. By the time he'd woken up for an early flight back to London, the album had risen to the top 10; when he landed it was at No. 1.

Barnett says that the "long tail" sales theory fundamentally shaped the label's "21" campaign, which Greer describes as being "about building a critical mass throughout February in order to reach all those people who bought '19' over a span of 18 months." For help facilitating those connections, Columbia has sought support from "everywhere we had it in the first place," Greer says. "We had Adele [in New York] in September and went to some of our key partners" -- Vevo, AOL and VH1, among others -- "to play a few songs and say, 'Hey, I'm back!' "

In October the label took Adele to Minneapolis, where she performed for Target execs; according to Greer, the retailer is slated to sell a two-CD version of "21" that contains several live tracks, including a cover of Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now" that Adele and Darius Rucker performed on CMT's recent "Artists of the Year" special. The singer also performed Oct. 26 for an invite-only tastemaker crowd at Los Angeles' Largo.

The result of that advance work is a filled-up February: Adele is scheduled to appear Feb. 18 on "Today," Feb. 21 on "Late Show With David Letterman," Feb. 24 on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" and Feb. 28 on CBS' "The Early Show." Additionally, Greer says, "Rolling in the Deep" figures prominently in a scene in "I Am Number Four," a Michael Bay-produced sci-fi film due in theaters Feb. 18.

In the digital realm, Columbia senior VP of digital marketing Kathy Baker says Perez Hilton has mentioned Adele 10 times in the last three months. "No one can deny the reach he has," Baker says. "If someone doesn't know who Adele is, those multiple impressions could alter that." Adele's official site carried a live webcast of an acoustic concert the singer performed Jan. 24 at London's Tabernacle, and beginning Feb. 1, Baker says, the site will host a "21 Days of Adele" promotion with exclusive daily content including a live chat and a video of Adele explaining the inspiration for an album track. NPR Music is also set to stream "21" the week of Feb. 7 as part of its First Listen series.

Adele doesn't use Twitter; she says she was late to the social networking service and fears that if she started tweeting now, it would look like she was only doing it to promote her album. ("I also don't want to write, 'Oh, I'm on the toilet -- last night's dinner was really spicy,' " she adds. "That's just gross.") Baker says Columbia created an account for the singer anyway, which the label uses to push followers to Adele's blog.

At radio, "Rolling in the Deep" is shaping up to be a "slam-dunk," says Columbia VP of triple A and public radio promotion Lisa Sonkin, who adds that the tune has begun crossing over to a handful of modern rock stations, such as WFNX Boston. This week "Rolling in the Deep" is No. 2 on Billboard's Triple A chart and No. 26 on Adult Top 40.

"[Playing the song] was a no-brainer for us," says KCRW Santa Monica, Calif., music director Jason Bentley, whose station presented Adele's 2009 Hollywood Bowl show. "She's a core artist for us."

Sonkin says she's utilized Adele's real-life charm in the same way Greer has. "She sat down with Jess Besack at Sirius, who programs Spectrum," Sonkin recalls, "and after their talk, Jess looked at me and said, 'I wanna go out for drinks with her!' That makes a big difference."

The goal here is straightforward: "We want a No. 1 record," Greer says. Still, Barnett is quick to point out that Columbia's dedication to "21" extends far beyond the album's opening frame. He says he hears five singles and envisions working the disc at least through the 2012 Grammys.

To that end, Adele will spend much of 2011 on the road. European dates are scheduled for March and April, while Kirk Sommer, Adele's agent at William Morris Endeavor, says the singer will hit the United States in May and June, playing 1,500- to 3,000-capacity rooms. "We've done some underplays with a view to come back later in the year and play larger rooms," Sommer adds. "She's extremely versatile. On the last campaign she played some key major markets multiple times but made a conscious effort to change the format of the show when she returned."

The singer says she's looking forward to touring again, even if it means reliving on a nightly basis the painful experiences her songs depict. "That's really fucking hard," she says. "Toward the end of touring on '19' there were a couple of shows where I'd be singing 'Make You Feel My Love' and I'd just have to start thinking of Ikea or something." She laughs. "You have to switch off sometimes -- otherwise it's completely emotionally draining.

"Anything I find difficult, though, is completely thrown in the bin when I see how people respond to my music," she adds. "I love it when a wife drags her husband to a show and he's standing there like a lemon. You spend the whole night trying to win him over, and by the end he's kissing his wife. That's amazing."