Adele is a British singer whose name spawned several internet moments including her 2011 charity-driven Twitter takeover and a January 2012 death hoax that trended on Twitter.

Where did Adele come from?

The meme uses of her name started with a December 4th, 2011 Twitter promise to take over her own @OfficialAdele account if 10,000 users followed the charity @drop4drop.

What does Adele mean?

In internet slang, to Adele someone means to suddenly open contact with them, usually an ex, out of guilt or curiosity.

How do you use Adele?

The verb is typically used as a warning against messaging an ex, as in 'don't Adele him', playing on the tone of her breakup songs.

Is Adele still popular?

The meme uses of Adele's name peaked around her 2011 Twitter takeover and 2012 death hoax; the slang verb usage still surfaces in Urban Dictionary entries.

Adele

2011celebrity / internet slangclassic

Published August 15, 2026

Adele is a British singer whose name became attached to multiple internet memes between 2011 and 2012. These include her viral December 2011 Twitter takeover for the drop4drop charity, a January 2012 RIP Adele death hoax that trended on Twitter, and an Urban Dictionary verb meaning to suddenly text an ex.

celebrity nickname memes hoax memes urban dictionary memes music memes british memes

Overview

Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, known publicly by the mononym Adele, is a British singer whose enormous online following turned her name into recurring internet material during the early 2010s3. Her breakout from 'Rolling in the Deep' and the album 21 gave her one of the largest social media footprints of any musician at the time, with 18 million Facebook likes counted by February 2012.

Beyond her music, the word 'Adele' picked up a second life as slang. Urban Dictionary defines to Adele someone as opening communication with a person out of the blue, usually an ex, often out of guilt or curiosity2. The verb draws directly on the confessional breakup themes running through her songwriting.

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Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter

Date

2011

Adele the singer built her online presence starting December 31st, 2004, when she registered a Myspace account to host MP3s of her early recordings3. Her official Twitter handle @OfficialAdele went live on August 30th, 2010, but the first tweets from the account were posted by an assistant beginning September 14th, 2010, and the singer stayed silent on the account for nearly a year.

The internet moment that kicked off the memeification came on December 4th, 2011. She announced she would take over her own Twitter account personally if 10,000 users followed the English clean-water non-profit @drop4drop1.

How It Spread

After the follower target was hit the next day, Adele fired off her first personal tweet: 'F*ck me that was quick! ThankU! I'm in bed, watchin Gladiator, eatin an apple', paired with a photo of herself holding a picture of Beyoncé1.

The takeover was picked up by E! Online, She Knows Entertainment, and the Huffington Post, turning a charity milestone into a mainstream celebrity story. Weeks later, on January 28th, 2012, 'RIP Adele' trended on Twitter as a death hoax that the International Business Times and Gossip Cop both debunked within the day3.

By the mid-2010s the name detached from the person entirely to become slang. Urban Dictionary entries define Adele as a verb meaning to unexpectedly reach out to an ex, playing on the ex-obsessive tone of songs like 'Someone Like You' and 'Hello'2.

How to Use This Meme

To Adele someone means to send an unexpected message to a former partner you had been silently thinking about2. The verb is typically used as a warning ('don't Adele him') or a confession, and pulls its charge from the emotional excavation of Adele's breakup ballads.