– “The fame I hate” Adele and the new superstar era
A few years ago, Adele once dressed up for a performance with facial prosthetics. At first glance, she was unrecognizable as a superstar, she called herself Jenny and performed at an Adele lookalike event. The other lookalikes only realized who they were dealing with when Jenny started singing and Adele’s unmistakable powerful voice echoed through the room.
This 2016 episode is typical of how Adele performed at the time: she seemed approachable and spontaneous, funny, smoking between songs at concerts, drinking and making jokes. Today, her performance looks different. Adele has a magnificent stage built in Munich for a series of 10 shows. She does not perform anywhere else in Europe – fans have to come to her. The press is not allowed to photograph her performances.
Superstars set their own rules
Adele’s concert series shows that superstars present themselves differently today. With rules that they set themselves and clear boundaries for the public. This also applies to Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. Swift is currently on a world tour, but has not given interviews for a long time. She dictates the conditions of her global fame herself.
Cyrus initially caused outrage when she said she was no longer touring because it was too exhausting. Instead, she gives concerts with selected guests at the “Chateau Marmont Hotel” in Hollywood, Los Angeles. “Singing in front of hundreds of thousands of people is not really what I love,” Cyrus told British Vogue.
Adele doesn’t like everything about her job either. “I hate being famous,” she said in an interview with the TV magazine “Kulturzeit” on 3sat. “My battery is pretty empty because I’m so sensitive and because I’m constantly on stage,” she explained, adding: “I don’t even sing at home, how weird is that?”
“No record company can force Adele to do anything”
Media and pop culture expert Jörn Glasenapp describes it like this: “I think that with the really big names you can say that they are no longer dependent on traditional media and therefore no longer have to play by their rules.” At the same time, she stresses that the superstars operate very differently. She says that she no longer has to “dance to the music industry’s tune.”
Her assessment is that the industry has changed in this area too – and that the big pop stars suffer less from gag contracts. “They are so big, these artists, Adele, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, etc. They can decide whether they go on tour or not. No record company can force Adele to do anything.”
If you look at the major artists, you see very different approaches. “And that proves – especially when we think of Miley Cyrus’ total refusal – that it seems to work and that it is individual decisions of the artists who say: ‘I’m doing this because I want to.'”
At the same time, superstars live in a world where there is much less privacy. When Adele, Swift or Cyrus were growing up, social media was not as omnipresent as it is today. It is understandable that stars want more privacy and control over the conditions of their performances – if they can afford it. Smaller celebrities often rely on concert revenues and usually interviews as well.
Between album releases, Adele often retreats from the public eye and stays off social media, as she told Time magazine in an interview. “Privacy is crucial to making a real album,” she said. “How am I supposed to write a real album when I’m waiting for a damn photo to get half a million likes?”
Mental health is the focus
Some musicians also withdraw to protect their mental health. For example, Selena Gomez, who said in an interview that she hasn’t been on the internet for over four years. “It has completely changed my life,” she said on “Good Morning America.” “I’m happier, I’m more present.”
She hasn’t been on tour for a while. “Nothing makes me happier than being on stage with my fans for 90 minutes and celebrating together,” Gomez said in another interview. But: “It’s very emotionally draining for me. And then you realize that you’re only surrounded by a lot of people that you’re paying.”
Mental health is now treated with much greater sensitivity and understanding. In the past, things were different: a memorable scene from the Netflix documentary about Robbie Williams stands out, where he recounts how he performed an entire concert during a panic attack. Today, stars are more open about their mental health problems. Adele, for example, once said that she suffers from seasonal depression.
Adele’s fans will surely have a great time at her concerts in Munich. Adele’s live performances are known for two things: lots of interaction with the audience – and a powerful musical force.
Adele’s concert in Munich will no doubt be an incredible spectacle, with the stars shining both on stage and among the audience, as the spotlight often falls on the ‘stars’ in their powerful performances. Additionally, superstars like Adele are increasingly setting their own stage rules to ensure their concert experiences remain unique and personal, just as the superstar artist carefully protects their mental health between album releases and retreats from the public eye when necessary.
