1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:16,360 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The Story about 2 00:00:16,360 --> 00:00:21,880 Speaker 1: Adele is a story about fear, fear of performing on stage, 3 00:00:22,200 --> 00:00:26,159 Speaker 1: fear of losing your voice, fear of dying young like 4 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: two of your idols. It's also a story about con 5 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:35,800 Speaker 1: artists and concealed weapons, about Michael Corleone and Tony Montana 6 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: and Dog Day Afternoons, and about how the criminal world 7 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: has repeatedly tried to cash in on the universal appeal 8 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,240 Speaker 1: of Adele. And this is because Adele makes great music, 9 00:00:50,000 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 1: Unlike that clip I played for you at the top 10 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 1: of the show. That wasn't great music. That was a 11 00:00:55,200 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: preset loop from my melotron called the Guns of Tottenham MK. One. 12 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:03,760 Speaker 1: I played you that loop because I can't afford the 13 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,800 Speaker 1: rights to grenade by Bruno Mars. And why would I 14 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: play you that specific slice of unrequited love cheese? 15 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 2: Could I afford it? 16 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:17,000 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 17 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: January twenty fourth, twenty eleven, And that was the day 18 00:01:20,959 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: that Adele released her sophomore album twenty one, a record 19 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: so impactful that it made her a new musical favorite 20 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: of millions around the world, not least of all the 21 00:01:33,120 --> 00:01:39,280 Speaker 1: felons and con artists who appropriated her fame on this 22 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: episode Felons, con artists, Corleone's Dead, Idols, Fear and Adele. 23 00:01:47,600 --> 00:01:48,680 Speaker 2: I'm Jake Brennan. 24 00:01:49,280 --> 00:02:26,520 Speaker 1: In this this Disgrace, I have Sydney Lumette's classic nineteen 25 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: seventy five film Dog Day Afternoon opens on a hot 26 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:34,400 Speaker 1: summer day in New York City. Construction workers talk shit 27 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:38,000 Speaker 1: while the sweat soaks through the backs of their t shirts. 28 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:43,399 Speaker 1: Neighborhood kids splash in a public pool. Fruit vendors, derelicts, 29 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:48,120 Speaker 1: and day traders all crowd the sidewalks, while stray dogs 30 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: root through the garbage. 31 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 2: In the street. 32 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: But then a car pulls up against the curb outside 33 00:02:54,960 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: the first Brooklyn Savings Bank, and inside the car are 34 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:04,680 Speaker 1: three men. The driver gets out, he paces nervously on 35 00:03:04,720 --> 00:03:09,280 Speaker 1: the pavement nearby. The bank's one security guard takes down 36 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: the American flag hanging outside the bank's door. 37 00:03:12,840 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 2: It's closing time. 38 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: The driver doubles back to the car. He leans into 39 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: the passenger window, speaking to the man sitting there. And 40 00:03:20,720 --> 00:03:24,760 Speaker 1: the man is Sonny played by al Pacino. And though 41 00:03:24,800 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: we can't hear what the two are talking about, we 42 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: can see the very clear emotion which takes over Paccino's eyes, fear. 43 00:03:35,600 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: Pacino's character is dreading what he's about to do, but 44 00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:43,120 Speaker 1: there's no turning back now. There are things he needs 45 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: in this life, and he has no other way of 46 00:03:45,680 --> 00:03:49,760 Speaker 1: getting them, or so he thinks. He's desperate, and he 47 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: has to move fast before that security guard locks the 48 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:57,680 Speaker 1: front door behind him. So he exits the car along 49 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,320 Speaker 1: with his accomplice sal played by John Because, and they 50 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 1: walk inside the bank and Pacino carries a long white 51 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 1: box with a bow, and no one knows that inside 52 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:12,600 Speaker 1: that box is a rifle. He anxiously looks around and 53 00:04:12,720 --> 00:04:18,359 Speaker 1: these employees, these tellers, the security guard, the manager, they're 54 00:04:18,440 --> 00:04:22,120 Speaker 1: all innocent. Pacino's character means them no. 55 00:04:22,160 --> 00:04:25,720 Speaker 2: Harm, and that's when the fear takes over. 56 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:31,080 Speaker 1: Watching this scene play out on our television in the 57 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:34,839 Speaker 1: comfort of her own home, Adele Lorie blue Atkins, otherwise 58 00:04:34,880 --> 00:04:38,320 Speaker 1: known simply as Adele, felt her pulse quicken. 59 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:40,040 Speaker 2: It didn't matter that. 60 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:42,640 Speaker 1: She'd seen this film, one of her favorites, more times 61 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,400 Speaker 1: than she could remember. Her response was always the same, 62 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:51,039 Speaker 1: because Dog Day Afternoon or al Pacino's performance in particular, 63 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: tapped into a universal fear that on some level is 64 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: always present within all of us, no matter the scenario. 65 00:04:58,279 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: It's the most primal of human and emotions. In fact, 66 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: do not be afraid is the most common phrase found 67 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,039 Speaker 1: in the Bible, in one form or another. And though 68 00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: we've been told not to be afraid for centuries, we 69 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:17,960 Speaker 1: still are you Me Pacino and Dog Day Afternoon and Adele. 70 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,760 Speaker 1: In twenty eleven, Adele became a once in a generation 71 00:05:22,839 --> 00:05:25,920 Speaker 1: phenomenon with the release of her sophomore album twenty one. 72 00:05:26,600 --> 00:05:29,279 Speaker 1: It entered the Billboard Album Chart at number one, where 73 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: it stayed for twenty four weeks, breaking the record set 74 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:36,600 Speaker 1: by Princess Purple Rain some twenty seven years prior. Now. 75 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:39,719 Speaker 1: While the album was at number one, three of its singles, 76 00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: Rolling in the Deep, Set, Fire to the Rain, and 77 00:05:42,720 --> 00:05:47,200 Speaker 1: Someone Like You simultaneously topped the hot one hundred, the 78 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: first time that had happened since the Saturday Night Fever 79 00:05:50,200 --> 00:05:54,520 Speaker 1: soundtrack way back in nineteen seventy seven. The album twenty 80 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,160 Speaker 1: one has since become the longest charting album by any 81 00:05:58,240 --> 00:06:02,040 Speaker 1: female artist, break the record held by Carol King's nineteen 82 00:06:02,160 --> 00:06:07,120 Speaker 1: seventy one album Tapestry. To date, Adele's twenty one has 83 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:12,120 