When news broke that Adele's Grammy award-winning 21 achieved platinum status, I got really excited. The Spectrum's Editor in Chief Aaron Mansfield? Not so much.
"I just don't get Adele and Spongebob," he said as he retreated into his office, confused about our staff's continuous praise of the songstress and the TV show.
About an hour after I found out about Adele's achievement, I thought maybe I was overreacting. I wasn't a diehard Adele fan (although "Set Fire to the Rain" is still on constant rotation in my playlist), and I didn't want to look like the dreaded bandwagoner whose fandom is only determined by popularity rather than quality.
I slept on it and two days later, my feelings about the news didn't waver. Adele sold over 10 million copies of 21 in the United States and that is huge.
Appreciating the Diamond certification isn't about "getting" Adele. Selling that many copies of an album is almost unheard of in today's musical landscape where the terms "popularity" and "quality" are often seen as opposing attributes amongst fans and music critics. 21 is a tour de force that combines these two juxtapositions well enough to unify the divided musical fanbases andpush that many units.
This is doubly impressive in a time where an album's leak is more of an event than its actual release.
Also, consider this: 21 went diamond in 92 weeks. This is the fastest album to do so since the Backstreet Boys' Millennium (29 weeks) and NSYNC's No Strings Attached (43 weeks).
Yes, both albums took less than half the time it took 21 to achieve diamond status. But you have to realize a singer like Adele wasn't in style unlike the late '90s to early '00s boy bands. Adele is a plus-sized Brit who doesn't portray any sort of sexual prototype seen by many who rule the Billboard charts. And yet, 2011 was still hers. She ended up winning six Grammys in the 2012 ceremony.
Popular music is ruled by pop-synth dance anthems that almost sound more like Europop. Adele comes in and grabs our attention with soulful tracks. They were catchy and straightforward enough to grab the attention of the casual music listener, but emotional enough to break down even the most hardened person. A viral video surfaced of a male emotionally singing along with "Someone Like You" ... with a gun in hand.
She took over against Lady Gaga and her millions of fanatics and Rihanna, who's usually a mainstay on the charts. Adele managed to capture the imaginations and emotions of the American audience with 21 - and mind you, she's not even American.
Adele's sophomore success also solidifies her as mainstream music's most likeable artist. From your typical hip-hop faithful to the most avid gospel listener, I find it extremely hard to find anybody who's opposed to Adele's success.
Rihanna is going to have her followers, but the way she carries her tumultuous relationship with Chris Brown on her shoulders as well as her oversaturation of the market (she's released an album yearly since 2009's Rated R) can annoy others. Nicki Minaj's over-sexualization and transformation into a pop icon makes her a controversial figure.
A lot of popular artists are divisive. Adele's 21 proves she's one of the few who isn't. I feel the reason why she isn't is the quiet confidence she carries. There's a sense that she's singing strictly from the personal perspective and it takes a level of skill - a level of raw talent - to relate that to the audiences without sounding overly melancholic. Don't be fooled by her tears at the 2012 Grammys; that was a confident woman struggling to carry those six awards.
Even if you don't like Adele's songs, her achievement and what she represents is something that's easy to appreciate. The importance of Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen may be a bit harder to explain, though.
Email: brian.josephs@ubspectrum.com
