Originally Posted by Urban Hat€monger ?

She wasn't marketed as a pop act, she was marketed as someone to appeal to women older than the usual pop demographic, like I said, the kind of album you buy your mum for Christmas.

And just because you're not aware of it doesn't mean it didn't happen. I saw the whole Adele thing right from the start. She was heavily promoted everywhere right from the start because of the success Amy Winehouse had with that demographic & audience. She was all over daytime TV in appearances and adverts for her album, a time when TV is traditionally aimed at women. Hell she was even called the Sound of 2008 by the BBC before she even released anything. Her first ever US appearance was on Saturday Night Live, how many other non American artists get given that kind of start to break them in the US?
She might not sound the same but then neither did All Saints sound like the Spice Girls and they were signed directly because of the Spice Girls success, the same as Boyzone sounded nothing like Take That but were created to cash in off their fame, the same as The Vines getting signed because of The White Stripes success, it happens over and over again.

Not saying she doesn't have talent but she wouldn't have made 30 million sales without huge amounts of promotion.