Adele Doesn’t Regret Canceling Las Vegas Residency Despite “Brutal” Backlash: “I Stand By That Decision”

Adele has no regrets about scrapping her residency in Las Vegas in January because she felt the production fell short of her expectations.

“I definitely felt everyone’s disappointment, and I was devastated, and I was frightened about letting them down, and I thought I could pull it together and make it work, and I couldn’t, and I stand by that decision,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, adding that the backlash was “brutal” and left her as a “shell of a person for a couple of months.”

The “Hello” singer was met with an angry backlash from disgruntled fans and may have wasted a fortune on the show’s production, but she was unfazed.

“You can’t buy me. You can’t buy me for nothing,” she asserted. “I’m not going to just do a show because I have to or because people are going to be let down or because we’re going to lose loads of money. I’m like, ‘the show’s not good enough.'”

Although she described the first cancellation as a “postponement,” she has not yet made firm preparations for make-up performances.

“I’m not gonna update you if I ain’t got nothing to update you with because that just leads to more disappointment.”

It was initially intended for the singer’s “Weekends With Adele” residency at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to start on Friday, Jan. 21, and run through mid-April. Back in January, the singer issued a heartfelt apology for the cancellation.

“We’ve tried absolutely everything that we can to put it together in time and for it to be good enough for you, but we’ve been absolutely destroyed by delivery delays and COVID,” she confessed.

“Half my crew, half my team is down with COVID — they still are — and it’s been impossible to finish the show. I can’t give you what I have right now, and I’m gutted,” she said as her voice began to crack. “I’m gutted, and I’m sorry it’s so last-minute.”

Numerous rumors have surfaced since the delay, saying the actual causes included an alleged incident with the venue over her 60-person choir and quarrels with her set designer, Esmeralda Devlin.

The vocalist recently shed tears during a performance at London’s BST Hyde Park Festival. She told the BBC that this is evidence that she still cares about her profession despite her well-documented performance anxiety.

“It means I care, and I think a lot of people actually don’t care anymore,” she said. “It breaks my heart when I go to a show, or I hear an album or something, and I’m like, ‘I don’t think they are in it anymore, I don’t think they are bothered, I don’t think they care about what they are doing anymore.'”

She added, “Only when I get that wild rush of terrifying adrenaline I’m excited . . . my nerves mean I want to go and do a great show. That’s my measure. When I don’t feel like that, I’m done. I won’t do it anymore.”