Speaker 1: shipped seventeen million copies, by far the most of any 84 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,679 Speaker 1: album released this century, and at the time of twenty 85 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:20,320 Speaker 1: one's initial release, you could not escape Adele. Her songs 86 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:23,160 Speaker 1: were the most requested songs at karaoke bars, they were 87 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:26,720 Speaker 1: the most played at funerals if you got scared to 88 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:30,360 Speaker 1: get onto a plane. One survey showed that Adele's songs 89 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: were voted the best to calm your nerves and if 90 00:06:33,880 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 1: you couldn't sleep. Another survey showed that those same songs 91 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:42,680 Speaker 1: could cure insomnia. In Leeds, England, a seven year old 92 00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 1: girl miraculously woke from a week long coma when Rolling 93 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 1: in the Deep came on the radio. Adele's voice is 94 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:55,480 Speaker 1: there in life and in death, deep down in her subconscious, 95 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,560 Speaker 1: which makes sense because Beyonce once told. 96 00:06:58,320 --> 00:07:00,960 Speaker 2: Her, when I listened to you, I feel like I'm 97 00:07:01,000 --> 00:07:02,080 Speaker 2: listening to God. 98 00:07:03,160 --> 00:07:07,400 Speaker 1: Adele has one hell of a voice, like three dusty 99 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: Springfields all at once, a voice which Amanda Petrosich, writing 100 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,239 Speaker 1: in The New Yorker, once called perfectly imperfect and able 101 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 1: to betray its host frailty and by extension, her humanity. 102 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:24,960 Speaker 1: But Adele's universal appeal is more than the sound of 103 00:07:24,960 --> 00:07:28,840 Speaker 1: her voice, she is also incredibly relatable, and I'm not 104 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:32,560 Speaker 1: just talking about In her songs of heartbreak, defiance and empowerment, 105 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:36,600 Speaker 1: Adele has downright rejected the trappings of celebrity. 106 00:07:36,880 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 2: As she put it in her own words. 107 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:40,880 Speaker 1: I don't want to be some skinny mini with my 108 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,400 Speaker 1: tits out. And she said this with a speaking voice 109 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 1: that is the exact opposite of her perfectly imperfect singing voice. 110 00:07:48,960 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: Her thick Cockney accent comically emphasizes some of her favorite words, 111 00:07:53,320 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: like fucking kunt, many of which she repeated over and 112 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: over again in between songs while performing in a Glastonbury 113 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:06,480 Speaker 1: after being sternly warned by festival organizers to not do so. 114 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:10,440 Speaker 2: But this is who she is. Adele speaks like a. 115 00:08:10,480 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 1: Character in a Guy Ritchie film, and Ritchie's characters, like 116 00:08:14,800 --> 00:08:19,880 Speaker 1: Adele's beloved Alpacino in Dog Day Afternoon, are singular characters 117 00:08:19,880 --> 00:08:23,720 Speaker 1: in their own right, and they all share one common bond. 118 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:24,320 Speaker 2: With the rest of us. 119 00:08:25,400 --> 00:08:32,040 Speaker 1: Fear two thousand and seven, London, nineteen year old Adele 120 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:34,480 Speaker 1: clenched her fist into a ball and drew her arm 121 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: back and clocked her boyfriend in the face with a 122 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:41,400 Speaker 1: stiff right hook, everyone knocking back pints inside the pub. 123 00:08:42,000 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: They were stunned, not least of which was the boyfriend, 124 00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: who is now reeling in pain and confusion. Adele, on 125 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: the other hand, was not confused, nor was she concerned 126 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: with keeping up appearances among a room full of buzz 127 00:08:54,880 --> 00:08:58,520 Speaker 1: twenty somethings. She was seething over a relationship which I 128 00:08:58,679 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 1: quickly deteriorated in to a living hell. She was catching 129 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,079 Speaker 1: unwanted attention from the pub's bouncers, and now she was 130 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: running her feet slammed rhythmically on the sidewalk of Tottenham 131 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:13,920 Speaker 1: Court Road. She was sure the bouncers were hot on 132 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: her trail. Any minute, they'd catch up to her and 133 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,080 Speaker 1: hold her till the cops came. She assaulted a man 134 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:22,760 Speaker 1: in front of a crowd, not that the guy wasn't 135 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,359 Speaker 1: an asshole and didn't have it coming, because. 136 00:09:25,120 --> 00:09:26,400 Speaker 2: He was, and he did. 137 00:09:27,080 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: But there was no reality in which Adele didn't punch him. 138 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: She'd grown up tough, raised by a single mother, first 139 00:09:34,640 --> 00:09:37,720 Speaker 1: in Tautenham, a London neighborhood with a high rate of poverty, 140 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:41,480 Speaker 1: gang violence and crime, and then in Brixton, the place 141 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,240 Speaker 1: the clash once told you about and when they kick 142 00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,760 Speaker 1: at your front door, how you gonna come? Adele was 143 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: going to come with a fist to the face, and 144 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:54,760 Speaker 1: somewhren't so lucky like Avril Johnson, sister of reggae star 145 00:09:54,880 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: Tippa Irie, who was murdered inside her Brixton home in 146 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,560 Speaker 1: front of her children same year that Adele and her 147 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: mother moved to town. The gangs of Adele's childhood would 148 00:10:05,520 --> 00:10:08,079 Speaker 1: give her the idea for the song title rolling in 149 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:11,559 Speaker 1: the Deep. To roll deep, to roll with the crew, 150 00:10:12,080 --> 00:10:14,280 Speaker 1: with people who have your back and your time of 151 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 1: need was a necessity of London's criminal underworld. Tonight, however, 152 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: Adele had no crew, just yourself, haul and ass down 153 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,280 Speaker 1: on London Street in the dark, and she soon realized 154 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: that no one was chasing her after all, the no 155 00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:33,079 Speaker 1: bouncers from the pub, no soon to be ex boyfriend. 