Adele Is Planning to Step Away From Music: ‘I Want a Big Break’

Adele will be pressing pause on new music for an indefinite amount of time.

“I don’t have any plans for new music at all,” Adele, 36, told Germany’s ZDF in an interview published on Sunday, July 14. “I want a big break after this and I think I want to do other creative things, just for a little while.”

Despite her global stardom and her current two-year-long Las Vegas residency, Adele noted that the spotlight bothers her.

"I don't like being famous,” she told the outlet. “I love that I get to make music all the time ."

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During her career, Adele has released four albums and has become one of the bestselling musical artists in the modern era. She dropped her first, 19, in 2008, which became certified double platinum in the U.S. The following year, she won Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammys.

After Adele released her 2011 album, 21, she won the most Grammy Awards by a female artist in one night — taking home six trophies in 2012. She followed it up with 25 in 2015 and 30 in 2021, and has earned 16 Grammy awards to date.

Last year, Adele candidly shared that she has “nothing to say yet” and “hadn’t even thought about” new music.

"I have to wait for a feeling," she told The Hollywood Reporter in December 2023. "If I get antsy, that’s when I know I have to go to the studio, and I am the opposite of antsy right now.”

The following month, Adele teased to the audience at her Las Vegas residency that she would be taking a brief step back from creating new music.

“I just don’t think I’m gonna write an album for quite some time,” Adele said in January, per fan footage shared via X. “But next time I do, I’ll come to wherever it is you live.”

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While she may be taking a break from new music, fans can get their fix of the singer by seeing her perform live. She’s set to play a series of shows at Germany’s Munich Messe arena next month.

"I haven’t played in Europe since 2016!” Adele wrote via Instagram in January. “I couldn’t think of a more wonderful way to spend my summer and end this beautiful phase of my life and career with shows closer to home during such an exciting summer.”

Her Vegas residency, Weekends With Adele , is set to wrap up later this year after beginning in November 2022. After postponing several shows in February, Adele rescheduled the dates in October and November.

“The residency, these shows have changed my life,” she wrote via Instagram in October 2023. “I desperately needed to fall back in love with performing live again, and I have. I needed to reconnect with my songs and remember what they mean to me, and I have!”