--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Adele by Jennifer Lawrence: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c59d9bb67e2a2e/69888f9d2dce01749d9e8b53/time-100-2016-adele-adkins1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 20, 2016 # Adele by Jennifer Lawrence  Erik Madigan Heck for TIME Adele and I met at the Oscars in 2013\. I remember sneaking backstage while she performed “Skyfall,” trying to squeeze a ball gown past a pile of ropes and cables just to get a little closer. See her from another angle as if to peek behind the Great Oz’s curtain. I had been a fan of hers since “Chasing Pavements” (saying “fan” about Adele always sounds like an understatement, doesn’t it?). Then when _21_ came out, mine and billions of other lives were—not to sound dramatic—changed. Suddenly there were words to that before-indescribable pain, frustration, sadness, then revolution that all comes from a breakup. I felt understood, I felt stronger, and above all, I hadn’t sung in front of a mirror with a hairbrush since Destiny’s Child. Then she goes and does something like _25_. Growing up. Changing in some ways and being stuck forever in others. Being so young with the most successful career in the world. She says, “I wish I could live a little more, look up to the sky, not just the floor.” The way she is able to capture herself, and then in turn us, has turned her into a star that’s not a star we look at, but a giant star with its own gravity that we are drawn to. All of this about her lyrics, and I haven’t even gotten started on the voice—how could I? It’s once-in-a-lifetime. All this about her voice and I won’t have time to talk about her intelligence. Her 500-year-old wisdom. Her patience and kindness all wrapped up in the tough skin of a damn gangster. She’s an extremely private person, so I will do my best to honor her privacy. But we all see her success. Her undeniable talent and beauty. But what you don’t see is what a wonderful mother she is. What a wonderful partner and friend she is. That she makes her son’s Halloween costumes. Adele is a gift, an international treasure, but she’s also sweet, funny, intelligent and beautiful. Bitch. _Lawrence is an Academy Award–winning actor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4298223/adele-2016-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4298223/adele-2016-time-100/"},"headline":"Adele","datePublished":"2016-04-20T17:34:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T02:24:13.276Z","description":"International treasure","url":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4298223/adele-2016-time-100/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c59d9bb67e2a2e/69888f9d2dce01749d9e8b53/time-100-2016-adele-adkins1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb3c59d9bb67e2a2e/69888f9d2dce01749d9e8b53/time-100-2016-adele-adkins1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2016-time-100/4298223/adele-2016-time-100/","name":"Adele"}}]}] ```