156 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 1: She was the one doing the chasing, although she was 157 00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: chasing nothing, just the ground beneath her feet. The events 158 00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:46,280 Speaker 1: of that night became the inspiration for Chasing Pavements, Adele's 159 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: second single from her debut album nineteen, name for the 160 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: age she was when she made it. The song was 161 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:58,360 Speaker 1: an unexpected success, leading to numerous Grammy nominations and her 162 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:03,200 Speaker 1: performance on Saturday Night Line. Only years earlier, Adele had 163 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 1: been a student at London's Britz School, the same performing 164 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,199 Speaker 1: arts high school attended by one of her many inspirations, 165 00:11:09,640 --> 00:11:14,520 Speaker 1: Amy Winehouse. From there it was a blur. Her songs 166 00:11:14,559 --> 00:11:18,000 Speaker 1: went up on MySpace, multiple record labels emailed. A record 167 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 1: deal with Excel Records soon followed, and suddenly Adele was 168 00:11:21,960 --> 00:11:24,559 Speaker 1: doing what she dreamed about doing since she was a kid. 169 00:11:25,120 --> 00:11:28,760 Speaker 1: But it didn't come easy from the jump. Adele was afraid. 170 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 1: For one, she had terrible stage frame. Projectile vomiting prior 171 00:11:33,960 --> 00:11:37,760 Speaker 1: to a show was not uncommon in Amsterdam. She once 172 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 1: tried to escape out of a fire exit just so 173 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: she could avoid facing the crowd she was to perform 174 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:46,680 Speaker 1: in front of. And as she became more famous, however. 175 00:11:46,880 --> 00:11:48,880 Speaker 2: The fear evolved. 176 00:11:49,280 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: In twenty eleven, the year of twenty one, the year 177 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:55,040 Speaker 1: she released what would become the biggest album of the 178 00:11:55,040 --> 00:12:00,000 Speaker 1: twenty first century, she was afraid of something much more profound, 179 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:02,920 Speaker 1: worried that the more famous she got, the more out 180 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:07,800 Speaker 1: of touch she would become, and thus her life experiences 181 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:11,400 Speaker 1: would no longer be the life experiences of her audience. 182 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,880 Speaker 1: She feared she would no longer be relatable, and that 183 00:12:15,960 --> 00:12:20,280 Speaker 1: wasn't all. Two things happened that year in quick succession. 184 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,640 Speaker 1: The first led to the fear that she would never 185 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:27,720 Speaker 1: be able to sing again, but the second that had 186 00:12:27,720 --> 00:13:01,280 Speaker 1: her fearing for her own life. Albat made it look easy, 187 00:13:02,679 --> 00:13:06,199 Speaker 1: sitting there in his brown college boy jacket, getting comfortable 188 00:13:06,200 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: in the black leather chair, beginning to understand the true 189 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: nature of his character, Michael Corleone. He wasn't a loud 190 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:16,439 Speaker 1: mouth or a hothead like his brother's Sonny played by 191 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:19,720 Speaker 1: Jimmy Kahn, and he wasn't as transparent as the Corleone's 192 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 1: family attorney Tom Hagen played by Robert Duval. But as 193 00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:28,120 Speaker 1: Cohn and Duval paced the dimly lit room, mahogany tables, 194 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: hardwood floors, and arguing about what to do with this 195 00:13:31,120 --> 00:13:34,880 Speaker 1: dirty cop McCluskey, protector of the narcotics man who had 196 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:40,520 Speaker 1: put their pops in the hospital, Paccino was slowly methodically turning. 197 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,520 Speaker 1: He was the dark horse, the silent type, the one 198 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 1: you never saw coming. Al Pacino, as Michael Corleone was 199 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 1: getting ready to push past his own fears such as 200 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:55,600 Speaker 1: what would happen to him if he joined the family business, 201 00:13:56,080 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: how would change him? And what would he have to do? 202 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: And there was only one way to find out, only 203 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: one way through. Fear was not an option. Fear was 204 00:14:07,760 --> 00:14:11,520 Speaker 1: the mind killer. From a couch across the room facing 205 00:14:11,559 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 1: the television set, Adele leaned in the pivotal scene from 206 00:14:16,400 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: one of her favorite films, The Godfather, played out on 207 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:23,960 Speaker 1: the screen. But Sheino was so good, so tough. He 208 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,320 Speaker 1: was our guy, and the way he was able to 209 00:14:26,360 --> 00:14:30,600 Speaker 1: subtly show how his character conquered his fears was truly inspiring. 210 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,080 Speaker 1: These crime films that Adele loved, the crime films that 211 00:14:35,120 --> 00:14:39,640 Speaker 1: were universally loved. They served more than one purpose. They 212 00:14:39,640 --> 00:14:42,520 Speaker 1: were a source of comfort when Adele wanted to curl 213 00:14:42,640 --> 00:14:46,640 Speaker 1: up and shout out the world and escape into great storytelling. 214 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:50,320 Speaker 1: And that's something we can all relate to. But there 215 00:14:50,360 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 1: was something else as well these movies, especially when it 216 00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:59,360 Speaker 1: came to scenes like this. These films, these performances, could 217 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: give you the strength and the tools to overpower fear 218 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 1: before the world, with its teeth and its insatiable appetite, 219 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:15,760 Speaker 1: overpowered you. July twenty third, twenty eleven, Andrew Marris, Amy 220 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,240 Speaker 1: Winehouse's bodyguard, checked in on his employer at around ten 221 00:15:19,280 --> 00:15:22,560 Speaker 1: in the morning. He found her laying on her bed, 222 00:15:22,800 --> 00:15:26,440 Speaker 1: unconscious at her home in Camden, North London. She'd been 223 00:15:26,520 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: up late the night before drinking, and it wasn't unusual 224 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,040 Speaker 1: for Amy to be passed out till midday, so Mars 225 00:15:33,080 --> 00:15:35,840 Speaker 1: let her sleep it off. Five hours later. 226 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:38,160 Speaker 2: However, at three in the afternoon, he. 227 00:15:38,160 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: Decided to check in on her again, and there she 228 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:46,040 Speaker 1: was still on the bed, still unconscious, still in the 229 00:15:46,080 --> 00:15:50,920 Speaker 1: same exact position as before. This now struck Mars as odd. 230 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,120 Speaker 1: He ran to her side. She wasn't breathing, she had 231 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,440 Speaker 1: no pulse. Mars picked up the phone and called for 232 00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:03,760 Speaker 1: an ambulance. Shortly thereafter, Amy Winehouse would be declared dead. 233 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: She was twenty seven years old. It would be months 234 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 1: before an official inquest would find that Amy Winehouse died 235 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:17,520 Speaker 1: from misadventure caused by high alcohol consumption. But misadventure wasn't 236 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:18,360 Speaker 1: the only. 237 00:16:18,120 --> 00:16:19,920 Speaker 2: Thing that killed Amy Winehouse. 238 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:23,440 Speaker 1: Adele, for one, was well aware. 239 00:16:23,120 --> 00:16:24,160 Speaker 2: Of this fact. 240 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:29,520 Speaker 1: News of Amy's death hit Adele particularly hard. She was sad, 241 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:32,080 Speaker 1: and she was pissed, and she was as she. 242 00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 2: Put it, offended. Amy had gone to the brit school, 243 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 2: just like Adele. 