Secret Behind Adele & James Corden’s Karaoke Genuis Unveiled! Producer Says They Had to ‘Kill Things You Love’ for the Video

This year is Adele’s year, and it just became more apparent when she appeared in this quirky karaoke clip with James Corden last week.

Adele was not the first one to do this karaoke drive by with Corden since big stars like One Direction, Carrie Underwood, and even Stevie Wonder have already become a part of the series before. However, none of them amassed anything like Adele’s karaoke success.

Adele also did a skit December last year when she was promoting her album. Produced by BBC, Adele had to dress up and wear prosthetics to play an “Adele Impersonator” role. She was with the other Adele impersonators who were auditioning for a gig. The impersonators were all astounded to find out it was really Adele behind the mask.

Getting Adele to Karaoke

Having a laidback personality, one can expect Adele to be the best drive-around buddy. But, getting Adele to appear on a karaoke segment was the hard part. The Late Late Show with James Corden producer Ben Winston told Vulture that it was quite a challenge.

Winston had already pitched the idea to Adele’s team, but they had to say no because Adele was not doing any interviews or appearances until after they launched her album. Then, when the album had launched, Winston immediately contacted Adele’s team and asked them if they remembered his pitch. The immediately said yes, and it was an easy exchange of rendezvous details.

“‘Okay. December 21, 12:30 at this address. Does this work for you?’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, that can’t be right. Has someone hacked my email?'” Winston recalled.

Adele’s Ready

It was a rainy Monday when they shot for the scene. They initially planned to shoot for about an hour, but Adele was having a great time, so they extended for a couple more hours. This change of schedule was quite unlikely for “big Hollywood names,” considering they are almost always busy. However, Winston said Adele has none of that.

“She’s a remarkable woman. She is the biggest star, I would say, in the world right now. But yet she’s the most down-to-earth, lovely girl you could meet. I used to produce the Brit Awards when James hosted it, and she was on it a couple of times. I was always struck by how wonderful she was, even then. You sometimes wonder if success will change someone, but it wasn’t with her. She’s as wonderful as you would hope she would be.”

Cutting Was the Hardest Part

The entire clip was full of Adele goodness. Because of the massive content, they tried to create a full-hour show just based on the recording. The first draft was cut into 54 minutes. This time, they had removed all the unnecessary scenes, like the ones when they had to leave the car or other private encounters.

Though the fans would not complain if they got to watch Adele sing karaoke for 54 minutes, Winston and his co-exec producer Rob Crabbe had to make the hard decision of trimming down the clip.

“I think you’ve got to be sort of strict with yourself, and kill things that you love. There were some amazing, amazing bits in there. But we chose what we felt was the best 14, 15 minutes.”

Winston also shared how he and Corden discussed his contribution to the karaoke clips. Usually, Corden would be hitting the high notes together with the star. But, Adele’s voice is so precious they wanted to highlight her moments in the show. Corden joined in from time to time and it was just the right balance.

“When he’s not singing, he’s admiring this genius gift. In the end, it was like watching two old friends have a blast,” said Winston.

As for Adele Karaoke Part 2, Winston said they do not want to push things to the limit.

“I think that you’ve got to not take advantage of things, and not make people feel like they’ve seen enough. The best television always leaves you wanting more.”

Check out the most talked about carpool this year in the video below.

[Image Credit: YouTube/The Late Late Show with James Corden]