Adele has revealed that her record-breaking album '21' was compiled mostly from drunken ramblings in her diary. 

The 'Someone Like You' singer explained to The Sun newspaper that a lot of her lyrics were taken from journals she kept in her late teenage years because they seemed the most poignant and honest:

"I used to have to lock myself away in my house, get pretty drunk and write a drunk diary - and that was the first time I could admit things to myself."

"A drunk tongue is an honest one in my opinion and the next morning I would read it through with an awful hangover and, in the cold light of day, had to absorb my feelings about myself. I was a bit scared that I wouldn't be articulate enough."

Although she doesn't feel the need to rely on alcohol for creative inspiration, she added that it definitely helps as it breaks down walls that would otherwise prevent the acceptance of her flaws:

"When I was 18 or 19 I didn't regret anything, I was very much a teenager and thought I knew it all and that there was nothing else I could learn. I started realising my own flaws and my disappointments and I started regretting a lot of stuff. It was quite an awakening."

Watch her perform 'Turning Tables' at the iTunes Festival below: