James Corden was joined by a close friend and popstar Adele for his last-ever Carpool Karaoke as his time on the Late Late Show comes to an end - and the pair became emotional as they discussed the TV personality’s career.
Adele revealed that she wrote I Drink Wine after a conversation with James when he was struggling with difficulties with social media, writing: “This song is very special to both of us. We don’t have to talk a lot about it, but the first verse of this which I think is some of my best writing if I do say so myself, was inspired by a conversation that you and I had had… we were on our way home [from a vacation] and my mood had changed, it was the first year that I felt like I had to hold myself accountable for just being an adult.
“You and Jules and the kids were so integral in looking after me. You used to do it with humour as well… you were always an adult to me. You’d always give me advice.” Added that during the journey home James seemed down, she revealed they had a conversation where he admitted to feeling low, continuing: “It was work stuff, and the internet.
“It got me thinking, I felt so unsafe, with you feeling so unsafe, because you’ve always been - since I was 21 - you’ve always been like that. I went into the studio later and I wrote this. And you said, ‘That’s exactly how I was feeling.’”
The opening verse lyrics read: “How can one become so bounded/By choices that somebody else makes?/How come we've both become a version/ Of a person we don't even like?
“We're in love with the world/But the world just wants to bring us down/By putting ideas in our heads/That corrupt our hearts somehow.”
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Speaking about the tune, James added: “I was floored. How you’d managed to take everything I was feeling about myself and life and just put it in a verse. It’s the greatest privilege from a conversation so honest between two friends that you would create such a thing, it blows my mind.”
They also discussed how Carpool Karaoke became a success, with James explaining: “Things like Carpool, no one would do it. But then Mariah Carey said yes, and we were buzzing… Mariah comes out and the first thing she says to me is, ‘I’ll do the chat, but I ain’t singing,’ and I said, ‘What do I do?’ and they said, ‘You’ve just got to get her singing.’”
“There’ve been ones throughout which have changed it. Stevie Wonder changed it, because when he did, other artists were like, ‘If Stevie Wonder’s done it, I’ll do it.’”
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