Adele’s in press mode in support of her upcoming album 25, and her first major profile is with Rolling Stone, who followed her around for a bit, quizzing her about new music and her bevy of collaborators for this LP cycle. One of those collaborators was Blur’s Damon Albarn, who went on record a few months ago saying that his songs probably didn’t make the cut, and called her “middle of the road” and “insecure.” Adele addressed the experience in the profile:

It ended up being one of those ‘don’t meet your idol’ moments. And the saddest thing was that I was such a big Blur fan growing up. But it was sad, and I regret hanging out with him. […] None of it was right. None of it suited my record. He said I was insecure, when I’m the least-insecure person I know. I was asking his opinion about my fears, about coming back with a child involved — because he has a child — and then he calls me insecure?

She worked with Max Martin, Ryan Tedder, Sia, Bruno Mars, Danger Mouse, and Tobias Jesso Jr. on the album, as well. “It’s impossible to question why she’s where she is once you sit down with her to write a song,” Jesso said of his experience. “She was the first introduction I had to somebody who could sing words on the spot that were actually really great.”

Adele also weighed in on a number of her musical contemporaries: She likes FKA twigs, Alabama Shakes, and Kanye West. “I’m just fucking waiting for Frank fucking Ocean to come out with his album. It’s taking so fucking long,” she also noted. (Same!) And she has the same “paradise” hand tattoo as Lana Del Rey: “She probably thinks I’m, like, some mad fangirl. I mean, I am a Lana fangirl, but not a crazy one.”

The singer commented on the now-ubiquitous idea of squads, and what hers looks like:

“I’ve heard about a squad. I wish my squad was all supermodels. We are, in our brains. I guess I have my own squad. It’s not as interesting as some of the other squads that are around right now. But maybe Rihanna can be in my squad! That would be really cool. Oh, God. She’s life itself, isn’t she? I love her.”

And she talked about the influence of Madonna’s Ray Of Light on 25:

You know what I found so amazing about that record? That’s the record Madonna wrote after having her first child, and for me, it’s her best. I was so all over the place after having a child, just because my chemicals were just hitting the fucking roof and shit like that. […] I was just drifting away, and I couldn’t find that many examples for myself where I was like, ‘Fuck, they truly came back to themselves,’ until someone was like, ‘Well, obviously, Ray of Light.’

25 is out 11/20, and “Hello” is already breaking records left and right.