244 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:39,640 Speaker 1: She was the reason Adele began to play guitar in 245 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: the first place, the reason why Adele found the courage 246 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:46,600 Speaker 1: to write and sing her own songs, and now, ironically, 247 00:16:47,040 --> 00:16:50,880 Speaker 1: Amy was gone in the exact same year that Adele 248 00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:54,240 Speaker 1: was breaking records and dominating the charts with her album 249 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: twenty one. The reason that Adele was offended by Amy's 250 00:16:58,240 --> 00:17:01,240 Speaker 1: death was because the public had done their part to 251 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:06,200 Speaker 1: do her in Amy's drinking, her drug use, her erratic behavior. 252 00:17:06,400 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: It all played out in slow motion in the pages 253 00:17:08,960 --> 00:17:12,040 Speaker 1: of the press and in posts on social media, like 254 00:17:12,080 --> 00:17:15,000 Speaker 1: a car wreck that everyone pumped the brakes to watch 255 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:18,360 Speaker 1: as they passed by. If the public hadn't been given 256 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:22,480 Speaker 1: such intimate, always on access to every single choice, Amy 257 00:17:22,520 --> 00:17:26,960 Speaker 1: Winehouse made every mistake. If there wasn't this collective need 258 00:17:27,080 --> 00:17:30,359 Speaker 1: to watch a celebrity struggle and to comment on it, 259 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,240 Speaker 1: to share it, to retweet it, well, it begged the 260 00:17:33,320 --> 00:17:38,159 Speaker 1: question would Amy still be alive? It was impossible for 261 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:42,080 Speaker 1: Adele not to imagine that she was next, That fame 262 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:45,040 Speaker 1: and fate were nothing but a pattern in search of 263 00:17:45,080 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 1: the next tragic figure to fit their mold. Paris, the 264 00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:54,680 Speaker 1: massive world tour for twenty one had just begune when 265 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:59,080 Speaker 1: Adele felt something in her throat pop. She ended the 266 00:17:59,119 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: show that night more than a little concerned. She'd been 267 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:05,840 Speaker 1: singing for nearly a decade since she was fourteen years 268 00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:10,359 Speaker 1: old and had never experienced anything like this before. She 269 00:18:10,440 --> 00:18:13,000 Speaker 1: hopped the plane to London, where the next day her 270 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,280 Speaker 1: doctor told her it was a cute laryngitis and she 271 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: needed rest. Two weeks later she resumed the tour, which 272 00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,760 Speaker 1: eventually made its way to the United States. And then 273 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:28,360 Speaker 1: it happened again, only this time it wasn't laryngitis. This 274 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:32,639 Speaker 1: time a blood vessel on her vocal cord burst. She 275 00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:35,680 Speaker 1: gave it another couple of weeks and let the hemorrhage heal, 276 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:37,320 Speaker 1: and then went back at it. 277 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 2: But it kept happening. 278 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:45,439 Speaker 1: Her voice, that incredible voice, it kept giving out. The 279 00:18:45,480 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 1: media and the internet took notice and sharpened their knives. 280 00:18:49,560 --> 00:18:52,560 Speaker 1: She was a smoker, She was a drinker. She was 281 00:18:52,600 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: a loud talker and even a loud cackler. We've seen 282 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: this one before. It's Amy two point zero, another wildly 283 00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 1: talented British singer running her god given instrument ragged. Adele 284 00:19:05,600 --> 00:19:09,120 Speaker 1: wasn't listening to what was being said about her online. Instead, 285 00:19:09,280 --> 00:19:11,760 Speaker 1: she was listening to the advice of other singers who 286 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:16,520 Speaker 1: had gone through similar problems, veterans like Roger Daltrey, Stephen Tyler, 287 00:19:16,600 --> 00:19:20,200 Speaker 1: and Elton John, even younger singers like John Mayer, all 288 00:19:20,280 --> 00:19:23,360 Speaker 1: of whom had undergone cutting edge throat surgery to salvage 289 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: their voices and keep their jobs and so. On November three, 290 00:19:27,840 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: twenty eleven, coincidentally, the same week the twenty one returned 291 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:34,520 Speaker 1: to the number one spot on the Billboard album chart, 292 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:39,400 Speaker 1: Adele canceled all performances and went under the knife at 293 00:19:39,480 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: mass General Hospital in Boston. 294 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:43,679 Speaker 2: Actually it was a. 295 00:19:43,720 --> 00:19:47,320 Speaker 1: Laser, not a knife, which the world renowned throat surgeon 296 00:19:47,359 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: Steven's I tells used to remove a polyop that had 297 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:53,680 Speaker 1: been plaguing Adele's vocal cord and then for months after, 298 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:59,400 Speaker 1: Adele's future was uncertain. For five weeks she was unable 299 00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:02,879 Speaker 1: to talk, five long weeks in which she wondered what 300 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: her voice would sound like when it returned, what if 301 00:20:06,119 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: she would never be able to sing like she used to, 302 00:20:08,880 --> 00:20:12,480 Speaker 1: or if she couldn't sing at all, but every inkling 303 00:20:12,520 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 1: of self doubt melted away. Months later, on February twelve, 304 00:20:16,600 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: twenty twelve, when Adele made her long away to return 305 00:20:20,320 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: to performing at the fifty fourth Annual Grammy Awards ceremony. 306 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:25,119 Speaker 2: In Los Angeles. 307 00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:28,359 Speaker 1: Not only did she take home seven awards that night, 308 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:31,680 Speaker 1: including Album of the Year, but she performed Rolling in 309 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:35,520 Speaker 1: the Deep, and she killed it. Her post surgery voice 310 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:39,760 Speaker 1: was not only strong, it had actually gained some upper range. 311 00:20:40,200 --> 00:20:43,399 Speaker 1: It was like the Adele everyone already knew, only better. 312 00:20:44,840 --> 00:20:48,959 Speaker 1: But despite her rousing performance in all her trophies, Adele 313 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:53,560 Speaker 1: was upstaged that night by tragedy. The price of fame, 314 00:20:53,960 --> 00:20:57,280 Speaker 1: which Amy Weinhouse had so sorely paid the previous year, 315 00:20:58,040 --> 00:21:03,360 Speaker 1: was now hanging over the Staples Center like a ghost. 