Pratique du Shadowing: Adele Reveals The Stories Behind Her Hit Lyrics & Deep Dives Into Her Life | Life In Lyrics | ELLE - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo
Création de la leçon...
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- Imagine if I didn't remember, I couldn't link the lyrics to a song?
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I wouldn't put it past meself.
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Hello, I'm Adele and this is my life in lyrics with Elle.
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(chill music) I think my lyrics have probably changed a bit over time in terms of my vocabulary growing, considering that I started out when I was 19.
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Definitely read loads more books since then, so I think my imagination has grown and therefore my lyrics have progressed.
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But they're always still about the same thing, me and seemingly my failed relationships, which is crazy 'cause I just don't feel like that, but yeah.
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Go easy on me, baby, I was still a child, didn't get the chance to feel the world around me, I had no time to choose what I chose to do, so go easy on me.
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Well this is from "30".
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It was my first single for "30".
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It makes me think about how lost I was when I left my marriage.
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I wrote the verse to "Easy On Me" in the shower, then I wrote the chorus later that day and a lot of my friends throughout that rainy period of my life kept saying to me that, "You have to go easy on yourself, don't beat yourself up too much about your decisions" and "You just gotta give it time" and it just really, really stuck with me that I have to be kind to myself and that it's incredibly layered what I was going through, so that's where "Easy On Me" comes from and I love that lyric, "I had no time to choose what I chose to do." Another one in the bag.
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Hello from the outside, at least I can say that I've tried to tell you I'm sorry for breaking your heart, but it don't matter, clearly doesn't tear you apart anymore.
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That's from "Hello," which is from "25".
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Well, the thing with "Hello" is that when me and Greg wrote that we wrote it in London and I had a different chorus, it didn't have a name at the time, I had a different chorus and it weren't right.
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It wasn't as good as the verse and stuff like that so we had to break from it and I think I asked him to send me the song with the chorus as only an instrumental without the other chorus that we had in there and I just started singing along to it, so it would've been at home.
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Would've been either in my kitchen or in my garden in London.
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I hadn't long had a baby when I wrote "Hello", and it was also on the "25" album, which was following "21", which just blew up and grew some legs and became its whole other thing.
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It was massive and so I guess I was a little bit of a stranger to myself in the way that my life had changed because of my career, but also becoming a mom.
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My life had completely changed with that.
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I missed my friends and I missed my life before being a mom, before being famous, all of those things and I feel like when you have a kid, it brings up a lot to do with your own parents 'cause you're trying to be a parent.
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So it was very much inspired by that and it was about my younger self.
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It was my older self talking to my younger self, like, "Who am I?" I remember it very clearly.
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I don't feel like this at all anymore, which is a relief.
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Proud of that song.
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It's a good song.
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If I tell the world, I'll never say enough, 'cause it was not said to you, and that's exactly what I need to do if I end up with you.
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"Chasing Pavements" from "19".
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I do remember that on "19", I always use the word "'cause." It's so lazy.
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One time I was in the studio of Sia and I kept being like "'cause" or "but" and "and", and she's like, "We don't do those words." "We don't do those words.
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"We don't use words like that.
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"It's just like lazy." But clearly I'm lazy.
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It was my first like proper single from my first album and it was a song that may never have been written because I wrote this song with Eg White in London.
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I think I was doing like three or four days in the studio with him and I'd left my guitar because I was going out that night and I went back to pick it up and he had these great chords and a beautiful sample of strings and it ended up being written in a day and then he sent it straight to XL, my record company and that's the start of my career, really.
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They were all very excited about it, having a radio hit.
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In America everyone thinks I'm saying "chasing payments", which is lols and you also dunno what a pavement is.
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You don't use it for the same thing.
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"Chasing Pavements", I slapped my boyfriend and was running down Tottenham Court Road in London to make sure I didn't get in trouble and then no one was chasing after me, and I was like, you're chasing pavements.
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It's going nowhere.
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Oh, I love this lyric.
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Take it by the hand while we do what lovers do it matters how this ends, 'cause what if I never love again, it's so dramatic.
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"All I Ask" from "25", it's one of my favorite songs.
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I wrote this song with Bruno Mars and it was the best ever time of my life in the studio with him.
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He didn't like the lyric, why we do what lovers do but he also didn't like the lyric in the song like I'm so hot, I make a drag and wanna retire.
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Didn't like that lyric much anyway of his own song.
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But I loved it because I find it fascinating with relationships and people that are in love how sometimes they can end up hating each other so much when actually they loved each other so much at some point, I find it really sad and that whole closure thing that some people need, which I've never really actually needed.
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But it was, you wanna go out on a good note?
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You wanna go out, have a good memory and not an argument and not a fight.
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So it's absolutely about having sex and then never seeing each other again.
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(Adele laughs) I've actually never done that.
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(Beep) off, that's what I say.
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Bruno made me do about 50 million takes of that song.
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Normally everyone's like, that was great.
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That's fine.
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That's all you gotta do.
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But he made me do so many.
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Oh, here we go.
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Nevermind I'll find someone like you, I wish nothing but the best for you, don't forget me, I beg, I remember you said sometimes it lasts in love, but sometimes it hurts instead.
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"Someone Like You" on the "21" album.
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I wrote "Someone Like You" on the guitar.
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I can figure my way around a piano but I can't play play piano.
