Last week Adele's second album, 21, sold 257,000 copies in the UK, a sales figure that would look incredible as an opening sales week for any album by any global superstar. The fact that the album was celebrating its 10th week at No.1, and that each of the previous nine weeks it had sold over 100,000 copies, makes what Adele has achieved look miraculous. The last female singer to spend that long at No.1 in the UK was Madonna in 1990 with her greatest hits compilation, The Immaculate Collection.
For Adele, the success of 21 is part of a perfect storm of talent, timing and a connection that went beyond gender, age and credibility. But what does it say about the state of the music industry? Does Adele's success signal a return to the MOR(适合大众口味的音乐) musical depression, when the likes of James Blunt dominated the charts? Her success may well lead to a great many similar acts aiming for an MOR audience, but that's more the fault of an industry desperate to recreate any kind of success by creating poor copies until the world shouts "stop now".
What seems to have set Adele apart is her apparent ordinariness, besides that incredible voice. While Gaga parades around in a dress made of meat and Beyonce orbits a world out of touch to the majority of most human beings, Adele's chain-smoking, girl-you'd-like-to-go-to-the-pub-with persona stands out. Even for a British act, her ordinariness goes against trend, with fellow Jessie J adopting a very American habit of over-emoting, talking about a "journey" and making the idea of being a pop star seem fairly difficult.
It's this universality and broad appeal that's helped her translate talent into sales. While the first single from 21, Rolling in the Deep, appealed to Radio 1 listeners and bloggers, the second single, Someone Like You, is so successful that silenced the grand O2 Arena during this year's Brit Awards. The press can write pages and pages in that there's enough of a connection of musicians – Rick Rubin worked on the album, there's a cover of the Cure, Mumford & Sons were an influence – while the gossip magazines have been excited by the fact that the album is one long break-up record, eager to find the ex.
In 1990, Madonna was a global superstar with a back catalogue of era-defining hits to her name. She was untouchable and, tellingly, unknowable. She was (and still is) a megastar, but a megastar of a different age. These days, we want to know a bit more about our artists; that they have relationship problems, walk their dog. Her selling point and appeal is precisely the fact that she exists at the point between everyday ordinariness and pop star.
For now, Adele's success should be celebrated, especially for becoming an unlikely global star on her own terms. The danger is that we're headed for a lot of fairly boring pop, a situation that led to the "birth" of Gaga a few years back. Pop goes in cycles and it feels like we're headed back towards the very middle of MOR.
小题1:Adele’s achievement seems unbelievable for the reason that ____________.
A．the sales of her second album achieved an incredible success last week in the UK
B．her second album ranked first in a row with the incredible average sales per week
C．Madonna was the last female singer in the UK to stay at No. 1 as long as she did
D．she is such an ordinary singer with so fascinating a voice in the music industry小题2:According to the author, the success of Adele’s second album __________________.
A．to a large extent depends on her apparent talent for music
B．is because of her extraordinariness and the wonderful voice
C．lies in gift, timing and something beyond sex, age and trust
D．is largely due to the state of the music industry currently小题3:Compared with other female pop stars, what does the author think of Adele?
A．She stands out in a totally different way from Gaga and Beyonce.
B．She and Madonna are contemporary megastars in music.
C．Only she and Madonna spent that long at No.1 in the UK.
D．Jessie J and she both have an American habit of expressing themselves.小题4:What helped Adele successfully turned her gift of singing into sales?
A．Her musical talent.
B．The joint work of musicians in the album.
C．Her incredible voice.
D．Her universality and broad appeal.小题5:The author thinks that the current musical trend in the UK is _______________.
A．satisfying
B．disappointing
C．dangerous
D．desperate