316 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: The Beverly Hilton Hotel Sweet four thirty four, the portraits 317 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: of Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando hanging on the walls, 318 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:17,919 Speaker 1: surveyed the room in silence. Trays of uneaten food, opened 319 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:22,240 Speaker 1: bottles of champagne, the remaining contents now warm and flat. 320 00:21:23,160 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 1: In the bathroom, prescription bottles of Xanax and muscle relaxes 321 00:21:27,640 --> 00:21:32,000 Speaker 1: on the counter next to them a spoon for cocaine, 322 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:36,560 Speaker 1: and there in the bathtub, submerged under six inches of water, 323 00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: the body a forty eight year old Whitney Houston. Whitney 324 00:21:43,280 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: never made it to the Grammys that night. She didn't 325 00:21:45,880 --> 00:21:47,639 Speaker 1: even make it to the pre party thrown by her 326 00:21:47,680 --> 00:21:51,560 Speaker 1: mentor arist the Records founder Clive Davis, the day before 327 00:21:51,600 --> 00:21:55,240 Speaker 1: the Grammys. It was on that day that a combination 328 00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:59,679 Speaker 1: of cocaine, prescription drugs, and heart disease contributed to Whitney 329 00:21:59,720 --> 00:22:04,000 Speaker 1: Houston and sudden death. The Grammy Awards became a more 330 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: solemn affair. The bright victories were tinted with a touch 331 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 1: of darkness, and Adele's incredible performance took on greater meaning. 332 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,720 Speaker 1: Rolling in the Deep wasn't just a kiss off to 333 00:22:16,800 --> 00:22:19,959 Speaker 1: an ex. It was a kiss off to the mold, 334 00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:23,439 Speaker 1: the press, the public. They weren't going to run her 335 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:24,840 Speaker 1: into the ground like they did. 336 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:26,520 Speaker 2: Whitney or Amy. 337 00:22:26,760 --> 00:22:29,919 Speaker 1: Soon, Adele would give birth to her son, who she 338 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:33,000 Speaker 1: had with her boyfriend at the time, an investment banker 339 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 1: turned charity CEO named Simon Kanecki, and she had a 340 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:44,720 Speaker 1: family to protect, so she shifted into paccino mode. Imagine 341 00:22:44,720 --> 00:22:48,640 Speaker 1: if you will, Adele sitting in that black leather chair 342 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,919 Speaker 1: in that dimly lit room with its mahogany tables and 343 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,879 Speaker 1: hardwood floors, And just like al Pacino, just like Michael Corleone, 344 00:22:58,359 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: Adele pushed through the fear. She locked down her private life. 345 00:23:04,040 --> 00:23:07,359 Speaker 1: She locked herself in her house so that the paparazzi 346 00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:11,240 Speaker 1: couldn't reach her, and she became her own unreliable narrator. 347 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:14,439 Speaker 1: She did this by feeding little lies to those in 348 00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,359 Speaker 1: her inner circle on purpose, in order to see who 349 00:23:18,440 --> 00:23:22,280 Speaker 1: was talking to the press. It's a gangster move, and 350 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: the gangster knows that if she tells one person a 351 00:23:25,800 --> 00:23:28,800 Speaker 1: lie and that lie ends up in the papers, then 352 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:33,160 Speaker 1: that gangster knows exactly who betrayed her, And so then 353 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:38,119 Speaker 1: Adele would unceremoniously cut them loose from her life. It 354 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: wasn't easy watching someone you thought you trusted to go 355 00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:43,480 Speaker 1: off behind your back like that, but it made it 356 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,080 Speaker 1: a lot easier to let them go, knowing that by 357 00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:49,600 Speaker 1: doing so, you added one more additional layer of protection, 358 00:23:50,720 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 1: more protection than Amy Winehouse or Whitney Houston had. But 359 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: the more those layers of protection were applied, harder it 360 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: was to be in the outside world the less relatable 361 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:09,000 Speaker 1: Adele feared she would become, and that was the fear 362 00:24:09,080 --> 00:24:13,040 Speaker 1: that was it. That fear remained after all these years 363 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:18,399 Speaker 1: as one of Adele's greatest fears, that she would become unrelatable. 364 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 1: The grandiose houses, the multiple awards, the money, the fame. 365 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,200 Speaker 1: Adele was a long way from the mean streets of Taughtenham, 366 00:24:26,440 --> 00:24:29,879 Speaker 1: and she knew it. The challenge now was to remain 367 00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: relatable with those streets, with any street anywhere in the world. 368 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:38,800 Speaker 1: And after four years of working on new music, after 369 00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:43,080 Speaker 1: much anticipation from her fans after the smashing success of 370 00:24:43,119 --> 00:24:47,439 Speaker 1: twenty one, Adele returned at last with a song that 371 00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:53,320 Speaker 1: was so authentic and so relatable that it was downright criminal. 372 00:24:58,480 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: We'll be right back, We're. 373 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:09,919 Speaker 2: We're, We're okay. 374 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,520 Speaker 1: This next line, it's just begging me to do a 375 00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:18,560 Speaker 1: cheap Tony Montana from Scarface impersonation. But I'm not gonna 376 00:25:18,600 --> 00:25:23,520 Speaker 1: do that. Okay. Just picture picture Al Pacino as Tony Montana, 377 00:25:24,080 --> 00:25:26,240 Speaker 1: and he's sitting there and he gives you the line 378 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:27,320 Speaker 1: you want to fuck with me? 379 00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:29,360 Speaker 2: Okay, you cockroaches? 380 00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:35,440 Speaker 1: And now picture Tony Montana high on cocaine and sweating 381 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:40,160 Speaker 1: through his black soup with trembling hands. He's hastily assembling 382 00:25:40,200 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: his grenade launcher inside his office suite, his bugged out eyes. 383 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,959 Speaker 1: They're alternating between the weapons intricate design and a series 384 00:25:48,960 --> 00:25:52,719 Speaker 1: of closed circuit television sets, and they play out a 385 00:25:52,800 --> 00:25:58,560 Speaker 1: disturbing scene these TVs. It's armed men. They've invaded Tony's 386 00:25:58,560 --> 00:26:01,480 Speaker 1: mansion and they're coming up up the blood red staircase 387 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 1: where they're now waiting on the other side of the door. 388 00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: And that door, that door is the only thing separating 389 00:26:08,560 --> 00:26:12,800 Speaker 1: Tony Montana between life and here and death out there. 390 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: And so he says, you want to play games, okay. 391 00:26:18,320 --> 00:26:21,680 Speaker 1: Tony's now facing the door in a battle stance with 392 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,360 Speaker 1: his knees bent and the fear it's inverted. 393 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 2: He was fear. 394 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,119 Speaker 1: Now Tony Montana. He's holding the grenade launcher in his 395 00:26:33,359 --> 00:26:38,239 Speaker 1: very capable hands, slung down low at hip level, and 396 00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: he's ready to fire off at anyone who dares step 397 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: inside his private residence. And with a roar, he shouts, 398 00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:50,919 Speaker 1: you guys know the line, say hello to my little friend. 