Adele: ‘I’m not a recluse – but I’m not going to be endorsing any cars یا nail varnishes’ 

Singer Adele photographed by Alex Waespi for the Observer

Last modified on Sunday 15 November 2015 08.28 EST

Adele, whose new single, Hello, went platinum this weekend, three weeks after its release, has spoken frankly in an exclusive interview for the

magazine about keeping the temptations of global fame at arm’s length and learning to deal with her past relationships.

“It sounds obvious, but I think you only learn to love again when you fall in love again,” she says. “I’m in that place. My love is deep and true with my man, and that puts me in a position where I can finally reach out a hand to the ex. Let him know I’m over it.”

When We Were Young, perhaps the most soulful track on her new album,

, released this week, again tackles her feelings for a former boyfriend who dropped her when she was younger. But this time the lyrics display a more resilient attitude than the raw hits on her previous album,

The singing star has returned triumphantly to the music industry this autumn after three years spent cloistered with her boyfriend, Simon Konecki, and their young son, Angelo.

, and it had been awaited with unprecedented interest around the world. The single Hello has now been streamed 4.7 million times by listeners online and more than 600,000 copies have been bought.

Yet Adele confesses it has not been easy to keep a grip on her talent, or to maintain a normal perspective on life. In

, she reveals that her efforts to remain true to her former, unfamous self have meant turning down many lucrative offers.

“What have I said no to? Everything you can imagine. Literally every fucking thing. Books, clothes, food ranges, drink ranges, fitness ranges ... that’s probably the funniest. They wanted me to be the face of a car. Toys. Apps. Candles. It’s like, I don’t want to endorse a line of nail varnishes, but thanks for asking. A million pounds to sing at your birthday party? I’d rather do it for free if I’m doing it, cheers,” she says.

Renowned in recent years for being hard to contact, even for fellow superstars such as Bob Geldof and Phil Collins, Adele Adkins, now 27, denies that she has been hiding herself away and confesses her concern about the public reaction to her new album. “I’m not a recluse,” she insists. “Can we clear that up, please? I didn’t stop going to shops. To parks. To museums. I just wasn’t photographed while doing it.”

The star also speaks of her excitement about working with journalists on

for its launch edition. It was she said, “bloody good luck” that the

Adele on the cover of Observer Music 15 November 2015 Photograph: Alasdair McLellan/Alasdair McLellan/The Observer

In writing about being a guest editor for the magazine she said that its earlier incarnation,

, played a big part in her teenage weekend routine. “I was so excited every Sunday it was out. I’ve still got my collection of about 50 copies that I treasure. Some of them are so worn out from going in and out of my school bag, or being read in the rain at the bus stop waiting for the 468, they are even Sellotaped back together.

“When I got my front cover in 2009 I felt like Michael Jackson. I was so chuffed and proud, I had the cover blown up and put it pride of place in my flat.”

The new album, Adele says, is deliberately not an account of dealing with celebrity status. “I was never going to write my record about ‘Being Someone Really Famous’. Because who cares?” she explains. Her return to recording was instead motivated by a wish for her son to see her as a working woman. “Being a boss,” as she puts it.

All the same the singer has made difficult adjustment. People, she says, tend to stop talking now when she first comes into a room. It is lonely, she admits, and she feels tempted to keep up a performance.

Occasional domestic tasks, like doing the laundry, have helped her to fend off the VIP lifestyle. The danger lies in starting to expect things to be done for you, she says. “I’ve had a few moments like that. And it frightened me,” she admits. “I think it was something simple like running out of clean clothes. And me not having the initiative to wash my own clothes. I was annoyed that my clothes weren’t clean. So I told myself I’d better abseil down and go and do my laundry!”

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