Adele opens up about her upcoming album and finding happiness

Adele is opening up about making her upcoming album and finding happiness.

The singer appears on the November 2021 cover of Vogue magazine, where she talks about returning to the studio to record her first album in six years.

“It’s sensitive for me, this record, just in how much I love it,” Adele said. “I always say that 21 doesn’t belong to me anymore. Everyone else took it into their hearts so much. I’m not letting go of this one. This is my album. I want to share myself with everyone, but I don’t think I’ll ever let this one go.”

She talked about going through a divorce, saying self-care and the work she put into making her new music have helped her deal with anxiety in recent years.

“It was a lot of sound baths. It was a lot of meditation. It was a lot of therapy. And a lot of time spent on my own,” Adele said of her efforts, adding time at the gym was also key. “It became my time. I realized that when I was working out, I didn’t have any anxiety. It was never about losing weight. I thought, If I can make my body physically strong, and I can feel that and see that, then maybe one day I can make my emotions and my mind physically strong.”

Adele filed for divorce from Simon Konecki in 2019. She and Konecki, who lives across the street from her in Los Angeles, share nine-year-old son Angelo.

Of the new album, she said she’s not quite sure she’d call it a divorce album.

“He’s not one of my exes. He’s the dad of my child,” she said of Konecki.

“I was just going through the motions and I wasn’t happy,” Adele explained of their marriage. “Neither of us did anything wrong. Neither of us hurt each other or anything like that. It was just: I want my son to see me really love, and be loved. It’s really important to me.”

She added, “I’ve been on my journey to find my true happiness ever since.”

Adele touched on some of the joy she has found with her new boyfriend, sports agent Rich Paul. The two were friends for some time before they started dating, she said.

“He was always there, I just didn’t see him,” she told Vogue over rounds of Aperol spritzes, revealing that the two met at a party a couple of years ago. “I was a bit drunk. I said: Do you want to sign me? I’m an athlete now. He’s just so f—ing funny.” And also: “He was dancing. All the other guys were just sitting around. He was just dancing away.”