399 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:58,920 Speaker 1: Watching this all unfold on the television, adele Letlosa laugh 400 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:02,199 Speaker 1: as explosively as one of Tony Montana's grenades as she 401 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,359 Speaker 1: watched Al Pacino as the Cuban drug lord in Brian 402 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:09,920 Speaker 1: De Palma's film Scarface. It was twenty fifteen, and Adele 403 00:27:10,080 --> 00:27:13,120 Speaker 1: was doing what she did every time she was overwhelmed 404 00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:17,119 Speaker 1: in what she called a tsunami of emotions. She was 405 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:21,280 Speaker 1: binging her favorite crime films, something to soothe the anxiety 406 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:25,919 Speaker 1: surrounding the impending release of her third studio album, twenty five. 407 00:27:26,840 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: The process to follow up the smash hit twenty one 408 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:33,159 Speaker 1: had been a labored one, beset with writer's block and 409 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:37,920 Speaker 1: crushing doubts. Though, when Adele began to collaborate with producer 410 00:27:38,000 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: Greg Kursten, known at the time for his work with Sea, 411 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:46,000 Speaker 1: Kelly Clarkson and Lily Allen, among others, the creative floodgates opened. 412 00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:50,280 Speaker 1: Writing the perfect Adell song, however, proved harder. 413 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:51,080 Speaker 2: Than it had been before. 414 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:54,520 Speaker 1: The music had to feel as authentic and direct as 415 00:27:54,560 --> 00:27:57,800 Speaker 1: it had in the past. A full six months passed 416 00:27:57,840 --> 00:28:01,159 Speaker 1: between when Adele and Kirsten wrote the verses for twenty 417 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:02,399 Speaker 1: five's lead single. 418 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,119 Speaker 2: Hello and when they wrote it's. 419 00:28:04,040 --> 00:28:08,840 Speaker 1: Cathartic chorus, but their patients paid off, as did the 420 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:12,760 Speaker 1: patients of Adele's fans, because when the song Hello was 421 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:17,679 Speaker 1: released in October of twenty fifteen, the world starved for 422 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:21,639 Speaker 1: new Adele material for years. Ate it up and the 423 00:28:21,680 --> 00:28:24,200 Speaker 1: single went to number one in one hundred and two countries, 424 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: setting an iTunes record. Its videos set a record on 425 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:31,080 Speaker 1: YouTube as well, where it amassed fifty million views in 426 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:36,439 Speaker 1: just forty eight hours. Once again, audiences connected with Adele, 427 00:28:36,960 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: and audiences could relate to Adele because she was offering 428 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: a different side of herself, which in turn gave listeners 429 00:28:44,280 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: the opportunity to recognize the same different side in themselves. 430 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,320 Speaker 1: Hello wasn't just another kiss off to an X or 431 00:28:53,320 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: a rally cry to stay strong in the face of 432 00:28:55,640 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 1: great adversity. It was a ballot about forgiveness and about 433 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:03,360 Speaker 1: moving on. It was about closure and about growing up. 434 00:29:04,040 --> 00:29:07,200 Speaker 1: It was the definition of a universal hit, and it 435 00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:15,520 Speaker 1: hit everyone everywhere, all at once. November ninth, twenty fifteen, 436 00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: the Iplante Michigan, six point forty pm, the police squad 437 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:23,960 Speaker 1: car tore down Railroad Street, coming to a dramatic stop 438 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:27,400 Speaker 1: outside an apartment complex in the nine hundred block. Two 439 00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,920 Speaker 1: officers emerged from the car. The pulsing blue lights, illuminating 440 00:29:30,960 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: their every movement. As dust crept in. They led with 441 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: their service weapons, creeping swiftly with purpose, towards the apartment 442 00:29:37,920 --> 00:29:41,920 Speaker 1: building's front door. Kidnapping in progress. That was the call 443 00:29:41,960 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: they received from dispatch, something about someone being dragged against 444 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,400 Speaker 1: their will inside. The cops did their sweep, the coast 445 00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:53,520 Speaker 1: was clear and the door was unlocked, and they were 446 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:58,640 Speaker 1: inside there. Halfway up the stairs, two men, arms twisted 447 00:29:58,680 --> 00:30:01,680 Speaker 1: and bent like a mall pretzel. They wrestled, they struggled, 448 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: and then the cops saw it. The purp was pressing 449 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:06,560 Speaker 1: the muzzle of a handgun into the other guy's abdomen, 450 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,280 Speaker 1: and the cops were yelling, now drop it on your knees, 451 00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:14,200 Speaker 1: I said, on your fucking knees. The purp froze, dropped 452 00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: the piece, and seconds later he was in police custody, 453 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:19,560 Speaker 1: riding in the back of the squad car on his 454 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: way to county jail. Twenty one year old Brian Earl 455 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 1: Taylor had multiple felony warrants and was out on parole 456 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:31,800 Speaker 1: when he was arrested in charged with unlawful imprisonment and 457 00:30:31,880 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 1: carrying a concealed weapon. Allegedly, he had been in the 458 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 1: process of forcing the other man in the stairwell to 459 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:39,880 Speaker 1: take him to his apartment. 460 00:30:39,600 --> 00:30:41,320 Speaker 2: Where he planned to rob him. 461 00:30:41,560 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: At the time of the arrest, Adele's Hello was the 462 00:30:44,720 --> 00:30:46,120 Speaker 1: number one song in the country. 463 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 2: It was like. 464 00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:52,160 Speaker 1: Air or water, gas station clerks, retail store workers, bank tellers, 465 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:55,680 Speaker 1: jim rats, dental hygienis. It didn't matter who you were 466 00:30:56,040 --> 00:30:59,479 Speaker 1: or what you did. You heard that song, and you 467 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: heard it often. Even the purpse heard it. And we 468 00:31:03,760 --> 00:31:06,880 Speaker 1: know this because four months later, at his sentencing in 469 00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:10,280 Speaker 1: March of twenty twelve, when it came time to plead 470 00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: his case, Brian Earl Taylor didn't just ask for forgiveness 471 00:31:14,760 --> 00:31:16,360 Speaker 1: for what he'd done. 472 00:31:16,480 --> 00:31:17,239 Speaker 2: He sang it. 473 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,680 Speaker 1: Brian Earl Taylor sang a personalized version of Adele's Hello 474 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:25,800 Speaker 1: to the judge on the day of his sentencing. And 475 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,240 Speaker 1: I got to think that the thought process here was 476 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: that he, the criminal, was hoping to find some common 477 00:31:31,240 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 1: ground with the judge, with the law, and that common 478 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:38,320 Speaker 1: ground being Adele, the common ground of the biggest song 479 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:42,320 Speaker 1: in the world, the common ground of Adele's universal relatability. 