It's easy to forget that Adele and Drake — who hail from opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean and have never collaborated musically — are actually close friends. But every so often they remind us, which has been happening a lot lately.
You probably know that Adele's fourth studio album, 30, dropped last week. As she prepared to release the anticipated new record, Drake turned out to be one of her loudest supporters, both publicly and behind the scenes.
The rapper quite literally referred to Adele as "one of [his] best friends in the world" in October when he promoted her single "Easy on Me" on his Instagram story around the time of its release. We later learned that Adele privately played 30 for Drake a year ago, hoping to get his feedback.
Adele talked more about the bond she and Drake have during a recent interview with Q, a CBC Radio show, and shared some thoughts on why the two understand each other so well.
"We are a dying breed," she said, referencing both her and Drake's global mega-fame, which has become rarer and more difficult to achieve with the rise of streaming. "There was like 10 of us."
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"I don't think there'll ever be that many of us again at the top doing it the way we were doing it," Adele continued. "We came out before streaming. We came out before all the social media frenzies of, like, you know, 'You've got five seconds to entertain; otherwise, get out.' We existed in the old-school-ness of the industry that we grew up watching and aspiring to [be part of]."
Adele went on to call the friendship she's cultivated with Drake over the years "one of the biggest gifts," since their comparable superstar statuses have contributed to similar life experiences.
"Having access to someone else that knows exactly what it's like to be in a certain position sometimes…if I try and talk to one of my other friends about it, they'll have no idea what I'm talking about. They're like, 'Can't relate!' So they just switch off," she said.
"I can say something to [Drake] and he won't judge me for it, you know?" Adele added. "So to have access to someone that's in the same position as [me] is one of the biggest gifts of my entire career."
