Adele says ‘profound’ experience at Iraq War protest inspired her first song: ‘I felt such a sense of power’

Adele has opened up about being inspired to write her first song after attending a protest against the Iraq War.

Appearing on Desert Island Discs on Sunday (3 July), Adele discussed her musical history and how she came to write her debut single “Hometown Glory” as a teenager.

“I was with my friend Olivia, at the time, and my mum and we were at the flat in West Norwood and we were going to the march the following day against the Iraq War, down by Parliament,” she told Lauren Laverne.

“We were making our signs and I felt such a sense of power in that. Me and Olivia were like 15, 16, and we went and I was just mesmerised by everyone. I was really soaking it all in.”

She continued: “That night, when we got back and I got home, I wrote it. It was very profound and I was very proud to walk those streets with a million other people.”

Adele described the song as “the first proper track that I wrote”.

An estimated one million people took to the streets of London to protest against the war in Iraq in February 2003. At the time, it was claimed that the march was the largest political demonstration in the city’s history.

Elsewhere in the interview, Adele discussed the decision to postpone her Las Vegas residency earlier this year.

Despite describing the reaction to the news as “brutal”, Adele said work is going on behind the scenes to get the show running and that she “stands by” the decision to cancel them.