She was famous before her second album, too, oh yes. But nothing like 21, which has apparently managed to sell as many as 13 million copies, as of January 2012, worldwide!
“Never mind, I’ll find someone like you; I wish nothing but the best for you, too,” she sang and I don’t know if she found someone else like him, but she sure as hell found a good consolation, I would think.[break]
I can’t even imagine having the kind of money that Adele – or for that matter, many others like her who shot to fame – might have right now. And the fact that something as common as a breakup, but admittedly bitter too, could’ve ignited stardom for her is well worth marveling at.
And I wonder what her ex-boyfriend had to say to all this. Thanks to Google, it wasn’t difficult finding the answer to my question. I came across an article written around May 2011, titled “Adele’s Ex-Boyfriend Wants Money for Inspiring Album.” The title says it all.
And again, another article that came out around September 2011 read, “Adele Forgives the Ex-Boyfriend Who Inspired ‘21’.” Reading through it certainly made me think of Adele as being the bigger person, but who knows what Hollywood publicity stunt it might have been?
Getting your heart broken must be no fun, I presume. But if we can find solace in the fact that it may hone our potentials and inspire greatness, then I say breakups can’t be half as bad.
This is something I’ve been trying to convince my recently broken-up roomie. It’s been two weeks already and her staple diet consists of ice-creams, chocolates and all things that produce beta endorphins and her routine pretty much involves sitting in front of the idiot box all day long and wallowing.
She has actually taken sick leaves to deal with this distressing situation of hers.
Guys, take note. You apparently have the power to make such mystical and benign creatures as us feel this bad.
“You have to let me wallow it out,” she sighs when I try to convince her otherwise. So, after much speculation, I have finally come to the conclusion that she’s channeling her emotions the wrong way. If she were smart, then she would probably be writing songs and boy, the world would see a new Adele maybe.
Okay, that may be a little too farfetched. But I hope you get my point. Sadness has the capability to inspire greatness.
Let’s get back to our case in point – Adele. She could come up with a whole album, be it the satirical Rumor Has It, or the truly touching Someone Like You, all because of the range of emotions her breakup induced in her.
So one person and one breakup later, Adele was looking at the good life.
Adele was quoted as saying, “I can imagine being about 40 and looking for him again, only to turn up and find that he’s settled with a beautiful wife and beautiful kids and he’s completely happy... and I’m still on my own. The song’s about that and I’m scared at the thought of that.”
Now at least she can rest assured that even if she does end up a lonely cat lady, she’ll be opulent enough to do it in style and with panache.
I’m in no way trying to undermine the extremely talented Adele nor am I saying that breakups are something to be taken lightly. In fact, it’s wonderful how a multitude of emotions can be evoked by such an experience. Breakups must definitely not be easy: not for Adele, not for my roommate, not for
anyone else.
But the fact of the matter is that they are something that come and go. And though we may “know” it, we need to be able to deal with them constructively.
I say so with certainly because if my roomie decides to skip another day of life in the real world and live in the romantically distorted one, she’ll gain as many pounds as she’ll lose her ability to think rationally.
She submits herself wholly to Shah Rukh Khan movies and those lovey-dovey Bollywood numbers that capitalize on broken hearts. In one of such episodes, a mutual friend of ours wandered into our room and caught a glimpse of her crouched up on the sofa.
“What’s wrong with her?” he asked. Breakup! “Tell her to write a song,” he said very casually with that typical brutish, boyish but witty nature of his.
A disapproving stare later, he shared the famous tweet with me and said, “What! Haven’t you heard? Whoever broke Adele’s heart made her rich. So I’m just pointing out the potential here.”
Try as I might to have disagreed, I found myself agreeing with him. No, I didn’t seriously expect my roommate to be writing songs but I did want for her to find a better vent for all her emotions.
After all, if she’s feeling a havoc of emotions, then finding a way to make such strong ardor productive and to gain something out of it seems like a fair alternative to me. I mean, whoever said that the only way to “effectively” deal with a breakup was to sulk?
And clearly, taking breakups the Adele way seems to be more effective. So the next time your heart gets broken and you’re overcome by a rush of passion, make the most of that bitter sentiment and do something constructive with it.
I know – easier said than done. Especially since not all of us might have it in us to be overnight sensations. But I think it is well worth a shot. Don’t you?
Ayushma Basnyat is a student of Political Science at Thammasat University who enjoys exploring life and all that it has to offer.
Reflecting back