Adele’s vocally demanding songs have taken a toll on the singer’s voice, raising concerns about future concert dates (Picture: Getty)
Adele, one of the most iconic voices in the music business, is going silent for now.
The star, 35, announced she was going on vocal rest while in the middle of her Las Vegas residency after a concerning incident made her fear for the health of her vocal cords.
Adele emotionally opened up to an audience at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, where she performs two nights a week, about her concerns about the strength of her voice.
She shared that she’s been having issues hitting all the notes in her iconic songs, likening her voice to the raspy tone of the cartoon villain Ursula from The Little Mermaid, drawing a laugh from the crowd.
The singer apologised to her fans for possibly being unable to sing to full effect for the remainder of the evening’s show. She joked that she’s going to have a hard time being quiet long enough to let her voice heal.
She said: ‘Ursula from the ocean has come from my chest tonight. I can’t hit my headnotes properly. I didn’t sleep very well and my chest is on fire. I can tell I’m going to have a cough in like 10 days, but I’m still here.’
Adele’s residency at Caesars, Weekends with Adele, has been a massive hit on the Vegas strip (Picture: Getty Images)
But she continued: ‘Straight after this show I am going on voice rest. Can you imagine how hard me not talking for three days is? So I’m going to be in bed coughing my guts up on complete voice rest.’
She went on to humorously bemoan how difficult it will be to be quiet around her partner and son: ‘And not only is my partner an absolute chatterbox, so is my son. So I am going to have to lock myself in a cupboard or something like that.’
Adele’s partner is sports agent Rich Paul, who the singer is rumored to have secretly married last year.
The Someone Like You icon finished her set anyway, though she often took breaks to sip honey and hot water.
At the end of the show she acknowledged that her voice didn’t give out on her entirely, saying, with obvious emotion: ‘My voice came back about four songs ago. You’ve been amazing. The show. Thank you, thank love, magical, magical, all putting it together from the moment out. I’m so glad you had a good time. I look crazy, I feel crazy… I’m going to go on voice rest.’
Adele joked to the audience that her partner, Rich Paul, is a ‘chatterbox’ (Picture: Getty)
With 20 Vegas shows still ahead of her before heading to Munich for summer stadium performances, it’s unclear if the Grammy-winner will have to miss any shows in order for her voice to recover. Adele is expected to have earned around £83million ($105million) from her Las Vegas residency by the time it comes to an end in June.
Her vocal issues did not stop her from chatting with the crowd throughout the rest of the show with her trademark familiarity and warmth.
She told the stadium that her vocal rest was going to interrupt her weekend plans, saying: ‘I made very solid plans with my gay friends, they were going to come round to my house. We were going to light a fire, maybe have a spritzer, which obviously now I can’t have – dammit. And we were going to sit down and watch the new JLo movie, which I’ve been so excited about.
Adele emotionally thanked the audience for bearing with her during the difficult show (Picture: Getty)
‘B**ches f**king made other plans. They already have plans. And they have left me on my own.’
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Adele has battled problems with her voice. The singer underwent vocal surgery in 2011 for polyps on her vocal cords and had to cancel two shows at Wembley Stadium during her last world tour in 2017 due to similar issues.
In a 2017 X post announcing those cancellations, Adele shared how much it pains her to let anyone down.
She wrote: ‘I went to see my throat doctor earlier this evening because my voice didn’t open up at all today and it turns out I have damaged my vocal cords. And on medical advice, I am simply unable to perform over the weekend. I’ve considered doing Saturday’s show but it’s highly unlikely I’d even make it through the set and I simply can’t crumble in front of you all and walk out on you in that way.’
She ended the post by simply saying, ‘I’m devastated.’
Members of Adele’s team have expressed fears in the past that the superstar has done ‘irreversible damage’ to her voice in efforts to not disappoint fans.
Considering that there were initially fears about the Las Vegas climate being unsuitable to the maintenance of the London-born singer’s voice, its impressive that she’s managed to make it this far into the residency without any major issues.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
MORE : Meet Adele’s new husband Rich Paul as singer ‘confirms marriage’ with renowned NBA agent
MORE : Noel Gallagher viciously slams Adele and brands singer ‘f***ing awful and offensive’