Basking in the "surreal" glory of four Grammy nominations, Adele is
already working on the follow-up to her debut album, "19."
"There's about three, four songs I really like that will go on the
next record," the 20-year-old British singer tells Billboard.com.
"I've got another handful that I hate and won't go anywhere near
the second record. I'm kind of slowly getting back in the mode of
it."
Adele describes the new material as "very different to the first
record" and influenced by T-Bone Burnett-produced albums such as
the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack and fellow Grammy
nominees Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' "Raising Sand." "Obviously
I don't want to write a country record or a bluegrass record or
anything like that," Adele notes, "but the melodies, I think
they're the best in the world, so I'm gonna try and incorporate a
lot of that."
Lyrically she says the new songs have "more depth and subject."
Where "19" was "almost a concept album ... about one relationship,"
the new album is shaping up to be "about a relationship I was quite
pleased to get out of rather than feeling a bit deprived of
someone's attention. It's more grown up."
Adele plans to start recording after her next U.S. tour, which
kicks off Jan. 14 in Somerville, Mass., and finishes Jan. 31 in San
Diego. She's already chosen a producer but isn't identifying him
yet "just in case it doesn't work out, which would be a bit
embarrassing." She plans to record in Malibu, where that producer
is based and where she expects she can focus more on the task at
hand.
"I think it'll kind of encourage me to work harder on the songs if
I'm here," Adele explains, "'cause if I'm at home I'll keep going
out with all my mates to the pub and the cinema and go to parties
and stuff, whereas (in the U.S.) it's quite limited, the people I
know here that I want to hang out with. I think I'll mainly just be
working, which is a good thing."
Adele does plan to attend the Grammy ceremony in Los Angeles, where
she's nominated in three of four major categories -- record of the
year, song of the year and best new artist -- as well as best
female pop vocal performance.
She'll soon be choosing her next U.S. single, the follow-up to the
Grammy-nominated "Chasing Pavements," which Adele says is between
the "19" tracks "Right as Rain" and "Cold Shoulder." She hopes to
shoot a video for whichever is chosen before her tour begins.
