When she had started writing her new album in earnest in early 2009, today’s singer was still in her "first real relationship" which had caused her so much emotional turmoil the previous summer, that it was partly responsible for her cancelled US tour that year.
"He made me an adult. He put me on the road that I'm travelling on," was how she later summed up their relationship. She told Rolling Stone in 2011, they were together for something over a year, sharing her flat in London when she was in town, before it all started to fall apart. She said "It just stopped being fun..."
The literal day after the definitive break-up, she went into the studio. "I never get angry, but I was ready to murder.” She was obviously still quite fragile and very open about what had happened. But she had fire in her belly!
“I went in crying and stuff...but when I'm about to get angry in my heart, I can really feel my blood flowing around my body... And I kept going: 'Feel my heartbeat! And the beat of the song was my heartbeat... It just built and built." And so [today’s song] was born.” She wrote this song in just three hours...and in less than 24 hours after she broke up with the mystery man!
The song reached number one in 12 countries and it was her first number-one song in the United States, reaching the top spot on many Billboard charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 where it was number one for seven weeks.
There have never been any definitive details about the guy who broke this singer's heart and inspired this song (and maybe others) but a source told the New York Post that the alleged man is named Slinky Winfield, also known as Slinky Sunbeam, a musician who was cited as the inspiration for today’s song.
Though today’s singer has indicated that she and the man who inspired the song simply "grew apart," the source tells the NY Post that the romance failed because Slinky got involved with a Burberry model!
The source told the Post that he was a "seriously good-looking guy…(with) a great body" and "crazy hair (like) Jimi Hendrix" who was "the life and soul of the party." The source goes on to say, "It's easy to see what attracted [her] to him," but noted that the relationship "was always going to end in tears, and those tears were always going to be [hers]."
She has since said that she's forgiven Mr. 21, whether he is Slinky or someone else. She says has moved on to a happy and healthy life!
Adele...Rolling in The Deep...IKTS