Add this to the list of our collective English-language failures of the last two decades: Americans have been pronouncing Adele’s name wrong this whole time.
During an “I Drink Wine” happy hour Q&A with fans last week, the Grammy- and Oscar-winning British singer revealed how to properly say her first name much to the surprise of the internet.
The clarification came in response to a songwriting question from a London-based fan, whom the “Easy on Me” crooner praised for nailing the correct pronunciation of her name when she greeted her by saying “Hi, uh-DALE.”
“Is she from Enfield or something? Love that. She said my name perfectly!” the Tottenham-bred singer said. She then repeated the proper pronunciation a few times to moderator Benito Skinner as “uh-DALE” and “huh-dale” instead of “Ah-dell.”
Fans and critics on social media immediately responded to the revelation. Some were “literally flabbergasted,” others debated the nuances of English accents and others were completely unbothered.
“If it was pronounced Uh-dale, the surely it would be spelt Adale,” said one tweet.
“This is such a mental story all over the internet lmfao. In the video she literally says Adele with a London accent. That is not ‘Uh-dale’ like all these articles suggests? What?” said another.
“I’m not calling her uhdale,” wrote a different Twitter user.
The “Hello” and “Someone Like You” singer also prefers her mononym to her full name: Adele Adkins. The 34-year-old pop phenom dropped the use of her last name early in her career because she didn’t like how “drab” it sounded.
“I could have never used my surname,” she told YouTube star NikkieTutorials last December. “Adele Adkins does not have the same ring as Adele.”
In the Q&A last week, the singer discussed her creative process, her obsession with Wordle, her decision to skip touring and her plans to take a break from music following her rescheduled Las Vegas residency.
Here’s a look at some of the responses to her name revelation:
