The minute you hear that voice, the hair stands up on the back of your neck and you realize this is someone special.

She’s just 19, but Adele Laurie Blue Adkins—you can call her simply Adele—sings like a woman three times her age, a soul sensation in her native U.K. who is poised to conquer America with 19, her debut album, which comes out in the States on XL /Columbia Records after debuting at #1 in the British charts.