Adele issued an apology for cancelling her Las Vegas residency at the very last minute.
But her body language clues revealed that she was not being that sincere, and you're
about to see it for yourself.
Welcome back, my body language buddies!
my name is Jesús Enrique Rosas, I'm the Body Language Guy, and it would be great if you
join us by just liking this video, subscribing and hitting that bell! let's get down to it!
This cancellation was a shock, because it was less than 24 hours before the first show,
and many fans had travelled from all over the world to see her live.
And regardless of the reasons she gave for this decision, many people pointed out that
she did not look sincere, like, actually being sorry for the huge inconvenience.
I noticed very important signals in the first few seconds of the video, and this is one
of the best suggestions that I can give you, when analyzing any kind of apology.
Pay extreme attention at the first few seconds, or even frames, of the clip.
When the person hasn't started their message.
Chances are, they might not have put their 'apology mask' yet, so you can spot the real
emotion at that moment.
In Adele's case, what you're looking at is the first two seconds of the recording.
It's easy to spot that this is not really a 'sad' attitude, but more like she's upset.
Well, maybe she's upset for the fact that she had to make this decision, but when you
take a look at the very first frame of the video, her facial expression is one of arrogance.
She's got her chin up, and her jaw is pushing forward.
That's a chin jut, that is a classic display of anger.
I understand that this could be a moment of conflicting emotions, but if you're going
to give an apology, these kind of emotional displays just don't fit.
Because in body language we have to talk about intentions.
The intention, in this case, is create a video to apologize to her fans for her cancellation.
Maybe she had been upset and angry for whatever happened to the show, but this moment is for
her fans.
Unless she was angry for having to apologize.
But we don't have enough clues... yet.
Now, this video was from her Instagram, and you usually have to confirm that videos in
platforms such as this one are not flipped.
Like a mirror.
The easiest way to confirm that this video is not flipped is Adele's tattoos.
Those are her left hand tattoos, so that's how we confirm that the image is not flipped.
In other cases you can use letters in the background, or the person's hairline, or buttons
so you can check this.
Because knowing if the image is flipped or not, is important to analyze eye direction,
as in what is the most frequent direction of the person's gaze.
And there are three moments when Adele's eyes go really far to her right, which is our creative
side.
Remember that our left side is our memory side, if our eyes go to our left, it's because
we are remembering
If our eyes go to our right, it's because we are creating, on the fly.
So, watch the three moments and spot when she turns her eyes to her creative side:
- Half my crew, half my team are down with COVID.
They still are.
And it's been impossible to finish the show.
- We've been awake for over 30 hours, trying to figure out...
- We're going...
we're gonna reschedule all the dates, we're on it right now, uhm... and I'm gonna finish
my show"
Ok, let's start with number 2.
"We've been awake for over 30 hours".
Maybe it's a stretch, maybe SOME of the crew has been awake for 30 hours, but we should
take this with a grain of salt.
Then, clip number one.
"Half my crew, half my team are down with COVID".
Notice that she emphasizes, saying "they still are".
Those words are unnecesary.
That is not incriminating per se, but you have to be aware of words that don't add to
what the person is saying.
Like verbal fluff.
Maybe it's real that half the crew was down... but it might not be the real reason behind
the cancellation.
And finally, clip number three.
"We're gonna reschedule all the dates, and I'm gonna finish my show".
Well, my suggestion for those of you who wanted to see Adele at Las Vegas...
uhh, don't hold your breath.
Because it looks like she's gonna pull a Domination on this one.
The real problem here is that we trust people in regards of the empathy they build with
us.
And of course, Adele has an extremely faithful fanbase, but it doesn't take away the fact
that her fans are really frustrated about this.
So, when they looked at the apology, they noticed, at least subconsciously, that there
was a very important thing missing.
There's no emotion on her eyebrows.
And when someone is sad, the inner eyebrows are going to get closer and even rise a little.
I know, you're going to jump and say, "well!
she must be using botox!
that's why her eyebrows don't move!"
This is why it's important to research the body language baseline, or usual emotional
displays of the person to confirm, in this case, if they use botox or if their eyebrows
can move.
So I looked for some of her recent videos and noticed that yes, her eyebrows CAN move
and CAN get closer.
There is one good example that is quite recent, and it's this video from November 2021.
She was recording with her phone and singing, and right at the 4:48 minute mark, she does
this expression.
Only her inner eyebrows are raised.
Not the whole eyebrows, but just the inner part.
You'll agree with me that this picture has much more emotion and intensity than whatever
she was trying to do with her apology.
For refererence, let's rewind all the way back to 2015 just to get another example,
in this live performance.
Again, only the inner part of her eyebrows are raised.
It's safe to say that Adele doesn't use botox, and if she does, it doesn't prevent her from
showing these facial emotions.
Of course, when she's ACTUALLY feeling them.
Just to confirm, let's fast forward near the end of her apology video and make a very interesting
exercise.
Let's split the screen in two.
Her mouth wants to project sadness.
There's no way of missing the lip corners pulled down.
But when we focus on her eyes and her eyebrows, besides a tired look, that maybe she has been
crying, or losing sleep...
there is no expression, at all, on her eyebrows.
And that is a very important tell about her true feelings throughout this apology.
She is not invested emotionally in this.
There are other signals that just don't match someone that really feels what they are claiming
to feel.
Like, I said that she could have been crying, but her eyes are not red.
You can confirm that here.
Also, most of the time she's using her left hand to cover her face.
Wether it's the side of her face, or her mouth, or her neck...
All these are signals of being upset and defensive, which could very well be the result of cancelling
the shows, but at the same time those are common signals of untrustworthiness and even
deceit, when you are covering your face or neck in any way.
It's like, you're trying to hide something.
It's really important to remember that there is no single body language clue that can tell
the whole story, and we have to stack them, one by one, so we can reach a better conclusion.
The problem with Adele's apology is that you should never try to fake an emotion that you're
not actually feeling, because people will, even subconsciously, pick it up.
Delays happen, sometimes things don't go as planned, only that it's baffling that a show
of this scope was cancelled with such a short notice and with so many signals that the reasons
she's giving, well...
don't look like they happened the way she claims.
I think that in this kind of apologies, people try to look authentic and spontaneous, but
they end up looking like trying too hard.
You know what's really authentic and spontaneous?
coming clean.
It's never going to be easy, but at least your fanbase is not going to feel played.
After all, they were the ones that put you up there.
So, if you want to acquire, polish and master this skill, you can get my Complete Guide
on How To Read Face Emotions, right in the description of this video.
My name is Jesús Enrique Rosas and it will always be a pleasure, my body language buddies!
Much Love, and Bliss.