480 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:47,600 Speaker 1: Relatable or not. Adele couldn't help with Brian Earl Taylor's plate. 481 00:31:47,640 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: That day, he was sentenced up to seventeen years in prison. 482 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:55,280 Speaker 1: It was then that Brian was driven to change. He 483 00:31:55,320 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: worked in the prison system's palliative care program, helping other 484 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,480 Speaker 1: inmates who were sick or dying. He taught himself piano 485 00:32:02,600 --> 00:32:05,160 Speaker 1: on the prison's keyboard and began to write his own songs, 486 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 1: and in the fall of twenty nineteen, after serving a 487 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: little over seventy years of his sentence, Brian Earl Taylor 488 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 1: was released on parole. It was only then that he 489 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,480 Speaker 1: revealed to the press when he had heard Hello for 490 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:21,640 Speaker 1: the first time and what inspired him to sing it 491 00:32:21,640 --> 00:32:26,280 Speaker 1: to the judge. He was locked up awaiting trial, sent 492 00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:29,920 Speaker 1: to solitary after getting into it with another inmate. That's 493 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:33,480 Speaker 1: when he heard Adele's voice. He was alone and afraid 494 00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:37,360 Speaker 1: when Hello wafted in from somewhere, and it was then 495 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:41,280 Speaker 1: that something clicked for Brian Earld Taylor. He could feel 496 00:32:41,280 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 1: the fear that had driven his young criminal life start 497 00:32:44,560 --> 00:32:48,400 Speaker 1: to fade away, and in its place, something else was 498 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:53,720 Speaker 1: taking root. Call it hope, call it wisdom, call it clarity. 499 00:32:54,440 --> 00:33:29,400 Speaker 1: Whatever it was, Adele could relate. Justin Jackson walked out 500 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:34,400 Speaker 1: of prison and into the warm Florida sunshine. After two 501 00:33:34,440 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: long years he was a freeman. What was he a 502 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:40,320 Speaker 1: changed man? And did he regret the things he'd done? 503 00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:44,880 Speaker 1: When he came to regret, there was the hole getting caught. 504 00:33:44,600 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 2: Of it all. 505 00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:48,000 Speaker 1: And you always regretted that because it was so ballsy 506 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:51,720 Speaker 1: what he done, and he'd almost pulled it off, pretending 507 00:33:51,760 --> 00:33:55,240 Speaker 1: to be a member of Madonna's entourage, sweet talking of 508 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:58,760 Speaker 1: boutique in New York to lend him two point four 509 00:33:58,880 --> 00:34:03,400 Speaker 1: million dollars injewelry for a photo shoot. Air quotes around 510 00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: lend and photo shoot. There was no photo shoot and 511 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: there was no lending, and there was no Madonna, not really. 512 00:34:11,160 --> 00:34:14,040 Speaker 1: There was just Justin Jackson and over two million dollars 513 00:34:14,080 --> 00:34:17,520 Speaker 1: worth of Swiss luxury jewelry weighing heavy in his thieving 514 00:34:17,600 --> 00:34:21,080 Speaker 1: hands from the Florida pawnshop. May have paid pennies on 515 00:34:21,120 --> 00:34:23,720 Speaker 1: the dollar for the stuff, but when you're talking millions 516 00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,359 Speaker 1: of dollars, that's a lot of fucking pennies. So that 517 00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,000 Speaker 1: question again, Was he a changed man? 518 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 2: Nah? 519 00:34:31,719 --> 00:34:33,960 Speaker 1: He was merely a man with a strengthened resolve and 520 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 1: the desire to get it right the next time. But 521 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:40,360 Speaker 1: a fresh scam needed a fresh celebrity and a fresh mark. 522 00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: This time, the mark wouldn't be high end jewelry would 523 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:49,640 Speaker 1: be high end sneakers. Sneakers with serious resale value, the 524 00:34:49,680 --> 00:34:53,800 Speaker 1: sneakers of NBA players, and the celebrity through which he 525 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:57,160 Speaker 1: could work this scam had to be God Tear, someone 526 00:34:57,200 --> 00:35:02,120 Speaker 1: who commanded respect and awe from just about anyone. In 527 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:06,280 Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, as Justin Jackson put his new scam in place, 528 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:12,040 Speaker 1: that celebrity was Adele. Justin Jackson created an email address 529 00:35:12,080 --> 00:35:15,520 Speaker 1: that appeared to belong to Adele's manager, Jonathan Dickens. He 530 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:19,360 Speaker 1: then began to email the representatives of NBA players, offering 531 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 1: tickets to Adele's concerts in exchange for their sneakers, which 532 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,520 Speaker 1: he said would be donated to a charity auction. Of course, 533 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:29,280 Speaker 1: just like there had been no Madonna and no photo shoot, 534 00:35:29,520 --> 00:35:31,840 Speaker 1: there was no Adele, and there was no charity auction, 535 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:35,000 Speaker 1: and there were no concert tickets. But not everyone that 536 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:39,160 Speaker 1: Justin Jackson contacted could easily sniff that out. Paul George, 537 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:42,680 Speaker 1: Victor Rolattopo, and Richard Hamilton were among the pro ballplayers 538 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:47,920 Speaker 1: who actually sent their sneakers as requested. This mild success 539 00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:51,160 Speaker 1: made Jackson greedy. He wanted to attend the Rolling Loud 540 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: Hip hop festival in Miami, where Kendrick Lamar was headlining, 541 00:35:54,520 --> 00:35:56,399 Speaker 1: but he didn't want to pay for it. Then why 542 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,800 Speaker 1: should he when he could pretend to be Adele's manager 543 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:03,680 Speaker 1: and get tickets free. When festival organizers received a suspicious 544 00:36:03,719 --> 00:36:06,839 Speaker 1: email from someone claiming to be Adele's manager, the red 545 00:36:06,840 --> 00:36:11,280 Speaker 1: flags he immediately went up. They contacted Miami Dade Pde, 546 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:15,680 Speaker 1: who in turn contacted the fake Jonathan Dickens Justin Jackson, 547 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: posing as the festival's production manager. A meetup was set 548 00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,640 Speaker 1: in downtown Miami, and in May of twenty seventeen, days 549 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:27,440 Speaker 1: before the Rolling Loud Festival, Justin Jackson and his wife 550 00:36:27,719 --> 00:36:31,280 Speaker 1: angel Lee rolled into Bayfront Park thinking they were really 551 00:36:31,280 --> 00:36:34,920 Speaker 1: pulling it off, only to be immediately arrested and charged 552 00:36:35,080 --> 00:36:39,520 Speaker 1: with over a dozen felonies, including grand theft, identity theft, 553 00:36:40,040 --> 00:36:47,399 Speaker 1: and organizing a scheme to defraud. Adele's songs are one 554 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:51,120 Speaker 1: of a kind currency, her identity is another kind, and 555 00:36:51,200 --> 00:36:55,919 Speaker 1: her manager's identity is yet another. My point is even 556 00:36:55,960 --> 00:37:00,160 Speaker 1: those in Adele's orbit have value on the black market 557 00:36:59,600 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: and Jackson's brazen but ultimately dumb crime was the criminal 558 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:08,840 Speaker 1: world's proof of and co sign on Adele's cultural value. 