Adele

Hitfix’s excellent summer festival rundown by Katie Hasty shows fans where to find their favorites like Eminem, Kanye West and Coldplay will be playing this summer. Notice one name that’s noticeably absent from the festival circuit? That would be Adele.

That’s because the singer, whose album “21”will spend its 9th week atop the Billboard 200 this week, is too afraid to play for such a huge audience. “I will not do festivals,” she tells Britain’s Q Magazine (via The Independent). “The thought of an audience that big frightens the life out of me. I don’t think the music would work either. It’s all too slow.” Adele, who is on a sold-out theater tour in the U.S.  has made no secret of her stage fright.

She also blasts artists who allow their music to be used for commercials. “I think it’s shameful when you sell out,” she tells Q. “I don’t want my name anywhere near another brand. I don’t want to be tainted or haunted.”  While this is definitely a difference between allowing your music to be licensed for usage in a movie or TV show and letting it be used to sell a product, we aren’t really sure that most people can tell the difference when someone’s music is blaring from a commercial promoting a television show, as Adele’s has been for a number of ABC series.

In a strong response in the Village Voice today, new music editor Maura Johnston says that if Adele wants to present herself as “some sort of anti-selling out princess,” it is a “snowjob.” To be sure, the singer has hardly become a recluse when it comes to giving interviews or promoting her own projects.

Adele also says she was “furious” when her record label re-released “19” with extra tracks. She says, “I said ‘No,’ and they did it anyway.” She may have enough clout to keep that from happening with “21,” but we doubt it.