Adele Says 'There's No Bad Blood' Between Her and Phil Collins

"He called me a slippery fish!" she said.

ByABC News
December 1, 2015, 12:21 PM

— -- Back when Adele’s new album was in the incubation stage, the singer had reached out to Phil Collins to help work on some music, he said. Those plans ultimately fell through. But now, Adele has revealed why their collaboration didn't happen: She got cold feet.

Adele explained to Rolling Stone, "I met up with him and he was so nice. He's such a genius. But I met up with him in London super-early, like well before I was starting the record. And I had this song in mind and I can't remember if I gave him a copy of the song or if I gave him a chorus or something, and then I just chickened out of everything.”

She continued, "I went, 'Oh, I'm not ready.' And he called me a slippery fish! I think he interpreted it that I decided I didn't want to work with him, but actually I decided I didn't want to write a record, period, at that point. But yeah, there's no bad blood there, or certainly not on my half."

Adele also gushed to the magazine about another musical legend she admires: Bette Midler.

She called Midler her “absolute f****** hero.”

Adele also credits seeing the icon in concert with inspiring ideas for her own stage show.

“Her voice was amazing, the show was amazing, the humor was amazing,” she said. “It was, like, the best show I've ever, ever seen. And that was in an arena.”

Adele will be hitting the road next year for a European tour beginning in February. Her new album, "25," broke the record for first-week album sales by selling 3.48 million copies.