Adele hasn’t attended the MTV VMAs in 11 years now, and not even a Song of the Year nomination was enough to lure her back to the ceremony on the East Coast tonight. The singer opted not to attend the Newark, New Jersey show despite being up for the Song of the Year ( “Easy on Me”) and Best Art Direction ( “Oh My God”) awards. Adele has been silent on social media today, but she did speak to ELLE for its September issue about progress on her new Las Vegas residency show and how it’s a high priority for her.
When she postponed her original show in January, “It was the worst moment in my career, by far,” she said. “By far. I was so excited about those shows. It was devastating.”
“There was just no soul in it,” she continued of the original show and why she couldn’t go through with it. “The stage setup wasn’t right. It was very disconnected from me and my band, and it lacked intimacy. And maybe I tried too hard to give it those things in such a controlled environment.”
She added that after making her choice to postpone it and announcing it publicly, “The first couple of months was really, really hard. I was embarrassed. But it actually made my confidence in myself grow, because it was a very brave thing to do. And I don’t think many people would have done what I did. I’m very proud of myself for standing by my artistic needs.”
She added that she believes it’s the right time in her career for her to do this: “I think I’m right to do it right now,” she said. “I know I’m not, like, 60 years old and I haven’t got 20 albums under my belt. But I think my music will work in a show in Vegas. I haven’t really witnessed [30] out in the world yet. It’s gonna be so emotional. I don’t know what I’m gonna do with meself.”
