Adele Explains Why No One Else Should Sing Her Songs

Adele is one of the most popular and awarded singers of her generation, and she views her own songs with particular reverence. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the U.K. native explained that she doesn't enjoy hearing other artists cover her songs because they don't have an emotional connection to the lyrics.

"With my music, and for whoever listens to it, I think I’m not the best singer in the world at all, but no one else can sing my songs like me because they didn’t write them," she said. "No one can sing my songs like me, period. They can’t sing. The lyrics are not their own. And I don’t think anyone else should sing my songs."

After the interviewer noted that Aretha Franklin had covered her hit "Rolling in the Deep," Adele conceded that Franklin was the one exception.

"Apart from Aretha Franklin," she said. "No, I don’t mind it when they do, but I’m just saying, they’re never going to be able to emote it. Same way that I can’t sing other people’s songs. I didn’t write the lyrics, and I can’t sing as well as them. But it’s just like, I would choose this any day. Also, the lethargicness of it for me is fantastic."

It's worth nothing that Adele's own albums feature cover songs, including Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" on 19 and The Cure's "Lovesong" on 21. Still, it seems she's focused on forging deeper relationship to her songs that she doesn't think other artists can replicate.