The Secrets to Adele’s Success阿黛爾的成功秘訣

艾倫·克羅斯 趙晨輝

Adele， the most famous and successful mononymous1 person in music since Prince2， is having yet another moment.

Her 30 album， released in November 2021， set a pre-order record of more than one million on iTunes3. Sony， her label4， put in an order for 500，000 vinyl copies more than six months earlier in order to meet the expected demand. This exacerbated5 the already dire shortage of polyvinyl chloride thats been dogging the recorded music industry for the last 18 months. The gigantic order from Sony forced an untold number of other artists to seek pressing6 plants overseas， delaying their vinyl plans by months.

Her One Night Only TV special with Oprah Winfrey earlier that month （Nov. 12） drew more eyeballs than both the Grammys and the Academy Awards. We havent seen this kind of prime-time attention for a single artist since ABC-TV pre-empted7 prime-time programming for the debut of the Scream video from Michael Jackson back in June 1995.

The white pantsuit she wore for the interview is being hailed as a dress-for-power masterstroke by the chattering fashionistas. If youve stood in line at the drugstore recently， youll have seen her on the cover of half a dozen magazines looking quite glamorous.

When she does head out on tour， demand for tickets will be as high， if not more insane， than anything thats come before.

Adele is the biggest anomaly8 in all of recorded music today. Other than Taylor Swift （and perhaps BTS）， no one is able to move more physical products in an industry where 85 per cent of all revenues now come from streaming9.

Adele is the kind of artist we used to see in the pre-internet era when you could have a global consensus that someone was worth listening to. Its a sentiment that crosses all demos10.

She has a divine singing voice that seems at odds with her North London/Cockney accent. And yes， shes an accomplished songwriter who knows how to pick the perfect collaborators. Her record label gives her space and a chance to gather new experiences to sing about.

But I think the essence of Adeles popularity is simple. Shes just so bloody likeable.

Whenever the woman appears in public， shes a sheer delight， bubbly， funny， occasionally self-deprecating， and just profane11 enough to make you wish you could spend a night down at the pub listening to her tell stories. Even though shes sold over 120 million albums， her public image is one of a relatable12 human being. She comes off as familiar and fun in an intimate sort of way that few artists have ever achieved.

Shes so engaging that you dont even have to like her music to like Adele.

Heres something that hasnt been discussed much： Adele isnt about extending her brand through product endorsements and other non-music revenue streams. By sticking with just her music， she comes off as more authentic than all of her contemporaries who are shilling13 various products.

Another thing about The Adele Factor： We need to look at what was happening when she broke into the business more than a decade ago. Adele started her career right at the end of the CD era. Many who bought her first record were the kind of music consumers who purchased two or three CDs a year， usually at a department store or off the counter at a coffee shop. And when streaming took off， those early fans continued to prefer buying CDs， perhaps out of habit. Meanwhile， younger fans flocked to download her music from iTunes. （Hello， the first single from 25， sold a million digital tracks14 in a week back in 2015.）

Heres another thought： After 20 months of COVID-19， the world needs a hero（ine）， a good-humoured superstar who can bring everyone together. Maybe Adele is the one to do it.

繼普林斯之后，阿黛爾是歌壇最著名、最成功的歌手，單單提起“阿黛爾”這個名字，人們就知道是誰，現在她再次步入人生巔峰。

她的音樂專輯《30》于2021年11月發行，在iTunes上創下了超過100萬套的預購紀錄。過去18個月，聚氯乙烯的嚴重短缺一直困擾著唱片行業，阿黛爾簽約唱片的索尼公司為了滿足預期的市場需求，提前6個多月預定了50萬張黑膠唱片，加劇了這一困境。索尼公司的巨額訂單使無數其他歌手不得不到海外尋找唱片工廠，使他們的黑膠唱片生產計劃推遲數月。

那月早些時候（11月12日）， 她與奧普拉·溫弗瑞合作的電視特別節目《僅此一夜》比格萊美獎和奧斯卡獎吸引了更多的眼球。自從1995年6月美國廣播公司在電視臺黃金時段插播邁克爾·杰克遜《尖叫》的首發視頻，我們還沒有見過哪個藝人在黃金時段受到如此關注。

她在采訪中穿的白色衣褲套裝被喜歡評頭論足的時尚達人譽為穿衣打扮的杰作。如果你近來在藥店排過隊，你會在半打雜志的封面上看到她，樣子非常迷人。

她的巡回演出，門票需求之大不亞于過去任何一場演出，抑或更加瘋狂。

阿黛爾是當今整個唱片界最大的異類。在一個85%的收入來自流媒體的行業，除了泰勒·斯威夫特（或許還有防彈少年團），沒有人能夠比阿黛爾帶動更多的實體產品。

阿黛爾是我們在前互聯網時代看到的那種歌手，在那個時代，人們能夠達成一種全球共識，認為某人的歌曲值得一聽。她所有的樣帶都給人這種感受。

她有一副天籟嗓音，似乎與她的北倫敦/倫敦口音格格不入。哦，對了，她還是個才華橫溢的歌詞作家，且知道如何選擇與自己契合的合作伙伴。她的唱片公司給她提供了施展才華的空間，給她機會去搜集新的歌唱素材。

但我認為，阿黛爾受歡迎，道理很簡單：她實在是太可愛了。

每當出現在公共場合，她很招人喜歡，活潑又有趣，偶爾自嘲，順應世俗，讓你想整夜待在酒吧聽她講故事。盡管專輯銷量已超過1.2億張，她在公眾眼中卻是個很實在的人。她親切又有趣，平易近人，很少有藝人能夠做到這樣。

阿黛爾太迷人了！甚至你就是喜歡她，而不一定是因為音樂而喜歡她。

有一點尚未做太多討論：阿黛爾并不打算通過產品代言和其他非音樂收入來源來拓展自己的品牌。相較于同時代所有那些為各種產品代言當托兒的歌手，阿黛爾堅持只做自己的音樂，更為真誠。

阿黛爾成功的另一個因素是：我們需要看看十多年前她出道時這個行業正在經歷著什么。阿黛爾的音樂生涯始于CD時代末期。許多購買她第一張唱片的人是那種一年購買兩到三張CD唱片的消費者，他們通常在百貨商店或咖啡店的柜臺上購買。流媒體興起時，這些早期的粉絲仍然喜歡購買CD唱片，也許是出于習慣吧。與此同時，年輕粉絲們蜂擁至iTunes下載她的歌曲。（《你好》，這首來自專輯《25》上的第一首單曲，在2015年的一周內就賣出了100萬次。）

這里有另一種看法：新冠肺炎疫情已經持續了20個月，世界需要一個英雄，一個友好和善的超級巨星，從而能把所有人團結起來。也許，這個人就是阿黛爾。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者）

1 mononymous單名的;只說一個名字（而不是名字和姓氏）就知道是誰的。? 2原名普林斯·羅杰斯·內爾森（Prince Rogers Nelson，1958—2016），美國流行歌手、詞曲作家、音樂家、演員。? 3蘋果官方推出的數字媒體播放與管理應用程序。? 4 label唱片公司。? 5 exacerbate使惡化，使加劇，使加重。? 6 pressing同批次的模壓激光唱片。

7 pre-empt代替，取代（電視節目）。? 8 anomaly異常的人，非常規事物。? 9 streaming（音頻或視頻的）流動式接收，在線收聽（或收看）。? 10 demo（音樂的）試用版，樣帶。

11 profane世俗的。? 12 relatable可明白的，可理解的。? 13 shill（尤指假扮顧客）誘人購物。

14 track（光盤、錄音磁帶等上的）一首歌，一支樂曲。