Adele's latest album was based on her drunken diary entries.

The 'Someone Like You' hitmaker penned '21' in the aftermath of a relationship ending and she admits most of her lyrics came from the emotional outpourings contained in her journal.

She explained: ''I started drinking again. I'd been off it for six months but once I started I'd get drunk and end up admitting things to myself in my diary.

''Later, when I was sober, I'd read through it all. The songs, The Emotions, were all in there.''

Despite the critical acclaim and awards success Adele has received for '21', she insists she doesn't want it to be the album which defines her career because she feels she still has a lot to offer and wants to be able to try different things with her music.

She added in an interview with the New Edition of Q magazine: ''The funny thing is I still don't know what my sound is. I mean, it's only my second album.

''I want my defining album to be, like, my fifth. I mean that. There's still a lot I want to do.''