Add this to the list of our collective English failures of the past two decades: Americans have been mispronouncing Adele’s name all this time.
During I Drink Wine Happy Hour Q&A with his fans last week, the Grammy and Oscar-winning British singer revealed how to correctly pronounce his first name much to the surprise of netizens.
The clarification came in response to a songwriting question from a London-based fanwhich the “Easy on Me” crooner praised for nailing the correct pronunciation of her name when she greeted her, saying “Hi, uh-DALE.”
“Is she from Enfield or what?” I like this. She said my name perfectly! said the Tottenham-born singer. She then repeated the correct pronunciation a few times to moderator Benito Skinner as “uh-DALE” and “huh-dale” instead of “Ah-dell”.
Fans and critics on social media reacted immediately to the revelation. Some were “literally flabbergasted” others debated the nuances of English accents and others were completely indifferent.
“If it was pronounced Uh-dale, it would surely be spelled Adale,” said one. Tweeter.
“It’s such a mental story all over the internet lmfao. In the video, she literally says Adele in a London accent. It’s not ‘Uh-dale’ like all these articles suggest? What?” said another one.
“I don’t call it uhdale,” wrote another Twitter user.
The “Hello” and “Someone Like You” singer also prefers her mononym to her full name: Adele Adkins. The 34-year-old pop phenom dropped the use of her last name early in her career because she didn’t like how “dull” it sounded.
“I could never have used my last name,” she said YouTube Star NikkieTutorials last December. “Adele Adkins doesn’t have the same ring as Adele.”
During last week’s Q&A, the singer opened up about her creative process, her obsession with Wordle, her decision not to tour, and her plans. to take a break from music after his postponed residency in Las Vegas.
Here’s a look at some of the responses to the revelation of his name: