BBC Radio 1’s Adele Roberts streamed Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero’ on repeat to stick it to the homophobes
The DJ and presenter reflects on the songs that have uniquely shaped her life in a new series from Attitude and Spotify.
By Will Stroude
In paid partnership with Spotify
After being catapulted straight to Number One last month, Lil Nas X’s ‘Montero (Call me By Your Name)’ is still riding high in the charts – and it turns out Lil Nas might have a certain BBC Radio 1 DJ to thank for a good proportion of those countless streams.
As Adele Roberts joins Attitude for a brand new video series in partnership with Spotify, which sees LGBTQ stars reveal the songs that have shaped their lives, the radio host reveals she and her fiancée stuck the 22-year-old’s unabashedly queer single on repeat in response to the anti-gay backlash to the track’s hell-raising video (which came complete with a devilish good lapdance).
Asked to name her most-played track, Adele reveals that ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’ rocketed up her Spotify most-played list as she hit the repeat button in a show of solidarity with the trailblazing gay singer.
“I streamed this constantly for about a day because when he released the video to the song it caused a lot of controversy and a lot of people were quite nasty to him, so I wanted to show support”, declares Adele, who currently hosts Radio 1’s Weekend Breakfast Show.
“Me and my girlfriend got on Spotify and we were streaming!”
Adele, who grew up in Merseyside before shooting to fame as a housemate on the third series of Big Brother in 2002, knows more than most the power of music when it comes to navigating the world as an LGBTQ person – and has plenty of uniquely personal musical moments to reflect on as she opens up to Attitude and Spotify.
The radio personality, who fronted the BBC 1Xtra & Radio 1 documentary Coming Out in 2013, says there’s one song that stands out when she casts her mind back to life in the closet back in the early ’90s.
“It’s not really a Pride classic, but the song that spoke to me when I was coming out was Otis Reading’s ‘Sitting On the Dock of the Bay’,” Adele says.
“I’m from a place called Southport, a beautiful seaside town, and I used to go down to the beach and look out across the sea and think ‘One day I’ll leave Southport and I’ll go to another place and I’ll be able to become who I am inside’.
“And that song just reminded me of feeling like that – just sitting on the pier and thinking that…
Fighting back tears, she adds: “I don’t want to cry!”
To mark the release of Only Adele Roberts, Spotify via the Attitude Magazine Foundation will make a £500 donation to Adele’s charity of choice, Switchboard LGBT, which provides a one-stop listening service for LGBTQ people on the phone, by email and through Instant Messaging.
Adele, who has been living as the person she is on the inside ever since leaving the sounds of that Southport pier behind, is now looking forward to even happier days ahead as she plans her wedding with her wife-to-be.
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“I’ve been told what’s going to serenade me down the aisle thanks to my wonderful fiancée, Kate, and it’s going to be Glenn Miller’s ‘Moonlight Serenade’, I think!” the radio host exclaims when asked about the beats that will back her big day.
“Our first dance is going to be Chaka Khan, ‘Fate’ – and if I ever win the lottery, I’m going to buy Chaka Khan, fly her over to the UK and make her sing it in our faces.”
Listen to the Only Adele Roberts playlist on Spotify and below. To discover more about your own unique listening habits, visit spotify.com/onlyyou.