Adele gives tantalising clues to man who helped her overcome marriage heartbreak in new single Oh My God

ADELE has made millions from playing out her deepest heartaches on smash-hit singles such as Someone Like You, Rolling In The Deep and Hello.

But after channelling the pain of her divorce from Simon Konecki into long-awaited fourth album 30 last year, she seems to have finally found happiness.

The superstar from Tottenham, North London, has been dating US sports agent Rich Paul since last year.

And speaking about the relationship for the first time in November, she gushed: “He’s great. He’s so f***ing funny, he’s so smart.”

Last week’s release of the video for her single Oh My God — which sees her bite a “forbidden” apple — got fans once again looking to her past relationships.

A teaser clip from the video released on January 8 showed Adele, 33, in a flowing red gown, holding the apple in front of her face.

And the full video, released on Wednesday, sees her singing in a warehouse littered with spilled apples — and with a python coiled over a chair.

Adele is first seen in silhouette in front of a halo, before lights come on showing her in a priestess-style gown.

As she sings, several versions of her move across the screen while a troupe of dancers perform around her.

In one scene a couple of dancers begin to undress each other before collapsing on to a mattress.

Lyrics for the track include: “I know that it’s wrong but I want to have fun. Maybe, baby, I’m just losing my mind.

"’Cos this is trouble, but it feels right. Teetering on the edge of heaven and hell is a battle that I cannot fight.”

"‘She and Ludwig shared intense, late-night talks’.

Introducing the video to her fans this week, Adele described it as her “I’m a hot mess” song.

And the explicit temptation theme written through the film sparked a wave of speculation over the identity of the man who inspired the track.

But sources last night claimed to have the answer to the riddle — naming Adele’s collaborator on the 30 album, Swedish music producer Ludwig Goransson.

The 37-year-old Grammy and Oscar-winning composer — who is named after German great Ludwig Van Beethoven — worked with Adele on the tracks Strangers By Nature and Wild Wild West.

One source told how the pair became friends as they worked together on 30 and Adele confided in Ludwig about her anxieties.

The source said: “Adele began working with Ludwig at around the time she was experiencing her marriage to Simon ending.

“She has said often in the past that when she is going through something difficult the studio is her safe place, and this was no exception.

“She and Ludwig developed a close friendship and they shared some very intense, late-night conversations about their lives and relationships.

“He was then engaged to his now wife Serena, so there is no suggestion that anything romantic happened between them. “He was supporting her as a friend.

But Adele did seem to be very drawn to him for a short time and it was noticed by those around her.

“She was a bit like a moth to a flame. So when this song was unveiled there was speculation that Ludwig at least partly inspired her.”

Ludwig — who bears a striking resemblance to Adele’s ex Simon — made his name writing music for US sitcoms Community and New Girl.

I know that it’s wrong but I want to have fun. Maybe, baby, I’m just losing my mind. ’Cos this is trouble but it feels right.

Oh My God, Adele

He then began collaborating musically with Donald Glover, from US sitcom Community, in the actor’s other guise as rapper Childish Gambino — who Adele has told of being into “for donkey’s years”.

Ludwig’s soundtrack for the 2015 Rocky film spin-off Creed earned him a handful of award nominations, then in 2018 he won an Oscar and a Grammy for his score for the Marvel film Black Panther, and two further Grammys for the hit Gambino song This Is America.

In the same year he married his fiancée, American violinist Serena McKinney.

They live in a £4.8million mansion in the Los Angeles suburb of Los Feliz.

Adele sang Ludwig’s praises last year in an article in online magazine The Face about the team behind the 30 album.

She said: “We just really got on, and the chords and cadences that he has in his bank — I’ve never heard anything like it. “He’s the coolest guy. There’s something about Scandinavians that’s different. I don’t know where they get their f***ing ideas from but they are incredible.

In another interview, with Rolling Stone magazine, she told how each of the recording sessions for the album began with a “six-hour therapy session”, and said that while she was working on Strangers with Ludwig, she was a “hot mess”.

She also revealed how she was first drawn to the composer when their paths crossed in Los Angeles — where she admitted to seeking out Europeans.

Adele recalled: “I met him at a party and I was like, ‘He’s definitely European, that guy’.”

In April 2019 it was revealed that Adele had split from Simon — dad to their nine-year-old son Angelo — after they had kept the break-up secret for several months.

And in September 2019 The Sun revealed that she had been on dates with British rapper and fellow Tottenham star Skepta.

The pair, who were said to have been in regular contact since her split from Simon, had got together several times, including for a trip to immersive attraction The Crystal Maze Experience in London’s West End to celebrate the grime star’s 37th birthday in September 2019.

Adele began working with Ludwig around the time her marriage to Simon was ending. They developed a close friendship and shared intense, late-night talks about their relationships.

Sun source

Skepta — real name Joseph Junior Adenuga — is understood to be the secret lover who last year Adele revealed she considered part of her marriage breakdown, even though they dated after the split.

Speaking in November, Adele said: “I was unable to pretend that I wasn’t in my own storm.

“I couldn’t give myself properly. I couldn’t be consistent, and neither could he.

“I associate him with the breakdown of my marriage. So therefore, he is part of the storm.”

In October 2020 Adele seemed to confirm the end of her romance with Skepta on US TV show Saturday Night Live, in which she said she was going back to life as a “single cat lady”.

Adele — with a fortune estimated last year at around £130million — has been linked to Rich since they were spotted in July at a basketball game in Arizona.

And in her comeback interview with Vogue magazine in November, she revealed that she had been out with other men since the split.

She said: “I did date before Rich, but they hated it. They’d find it stressful being out or seen with me, which meant that I guarded all of it. It never evolved because we were never experiencing things together.

“Whereas Rich is not frazzled by it at all.

“It feels like it’s consistent and considerate enough that I don’t care who knows.”