TV host costs his network an interview with Adele after failing to listen to '30'
An Australian TV host has apologised after admitting to Adele during an interview that he hadn’t listened to her new album ’30’.
Matt Doran – from Channel 7 – flew from Sydney to London on November 4 to sit down with Adele for her one and only Australian interview to promote her latest record, but during the chat he admitted he hadn’t heard the album.
This admission led to the singer’s label, Sony Music, withholding the interview footage, which was part of a rights package that had cost Channel 7 A$1m (£500,000), according to Australian media (via BBC News).
Doran has since apologised and said that he had missed an email with a preview copy of the album sent to him ahead of its release.
“It was an oversight but not a deliberate snub,” he told The Australian newspaper. “This is the most important email I have ever missed.”
The presenter, who co-hosts a show called Weekend Sunrise, has denied reports he had been suspended from Channel 7, after being absent from on-air duties.
Back at it with the boys! This one is going to be pretty special … ?@7newsspotlight #london @ London, United Kingdom https://t.co/LZcgxZAV2A
— Matt Doran (@mattdoran22) November 3, 2021
’30’, the follow-up to 2015’s ’25’, arrived on November 19, having been previously previewed by the comeback single ‘Easy On Me’ as well as ‘Hold On’. Adele confirmed that the new material delves into the aftermath of her 2019 divorce from Simon Konecki, explaining that ’30’ was her most personal and “sensitive” album to date.
Elsewhere, Adele revealed that ‘I Drink Wine’ was originally much longer than the six-minute track that appears on ’30’. Speaking to Rolling Stone, she said: “[The label] was like, ‘Listen, everyone loves you, but no one’s playing a 15-minute song on radio.’”
In a three-star review of ’30’, NME wrote: “This devastating level of honesty means that, despite its more experimental moments, ‘30’ still winds up feeling like trademark Adele, in its own way, most of the time. And after fair accusations of playing it safe musically in the past, it’s refreshing to see the pop titan treading braver territory – even if the hit-rate isn’t 100 per cent.”
Last night (November 21), Adele paid tribute to Grenfell survivors and firefighters during her ITV special An Audience With.
The singer, who performed tracks from ‘30‘, invited a host of celebrities to the show alongside those who had survived the 2017 tragedy.
The streaming platform confirmed on Saturday (November 20) that it had agreed to Adele’s request, which the singer initially made so that her latest album ’30’ would be played in the order that it was curated.
“This was the only request I had in our ever changing industry!” Adele tweeted. “We don’t create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason. Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended,” she continued, before thanking the platform. “Anything for you,” Spotify tweeted in response.
