Adele Pranks Her Impersonators When She Disguises Herself at Audition

Getty Images | Kevin Winter

Imitating another singer’s voice can be quite a challenge, especially if it is of the British singer-songwriter Adele.

Adele’s voice has won her millions of fans and many impersonators. As the old saying goes, “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

The singer has a good sense of humor and loves to interact with fans, so she took part in an incredible prank staged by presenter Graham Norton.

In a video of the stunt posted by BBC America in 2016, a whole bevy of Adele cover artists and impersonators were ready to audition. However, backstage, the makeup and costume artists were working to disguise the real Adele.

Her disguise had Norton in stitches as she walked in a with a low, smooth voice saying, “Hello, I’m Jenny.” Laughing, Norton said, “you look so not yourself.“ Adele realized that she needed to cover her hands with gloves so her fans wouldn’t recognize the tattoos. As for her face, Adele said ”[the makeup artist] made my eyes more catty, and I’ve got a fake chin and a fake nose, and she’s drawn my lips smaller.”

If it weren’t for Norton explaining the switch at the beginning, it’s probably likely that many of her fans watching at home wouldn’t have realized it was actually Adele! She even invented a day job as a nanny for “Jenny,” which explained her voice “because nannies talk very slow and very calm, to try and make the world make sense.”

Then, it was time for “Jenny” to join the impersonators for their auditions. The competitors had to sing the Bob Dylan song “Make You Feel My Love,” which Adele included on her first album.

As the impersonators waited for their turn, they chatted about being in the business, and of course the artist they love and try to incarnate onstage. Meanwhile, Jenny stood right next to them, nodding her head and trying not to say too much.

Jenny had a hard time holding back when two contestants started discussing her forthcoming album. “I can’t wait for the new album. New music,” said one woman. “She’s taking her time,” said another. “Try saying that to her face,” another impersonator jokes, not realizing that they just had. The camera zooms in on “Jenny’s” face as another one talks about what Adele’s reaction would be.

One after the other, the impersonators went up onstage giving their best Adele rendition. They even joked about the time that Adele famously took her shoes off at the Royal Albert Hall in 2012 because her feet were hurting. “So if my feet hurt, I might take them off. Is that fair, girls?” one of the contestants asks the group, getting the thumbs up from Jenny.

At this point, Jenny claims that she doesn’t feel well, which allows her to take the last spot in the audition. When she goes up onstage, she pretends to have a case of stagefright, missing her cue from the pianist the first time around. The other impersonators are fairly sympathetic: “she was really nervous, apparently [...] she had to sit down.”

But the second time around is a charm as Jenny starts to sing. Within a couple of seconds, most of the contestants are shocked. “You are joking me!” one of them says out loud. “That’s her, that’s her,” another says. “It’s not her!” insists another contestant. One by one though, they recognize Adele’s voice, and one impersonator’s jaws even drops. “Oh, my lord!”

Finally, the impersonators are singing along with Adele. As she sang the lyrics, “I could make you happy / Make your dreams true,” one contestant said, “my dream’s come true!”

As Norton goes up on the stage, he announces, “Adeles, meet your Adele,” to a big round of applause.

For these people who make their living being “Adele,” to meet her in real life was the chance of a lifetime. As impersonator Katie Markham told ITV: “The whole experience was mind-blowing. It is almost overwhelming to think that we met our idol.”