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"Authenticity" has become a big part of the music conversation - usually among musicians and critics more than rank-and-file listeners, but still, the talk about who's raps are more "real" has certainly become more commonplace. The "authenticity" argument stalks through London's music circles too - when Kate Nash began to get some attention about a year ago, some people started grousing about how she would affect a working class street accent even though she was from a more upper class family.

Adele poses no such problem - as a genuine south Londoner, she could do the streetwise thing and no one could say boo about it because it's who she is. But she doesn't do that - instead she name checks the great blues singer Etta James and writes songs with clear roots in classic R&B and soul. Is that an authentic thing for a young Londoner to do? Seems like millions of listeners couldn't care less - her first record, 19 (her age at the time), has been a huge smash. And the songwriting somehow doesn't give the impression of trying to grab a ride on an industry trend - the whole Adele story has the air of a happy accident about it.

The point is, authenticity can be a difficult thing to gauge; you're basically trying to determine whether a piece of music is a cynical, calculated financial ploy, or a genuine expression of the artist's vision. Those two are not mutually exclusive, either - a song can be a bit of one and a lot of the other, for example. Usually, we can't really answer that question until a few years have passed.

Tell us: What do you think of Adele's music? Should her music, or anyone else's, always reflect where she's from and what generation she's part of?
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