Adele Discusses The Inspirational ‘Never Been Kissed’ And How She Met Ryan Tedder

Adele gave several comical anecdotes while sitting down for a track-by-track video rundown of her new album 21, which was released in the UK this week and is due out in the States on February 22. In particular, she talked about the song “One And Only,” which, Adele points out, is about a male friend she hasn’t been romantically involved with but is convinced she’ll marry one day.

“When I wrote the middle eight—it’s really cheesy,” she laughs. “The night before I wrote the middle eight I watched Never Been Kissed, with Drew Barrymore in it.” Uh oh.

The 22-year-old British songstress went on to explain how she got inspiration from the high school-themed 1999 romantic comedy.

“You know at the end when she describes being kissed as the whole world slows down and goes in slow motion, everything else goes blurry… I kind of see it like that,” she says in the song-by-song preview video. “Whenever I hear the bridge it really is sort of like that, and it’s quite epic. I mean, I don’t think Never Been Kissed is a particularly epic movie…”

Hey—speak for yourself, lady!

Adele also discussed how she came to work with Ryan Tedder on 21 track “Turning Tables” after a chance meeting.

“The Grammys in 2009—we were both staying in the same hotel,” she says. “I got in the elevator with about a hundred heart balloons. Then Ryan got in as well and all he could hear is my cackle, which I think has become a bit infamous. And he was kind of searching through the balloons to find me, and we were like, ‘Amazing. We’ve definitely got to work together now’.”

Back in December 2009, Ryan Tedder talked to us about collaborating with the UK songstress. “I’m working with Adele right now, who’s inspiring me like crazy. I hadn’t written a song in about a month, literally, until yesterday. The less I write, the better the songs are.”