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It would take me, like this song would be like 20 hours long if I was playing it.
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I wanted Dan to transpose it and put it onto the piano.
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I can't remember if I had the chorus before I arrived or whether it was there, but the song came to life in LA.
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I sang it. I remember, I wasn't stumbling over the lyrics, I sang it all out as I wrote it as it came to my head.
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We didn't realize it would be a hit because it was a piano ballad, but we were excited 'cause it was perfect for the song and what I was saying in the verses.
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I remember in the, there's two chorus at the end, the first chorus I got really, really emotional.
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I had to sit on the floor in the booth and I actually wanted to redo that chorus the next day but Dan loved it and he said it's full of emotion so we kept it.
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But there's so much grace and forgiveness in these lyrics which was very important for me in that relationship that 21 is about.
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I guess what inspired this lyric was similar to what I said earlier about how you can go from loving someone to really hating them and despising them.
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I never felt like that, really.
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I know it probably seems like I did with that "21" album, but actually it wasn't.
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I had the best time for a couple of years and I was really grateful that we'd come into each other's lives, and I was just sad that we couldn't really be friends anymore.
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'Cause that was why we were together was 'cause we got on so well.
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I could definitely write a lyric like this at this point in my life of being more mature and things like that if anything weren't to last, so I relate to it.
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This song makes me think of when my life changed forever.
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'Cause I think it was this song.
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I don't think it was "Rolling in the Deep", I think it was "Someone Like You" that really, really carried the "21" album.
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I'm on my last one.
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I feel like my life is flashing by and all I can do is watch and cry.
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I miss the air, I miss my friends, I miss my mother, I miss it when life was a party to be thrown.
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But that was a million years ago.
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That's "Million Years Ago" from "30".
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No, that's a lie.
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It's from "25".
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Ha. It was one of the last songs I wrote for the album, I think.
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I'd come to LA for a month with my son just to see if a change of location and different people that I would be working with would add anything to the album and I was like, the album's already done.
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But actually, I came and wrote "When We Were Young" and "Million Years Ago".
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I missed the air is, I'm not really outside very often.
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It's not that I can't go and do whatever I want whenever I want, but it's a bit of an operation for me to do it.
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Sometimes I can't be arsed so I just don't really go and do anything.
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And I definitely did find out on "25" that I had a vitamin D deficiency, it's 'cause I didn't go outside.
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I wouldn't be surprised if I missed the air was stemmed from that.
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Probably it's probably not as deep as it sounds, and being away a lot, working and also just having my son I felt like I wasn't being invited to my friends' things because it would always be, no I can't, I haven't got a babysitter and then in the end they'd just stop inviting you because you always say no anyway.
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I miss my mom was, I wasn't a child anymore.
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I had my own child that I had to look after.
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A million years ago is I feel like we all use that expression of, oh that was a million years ago.
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It's a hundred years ago and it's just very conversational, really.
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And I definitely did feel like my life was flashing by and all I could do was watch and cry.
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I did feel like that.
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I definitely feel like my life is still flashing by.
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I'm having the time of me life and the older I get the more and more I love myself and I'm enjoying my life.
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So yeah. Thank you so much for watching my life in lyrics and for more videos like this, subscribe to Elle.
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(piano music)
Why practice speaking with this video?
This video featuring Adele, one of the most celebrated artists of our time, offers a fantastic opportunity for english speaking practice. Not only will you enjoy her insightful discussions about her life and lyrics, but you'll also immerse yourself in authentic conversational English. Engaging with her stories allows you to hear how she expresses emotions, personal experiences, and reflections on her relationships. By practicing shadow speech, you can enhance your speaking skills by mimicking her intonation and phrasing, which is particularly useful for those preparing for tests like IELTS.
Grammar & Expressions in Context
Adele uses a variety of grammatical structures and expressions throughout the video. Here are some key examples that you can incorporate into your own speaking practice:
- Past Simple Tense: Adele reflects on her experiences, saying, “I wrote the verse in the shower.” This structure is crucial for discussing past events in storytelling.
- Imperatives: Phrases such as “go easy on me” highlight how to give advice or express a request. Practicing this can be valuable in everyday conversations.
- Complex Sentences: Sentences like “I hadn't long had a baby when I wrote ‘Hello’” showcase how to connect ideas, which is beneficial for more advanced speaking skills.
- Conditional Statements: Adele’s lyric “what if I never love again” explores hypothetical situations, a common structure in English used to discuss future possibilities.
- Colloquial Expressions: Her use of phrases like "it's all good" or "that's what I say" are perfect for speaking practice, as they represent everyday language.
Common Pronunciation Traps
As you engage in english speaking practice with this video, pay attention to certain pronunciation aspects that might pose challenges:
- Contractions: Adele frequently uses contractions like “I’d” for “I would” and “it’s” for “it is,” which may quicken the pace of speech and make it harder to understand.
- Word Stress: Focus on how she emphasizes certain words, particularly emotional ones like “love” and “heart.” Emphasizing the right syllables can convey meaning effectively.
- Accent Variations: Adele's British accent includes certain vowel sounds and intonations that may differ from American English, making it crucial for learners to pay attention to these nuances during practice.
Utilizing a shadowing app or practicing through a technique like shadowspeak can be incredibly beneficial. Listen closely, repeat, and mimic her speech patterns to sharpen your own pronunciation and fluency.
Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?
Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.