EXCLUSIVE: How the GRAMMYs Wooed Adele Back After Glitchy 2016 Performance

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Adele
'sGRAMMY love ain't water under the bridge.

The "Hello" singer will return Feb. 12 to the GRAMMY Awards just one year after a glitchy performance on that same stage left her in tears. Now, the show's executive producer, Ken Ehrlich, hints to ET that they've got something major in store.

"Last year was so unfortunate and we were so sorry that it happened," he said at an Icons of the Music Industry event at the GRAMMY museum on Tuesday night.


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"With live television, things happen and she was really good about it," he continued. "It really threw her and I think what hurt us the most was ... just watching her face and seeing her trying to get through that with what had happened."

Ehrlich admits that the audio issues were due to "human error," not tech issues.

"We've spent a year trying to make it up to her, and I think when you see her on Feb. 12, you'll know we have done that and more."

Adele previously admitted to crying "pretty much all day" after last year's mishap. In a brief tweet issued after the performance, she explained that "the piano mics fell on to the piano springs" making the instrument sound out of tune. "S**t happens," she wrote.


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"It took some time," Ehrlich says of mending fences with the superstar. "I certainly reached out to her and she responded, but it's a wound and all you want is for wounds to heal. With her, it's healed."

At the 2017 ceremony, hosted by James Corden, Adele is nominated for five awards including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

"We knew this was going to be a big year for her nominations," Ehrlich admitted. "I know we started talking to her at the end of fall. We did a Hillary [Clinton] fundraiser in Miami in October, I think, and that was when we met to start talking about it."

This year will mark Ehrlich's 37th year at the GRAMMY Awards helm. The veteran producer says that it's the stars who encourage each other to bring their A-game on that stage.

"On the GRAMMYs show, you can feel it. You can feel the electricity," he said. "[The performers] want to be the best on that show because everybody wants to be the best. They ramp up their game, so it's really great. The GRAMMYs means something."