At 14, Adele Laurie Blue Adkins bought Etta James and Ella Fitzgerald CDs simply because the covers looked cool, then listened for an hour a night to get to know her own voice. This deep dive explores how a girl raised in Tottenham by a single mother, who suffered stage fright, homesickness and a fear of flying, became a phenomenon who sold over 120 million records and revived physical album sales in the streaming era.

We follow her from the BRIT School and a debut, 19, that struggled in America, through the pivotal 2008 SNL performance opposite Sarah Palin, to the country-influenced juggernaut 21 and beyond. We break down her vocal cord surgery, her Sasha Carter alter ego, her Glastonbury panic attack, and her refusal to sanitize her struggles or chase constant relevance.

• How a tense chest mix technique led to a vocal cord hemor ...