Adele: Best New Artist of 2008

Year after year we've seen young female "musicians" (I use the term loosely) come onto the music scene. They are assembled, packaged and shipped out by the record labels that sign them, and then presented to the public as more of an image than an individual. Even the women who could hold their own with only their beautiful voices are marketed as flashy pop stars, over-compensating their talent with dozens of back up dancers, provocative costumes and over the top stage theatrics. And although their productions can be entertaining, they do not deserve the accolades that a true musician does.

Enter Adele Adkins, a young woman whose soulful, spellbinding voice alone commands the attention of an audience. She belts out songs with such emotion and feeling, that she pulls you in and you don't want to let go. Describing her music as "heartbroken soul", it is easy to see why Adele cites her influences as Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald.

But her success did not come overnight. She began promoting her music while she was still attending performing arts school in the UK, from which she graduated in May 2006. Through a friend who put her demo on his MySpace page, she got her first record deal. She launched her own MySpace page in 2004 and became popular on the site, meanwhile playing small gigs and opening for various artists in the UK. She eventually headlined her own UK tour in 2007 and released an album, Hometown Glory, in October 2007.

Adele then signed with XL Recordings and, in January 2008, she released the single "Chasing Pavements." The song was #2 in the UK for four weeks and stayed on the Top 40 for fourteen weeks. In February, her album, 19, entered as #1 in the UK. "Chasing Pavements was still at #2, and a single from her first album entered the charts at #32. In March, Adele signed with Columbia Records in the U.S., which involved a joint venture between Columbia Records and XL Recordings; she went on a short North American tour.

Although making a variety of appearances in the U.S., Adele's popularity seemed to be waning. On October 18, 2008 she appeared on Saturday Night Live. Hosted by Josh Brolin, special guests for that night included Governor Sarah Palin, Mark Wahlberg, Oliver Stone, Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin. 17 million people tuned into the show. The day following Adele's performance, 19, was on top of the iTune charts and #5 on Amazon.com. A week later, the album had raised 35 places to #11 on the Billboard charts. "Chasing Pavements" reached the Top 25 on Amazon.com and was the top debut on October 30^th's Billboard Hot 100 singles at #82.

Adele's amazing talent has been recognized and honored. She is nominated for four Grammy's (Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and Best New Artist), was the first recipient of the Brit Awards Critics' Choice Award, was nominated for a Mercury Award for 19, won an Urban Music Award for Best Jazz Act, received an MTV Video Music Award nomination for Best Choreography in her video for "Chasing Pavement", a Q Awards Nomination for Best Breakthrough Act and a Music of Black Origin nomination for Best UK female.

Adele's natural, raw talent is a breath of fresh air in the image crazed music business of today. She is a true artist, who cannot only sing, but write songs and play guitar. She is the embodiment of what a real musician is. She is the Best New Musician of 2008.