James Corden ‘Couldn’t Have Been Less Shocked’ When His Longtime Friend Adele First Became A Major Star

James Corden and Adele have flaunted their special friendship over the years. Earlier this week, they cried together during the final Carpool Karaoke segment. The singer even shared that her song “I Drink Wine” was inspired by a conversation she had with Corden following her divorce.

Corden appeared on The Howard Stern Show yesterday (April 26) and discussed their friendship. He explained they met in Cardiff before the album 19, Adele’s first, was a hit, and that his wife is friends with her childhood friends. Stern asked him what it was like watching her rise to stardom, and Corden said he wasn’t the least bit surprised.

“I couldn’t have been less shocked,” he said. “I couldn’t have been less shocked. That’s how I went up to her — I went up to her because she has the cover of [Bob Dylan’s] ‘Make You Feel My Love’ on that album and I’m always of the feeling of, ‘How can any cover version be better than the original because it couldn’t exist without the original.’ But I think that there’s a couple that come real, real close, like Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie,’ James Blake’s ‘A Case Of You,’ and Adele’s ‘Make You Feel My Love’ and it’s extraordinary.”

He continued, “What’s amazing with her is that there’s this seismic gap between the artist and her. Spend enough time with her personally, you can forget. And then she’ll just sing along to something and you’re like, ‘Oh my god.’ I think she is a generational talent. I couldn’t be less shocked.”

Watch the clip above.