UK singer Adele has suffered from crippling anxiety and stage fright for her whole career. While touring to sold out arenas and performing through her recent Las Vegas residency called “weekends with Adele”, she had to have a strategy in place to manage her stage fright and overcome performance anxiety. So Adele stole a technique from Beyoncé and developed an alter-ego in order to help her keep her stage fright at bay. In this video we do a deep dive into Adele’s stage fright and unique technique to combat it!
Full Video Transcript
Narrator (00:00):
When talking about defining artists and voices of the 21st century, we can't leave Adele out of the conversation. Since the late 2000s, the London-born singer has touched the souls of millions with her beautifully honest and personal music, her lovable and cheeky wit, and a powerful voice that some would say is unmatched as of late. But I'm not touching that argument. Her talent has bought Adele 16 Grammys, more than 120 million record sales, arena tours worldwide, and most recently, a sold-out Las Vegas residency called Weekends With Adele.
(00:35):
Through all of the success, Adele has suffered from intense anxiety and stage fright. If you find it hard to believe that someone who shines as brightly as Adele does could suffer from crippling anxiety just as much as you or I, then keep watching as we uncover Adele's secret to performing at the top of her game, even while suffering from stage fright.
(01:00):
Adele and her secret stage fright problem. During the final concert of a tour in Auckland, Adele told her adoring fans that, "The only reason I've toured is you," and that she was, "Not sure touring is in my bag." She was talking about her struggles with stage fright and how it almost kept her from performing in front of live audiences. In the later interview with Rolling Stones magazine, Adele described her performance anxiety in more detail. "I'm scared of audiences," she told the interviewer. "I get (beep) scared. One show in Amsterdam, I was so nervous I escaped out the fire exit. I've thrown up a couple of times. Once in Brussels, I projectile vomited on someone. I just got to bear it, but I don't like touring. I have anxiety attacks a lot."
(01:45):
Adele said that her anxiety stemmed from a fear that her fans might start to think that she isn't the talented performer that they expected. If that doesn't make sense to you, I get it. Sold out arenas, numerous awards, accolades, and a track record that is undeniable, all that, and still the anxiety creeps in, chipping away at any sense of self-worth, but that's how stage fright works. It's not a conscious and rational thought process that lets anxiety in. Instead, it's all happening at the instinctual level.
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What causes stage fright? There's various physical, mental, and emotional factors that lead to stage fright like negative thought patterns. This is where you internalize negative expectations about how an audience might react to you. Do this enough and it becomes an expectation, a sort of habitual, unconscious thought pattern. Say you have a bad experience during a performance at a young age, which leaves you feeling rejected and humiliated. Later on in life, this experience may transform into stage fright as an adult, where in order to protect you from similar experiences reoccurring, your body reacts to the idea of a performance in the same way it would a physical threat to your safety.
(02:57):
Upbringing factors. For those who had overly-critical parents as a child or those who unfortunately suffered bullying, the feelings of rejection and isolation can burden us into adulthood. Studies have shown that those bullied and those deprived of typical validation in childhood are significantly more likely to experience social anxiety disorders and suffer from performance anxiety in adulthood.
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Brain physiology. Certain people are physiologically more susceptible to anxiety, a trait that typically runs in families. The amygdala is a part of the brain that regulates emotions and stress, and having a hyperactive amygdala can increase your likelihood of experiencing stage fright because you are predisposed to an exaggerated fear response, and this would mean that you are physiologically more prone to performance anxiety.
(03:49):
Ultimately, stage fright is experienced uniquely by everyone. While we can't say for certain what the root cause of Adele's stage fright is, we do know that she told Rolling Stones that she, quote, "Fears the audience would be less than impressed with my performance." Regardless of the cause, regardless of her achievements for Adele, it all came down to a fear of rejection, a fear of letting her fans down.
(04:14):
What were the tactics Adele used to overcome her stage fright? To manage her stage fright, Adele followed the playbook of another very accomplished musician who also happened to struggle with stage fright, Beyonce. The tactic that both singers used was to assign themselves an alter ego. In Adele's case, her alter ego was called Sasha Fierce. Sasha Fierce is, well, fierce, and she doesn't even know what performance anxiety or stage fright means. This tactic is a psychological hack. You're distancing your feelings from your behavior by assigning the feelings to a third person, in this case, an alter ego. Adele is able to detach herself from her fears of rejection by thinking of how Sasha Fierce would respond. Since Sasha is fierce, she has no fear of the audience and she thrives during every performance.
(05:04):
If you also suffer from performance anxiety and stage fright, consider adopting your own fearless alter ego. If it works for Adele and it allowed her to accomplish everything she has, there's a very good chance that it could work for you. Another great solution to stage fright and performance anxiety problems is PerformZen Calm Performance formula. It's an all-natural supplement, specifically designed to help performers stay calm under pressure, or even giving you a slight mental edge. If you're interested in finding out more, then check out our website at www.performzen.com today. If you like this video and you've watched this far, do me a favor and comment down below something like, "Adele Stage Fright," to help us out with the algorithm. Until next time, break a leg.
