Adele is widely celebrated as one of the most authentic and soulful voices in modern music.

Known for her powerful ballads and unfiltered personality, she has won millions of hearts worldwide with her emotional honesty and raw talent.

However, beneath her warm and relatable exterior lies a musician with strong opinions and distinct tastes—especially when it comes to her peers in the music industry.

Unlike many artists who maintain diplomatic silence about their contemporaries, Adele has occasionally revealed candid and sometimes harsh views about certain musicians.

Today, we explore the top six artists that Adele reportedly dislikes the most and the reasons behind her disdain.

 

Adele’s distaste for the Black Eyed Peas centers on her belief that their music represents everything wrong with modern pop.

According to a longtime recording engineer who worked closely with Adele on her album *21*, she views the group’s sound as “factory-produced ear candy” lacking emotional depth.

This tension was visible as early as the 2009 Grammy Awards, where Adele’s unimpressed expression during the group’s performance of *Boom Boom Pow* was caught on camera.

A backstage makeup artist overheard Adele muttering, “Is this what passes for music these days? Sounds like a ringtone with shouting over it.”

 

What particularly frustrates Adele is the band’s shift from their authentic hip-hop roots to a more commercial pop sound reliant on autotune and production tricks.

At the 2012 Brit Awards, an attempt to arrange a collaboration between Adele and Will.i.am reportedly ended with Adele using colorful language to decline, citing her disdain for autotune dependence.

Even years later, Adele’s comments about the Black Eyed Peas remain sharp, underscoring her commitment to musical authenticity over commercial appeal.

 

Few artists have drawn Adele’s ire quite like Justin Bieber.

She reportedly disapproves of his rapid rise to fame and performance style, which she sees as lacking the hard work and authenticity she values.

A backing vocalist who toured with Adele explained that she spent years honing her craft before achieving stardom, so she is critical of artists she perceives as manufactured overnight sensations.

 

The friction surfaced publicly during a 2013 songwriters roundtable, where Adele questioned Bieber’s transition to adult artistry, stating, “I’m not sure you can transition to something you never were in the first place.”

 

Adele also criticized Bieber’s reliance on backing tracks during live shows, describing it as “karaoke with better lighting.”

When Bieber’s lip-syncing controversies became public, sources close to Adele said she was disappointed but unsurprised.

 

The tension peaked at the 2016 Brit Awards when Bieber’s team requested a photo with Adele, which she declined, explaining, “I write songs about my life, and he sings songs about experiences written by a committee.”

 

This blunt dismissal reflects Adele’s deep commitment to personal storytelling in her music.

 

Electronic dance music (EDM) titan David Guetta is another artist Adele reportedly disdains.

She sees Guetta’s producer-driven pop music as prioritizing beats over genuine vocal performance and emotional communication.

A Columbia Records executive who worked with Adele revealed that she considers Guetta the antithesis of everything she values in music.

 

At a 2012 Paris Fashion Week afterparty, Adele visibly winced when Guetta’s music played, telling her assistant, “Must we stay while this racket is playing? It sounds like a washing machine with a melody.”

She has criticized the formulaic nature of Guetta’s productions, once telling a sound engineer, “Please don’t compare what we’re doing to that assembly line music. We’re making something that will last longer than a summer club season.”

 

When approached about a potential collaboration in 2016, Adele’s response was blunt: “I’d rather record with the actual synthesizers than the person who presses play on them.”

 

During her 2016 Glastonbury headlining set, when a fan requested a Guetta song, she quipped, “You’re at the wrong tent, love.This is where they sing live and play real instruments.”

 

This public dismissal underscores her preference for live, heartfelt music over electronic beats.

 

Perhaps surprisingly, Adele’s reported friction with Taylor Swift stems not from personal animosity but from fundamentally different approaches to artistry and celebrity.

Adele values authenticity and showing one’s real self, flaws and all, while she finds Swift’s carefully managed public persona exhausting.

Their tension first surfaced during the 2012 Grammy season, when Adele was reportedly bewildered by Swift’s dramatic surprised expressions upon winning awards, thinking, “If you’re going to win that many awards, at least practice looking like you expected it.”

 

Adele also questions the authenticity of Swift’s songwriting, particularly her habit of mining short-term relationships for entire albums.

She allegedly remarked during a 2015 meeting, “There’s something off about dating someone for two months and then mining it for an entire album.At some point, you’re not processing emotions; you’re manufacturing them for content.”

 

In 2021, Adele reportedly rolled her eyes at questions about Swift’s re-recording strategy, mumbling about focusing on new music instead of repackaging old diaries.

When asked in 2022 about collaborating with Swift, Adele diplomatically responded that their styles and approaches to music and life were too different to blend well.

 

Adele’s reported disdain for fellow British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is rooted in their competing narratives of authenticity.

She sees Sheeran as a corporate, focus-grouped version of what she does naturally.

A Sony Music executive explained that Adele believes Sheeran’s “regular bloke with a guitar” persona masks a highly calculated commercial machine.

 

The tension became noticeable at the 2015 Brit Awards, where Adele was overheard questioning the low bar set by Sheeran’s performance, saying, “Three chords and a looping pedal is hardly groundbreaking, is it?” She also criticized his prolific collaborations with multiple songwriters, contrasting it with her honesty about co-writing.

 

During award shows in 2017 and 2018, Adele reportedly whispered after Sheeran’s hit *Shape of You*, “If I wanted to hear mathematical formulas disguised as emotional expression, I’d have stayed in school for music theory.

” At a 2019 industry dinner, when someone suggested Sheeran might be remembered alongside legendary British songwriters, Adele choked on her drink and said, “In what universe? Paul McCartney and Ed Sheeran in the same sentence? One wrote *Yesterday*, and the other wrote a song about the shape of someone.Let’s maintain some perspective.”

 

The most surprising target of Adele’s musical contempt is global superstar Drake.

Their reported friction stems from fundamentally opposed views on artistic authenticity and emotional expression.

Adele believes in raw, unfiltered emotion, while she sees Drake as embodying everything wrong with modern music’s approach to feeling.

A vocal coach who has worked extensively with Adele revealed that she views her album *21*’s success as rooted in its genuine emotional connection.

Adele was overheard at the 2013 Grammy Awards saying about Drake’s performance, “That’s not conveying emotion, that’s weaponizing it. There’s a difference between being vulnerable and just sounding vulnerable to sell records.”

 

She also criticized Drake’s approach to singing about relationships, saying, “I don’t understand how someone can make a whole career from being sad about women while simultaneously treating them as disposable. The math doesn’t add up.”

 

When Drake expressed interest in remixing Adele’s *Hello* in 2016, her response was swift: “Not in this lifetime. I didn’t pour my heart out so it could be turned into a club track with someone talking about their feels over it.”

 

In a 2019 private listening session, Adele reportedly stopped playback when someone compared her to Drake, saying, “Please don’t compare us.

I’m singing about real grief and growth.

He’s creating mood music for people to feel temporarily deep while texting their exes at 2 a.m.”

When Drake broke Adele’s streaming records in 2021, she reportedly responded, “Good for him.Quantity has never been my focus. I’m more concerned with whether people will still be listening in 20 years, not 20 days.”

 

Adele’s reported musical dislikes reveal a passionate artist fiercely protective of authenticity, emotional honesty, and genuine artistry.

Her candid opinions highlight the ongoing tensions between traditional musicianship and modern commercial pop trends.

Whether you agree or disagree, these insights offer a rare glimpse into the complex dynamics behind some of music’s biggest names.

 

What do you think about these alleged feuds? Were you surprised by any of Adele’s musical nemeses? Share your thoughts and join the conversation.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.