Adele “cried pretty much all day” after her 2016 Grammys performance was marred by technical difficulties, the artist told Ellen DeGeneres on Thursday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.
The multiple Grammy winner performed All I Ask, a track from her latest album 25 at the 2016 Grammys, but got off to a shaky start when her microphone went off for a couple seconds. Then, there was a sound as though someone was playing an out of tune guitar, making the whole performance sound a bit off.
Adele subsequently tweeted that the “piano mics fell on to the piano strings” creating the strange guitar sound.
The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that's what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. Shit happens. X
— Adele (@Adele) February 16, 2016
“I was embarrassed,” she told DeGeneres. “I woke up the next morning to people being like ‘We still love you, don’t worry’ and I was like ‘I didn’t ask you if you still loved me, but thanks!’”
Asked if she felt bad about the performance, Adele said she “kept spontaneously bursting into tears” the day after the Grammys.
“In fairness I would have cried if it went really well,” she said. “If it had been a standout performance, I would have cried as well. I always cry.”
Because she was on live television, Adele said she felt like she couldn’t stop and start the song over. She heard immediately that the piano mic had fallen on the strings, and wanted to turn and lift it up, but froze.
“If it wasn’t live TV, I would have busted a joke,” she said. “But because it was TV that’s why I couldn’t make the disaster my own.”
She continued: “Next time I have any sound issues, I am going to start over. [I will say] ‘Sorry, that’s not working for me.’ Otherwise – bye!”
Adele – whose album sales have broken numerous records – is well-known for her vocal prowess. The audience quickly understood her lacklustre Grammys performance resulted from technical difficulties.
Adele seemed to bounce back quickly, telling DeGeneres she treated herself to a burger and a beer after the awards show. She also tweeted that because of the performance, she was treating herself to an In N Out burger:
Because of it though... I'm treating myself to an in n out. So maybe it was worth it.
— Adele (@Adele) February 16, 2016
Adele said that as she gets more successful, she feels more pressure to do well onstage but the Grammys put things into perspective.
“I don’t feel like it can go that much worse than the Grammys though, so I feel like I’m all right now,” she said. “Anything that happens I can, like, dust it off.”
