Adele put on a bravura performance of her new hit ‘Hello’ on the BBC, showing her vocal chord problems are behind her for now. (Photo: ScreenCap)
Adele, the UK singing sensation, is featured in a new video, singing her new song. “Hello.” for the first time live to promote her upcoming BBC music special. She showed no sign of vocal cord problems that hampered her career early on.
The British singer, who is known for her mezzo soprano vocal power and emotive style, underwent surgery in 2012 to remove a polyp on her vocal cord.
She was performing live French radio when it felt like “someone put a curtain over my throat,” she explained at the time on CBS’s “60 Minutes.”
“I could feel it. It felt like something popped in my throat,” she said. The polyp had started hemorrhaging.
“I had laser surgery. [They] put lasers down your throat, cut off the polyp, and kind of laser your hemorrhage back together and fix it,” she said.
Adele had released her second smash studio album 21 a year earlier. It sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide. But it would be her last until this year’s album, 25.
While the surgery was successful, Adele says the possibility exists she could re-injure her vocal cords again. She’s modified her singing style as a result. But you couldn’t tell with her BBC performance.
Her lower range is weighty and full and she can still hit the high notes on her first new song in three years.
“Hello” was a chart topper out of the box and broke records for music downloads, topping previous download records by Taylor Swift and Justin Bieber.
During her hiatus, Adele gave birth and spent most of her time being a mother. It left her conflicted about her career. “I wanted to make sure everything was in place so I could do it properly, and I can’t do anything else,” she told host Graham Norton.
The special will air in full until Nov. 20. In the meantime, check out the video below. Let us know your thoughts and be sure to follow IM on Twitter for the latest music news.