Adele (b. 1988)
Filed under the name Adele · April 28, 2026
Now here's one I can actually get behind without any grumbling about the music these days not having a tune you can hum — Adele has a voice you can hum along to from the very first bar, and her chart-topping albums '21' and '25' proved a whole lot of other people feel the same way I do. Multiple Grammy wins, globally beloved, and from what I can tell she got there the old-fashioned way, with a genuinely powerful voice and real songs, not a bunch of noise dressed up with flashing lights. I still love my Patsy Cline and the old hymns best, that's never going to change at my age, but I'll admit I've caught myself humming an Adele song while I'm out weeding the garden more than once, and I don't feel one bit bad about it either. There's something to be said for an artist who can reach an old woman in Piney Grove, Arkansas and a teenager on the other side of the world with the exact same song. That's a rare gift, and I hope she knows to be grateful for it, same as I try to be grateful for mine.