559 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 1: Once Hello Hit, Adele was no longer relatable, she was exploitable. 560 00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:19,239 Speaker 1: Thus the counterfeit Adele was born. But scammers, moles in 561 00:37:19,280 --> 00:37:22,520 Speaker 1: her inner circle, or felons who sang her songs in court, 562 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:25,120 Speaker 1: none of these had anything to do with her divorce 563 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,759 Speaker 1: from Simon Kanecki. The two had married shortly after the 564 00:37:28,760 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: birth of their son, but the end of that marriage 565 00:37:31,200 --> 00:37:34,160 Speaker 1: came just a year or so later. There was nothing 566 00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:36,720 Speaker 1: as dramatic as an Adele lyric that had led them. 567 00:37:36,560 --> 00:37:37,200 Speaker 2: To this point. 568 00:37:37,800 --> 00:37:41,080 Speaker 1: It was simply the organic path that their union had taken. 569 00:37:41,800 --> 00:37:44,480 Speaker 1: They would remain close friends and continue to co parent 570 00:37:44,520 --> 00:37:47,279 Speaker 1: their son, and of course Adele wanted to keep the 571 00:37:47,320 --> 00:37:49,399 Speaker 1: whole thing on a down low, like she always did. 572 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:51,160 Speaker 2: When the paparazzi had. 573 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:56,279 Speaker 1: Come to understand that, like her beloved Michael Corleone, Adele controlled. 574 00:37:55,719 --> 00:37:56,880 Speaker 2: What the world saw of her. 575 00:37:57,840 --> 00:37:59,720 Speaker 1: No one had even seen a picture of her wedding, 576 00:38:00,280 --> 00:38:02,480 Speaker 1: and when photos of her son were taken in secret 577 00:38:02,480 --> 00:38:06,480 Speaker 1: and then sold, she sued and won five figures in damages. 578 00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:11,840 Speaker 1: It's like Tony Montana said, you want to fuck with me? Okay, 579 00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:16,280 Speaker 1: you cockroaches, But there was no keeping the divorce the secret. 580 00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: On Good Friday twenty nineteen, news of Adele's divorce got out. 581 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 2: It was all over the. 582 00:38:22,160 --> 00:38:26,640 Speaker 1: Internet, memed on social media, everywhere you turned. Adele's personal 583 00:38:26,680 --> 00:38:30,720 Speaker 1: life was suddenly under a microscope. The fear was creeping 584 00:38:30,760 --> 00:38:33,800 Speaker 1: back in Fear that the public would do her dirty 585 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:36,840 Speaker 1: like they did to Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston. Fear 586 00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:38,960 Speaker 1: that her life would begin to spin out of control 587 00:38:39,040 --> 00:38:42,560 Speaker 1: from this point forward. Fear of all the moments she'd 588 00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 1: have alone, missing those can't miss milestones, now that her 589 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:51,279 Speaker 1: son was splitting time between her and Simon. So she 590 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:54,279 Speaker 1: did what she always did when fear reared its ugly head. 591 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:58,160 Speaker 1: She crawled into her bed and turned on the television. 592 00:38:58,719 --> 00:39:02,319 Speaker 1: The screen flickered to life. The Sopranos was halfway through 593 00:39:02,360 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 1: an old episode, Season two, Tony and the boys in 594 00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:09,240 Speaker 1: the back room at the bottom Bank, shooting dirty pool. 595 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:13,040 Speaker 1: And there's Big Pussy already a snitch for the Feds, 596 00:39:13,080 --> 00:39:16,360 Speaker 1: but no one can prove it just yet. Fewer still 597 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: want to believe it. Hey, Syl Pussy says to Silvio 598 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,880 Speaker 1: Docte played with Gusto and Grease by Little Stephen van 599 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:28,360 Speaker 1: zand have been gone a long time, let me hear it. 600 00:39:28,520 --> 00:39:33,040 Speaker 1: Syll's mouth contorts like it's preparing to crush gravel. His 601 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:37,480 Speaker 1: head bobs slightly, he gestures sharply with his hand, and 602 00:39:37,520 --> 00:39:39,480 Speaker 1: he does his best paccino. 603 00:39:40,320 --> 00:39:42,960 Speaker 2: Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me 604 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:43,480 Speaker 2: back in. 605 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:52,280 Speaker 1: Two years later, in twenty twenty one, Adele was pulled 606 00:39:52,280 --> 00:39:56,840 Speaker 1: back in, back into the spotlight, back onto the charts, 607 00:39:56,880 --> 00:40:00,120 Speaker 1: back to her original fear of performing on stage, in 608 00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:04,160 Speaker 1: order to promote her a fourth album, thirty. These are 609 00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:08,120 Speaker 1: fears that will never go away. You can't outrun them, 610 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 1: you can't kill them. But Adele turned them into songs 611 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:17,000 Speaker 1: everyone else could relate to, and in turn helped her 612 00:40:17,239 --> 00:40:24,919 Speaker 1: survive a tabloid fate of disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan in 613 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:40,439 Speaker 1: This is Disgrace slammed all right, everybody, thanks for checking 614 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:44,759 Speaker 1: out this episode on Adele. Listen. Adele's sophomore album twenty one, 615 00:40:45,239 --> 00:40:51,040 Speaker 1: it sold something like seventeen million copies. Seventeen million, meaning 616 00:40:51,080 --> 00:40:54,920 Speaker 1: that I don't know everybody's got a copy of this album. 617 00:40:55,080 --> 00:41:00,279 Speaker 1: But I don't and curious which blockbuster album that are 618 00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: beloved by millions of people that sold you know, tons 619 00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:03,760 Speaker 1: of records? 620 00:41:04,040 --> 00:41:07,240 Speaker 2: Do you not own that this might not do anything 621 00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:08,080 Speaker 2: for you or moms? 622 00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: Never mind Happy Road by the Beatles, albums I Love 623 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:13,759 Speaker 1: by the Way, Let Me Know six one, seven, nine, 624 00:41:14,040 --> 00:41:16,719 Speaker 1: six sixty six three eight, voicemail and text hitting up 625 00:41:16,760 --> 00:41:19,000 Speaker 1: at disgrace lampod on the socials. Make sure you get 626 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,799 Speaker 1: automatic downloads turned on on Apple podcast so you never 627 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:23,120 Speaker 1: miss an episode of disgrace Land. 628 00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 2: Here comes some credits. 629 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 1: Disgracelaand was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 630 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:33,520 Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis, The Exactly Right Network and iHeart Podcasts. 631 00:41:34,000 --> 00:41:36,319 Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 632 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:40,080 Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as 633 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:43,439 Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. 634 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:46,239 Speaker 1: We really appreciate it, and if not, you can become 635 00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:49,240 Speaker 1: a member right now by going to disgrace lampod dot 636 00:41:49,280 --> 00:41:53,319 Speaker 1: com slash Membership members can listen to every episode of 637 00:41:53,320 --> 00:41:56,600 Speaker 1: disgracelan ad, free, rate and review the show, and follow 638 00:41:56,680 --> 00:41:59,960 Speaker 1: us on Instagram TikTok Twitter, and Facebook at disgrace lampod 639 00:42:00,520 --> 00:42:04,080 Speaker 1: and on YouTube at YouTube dot com, slash at Disgraceland 640 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,040 Speaker 1: pod Rock a Roller. 641 00:42:10,200 --> 00:42:11,799 Speaker 2: He's a bad down man.