To clarify, Adele does want to win a Grammy

After scoring four Grammy nominations, including one for best new artist, British soul upstart Adele downplayed her chance of winning, telling the British media that “I don’t feel like I need awards.” But she wasn’t setting out to be this year’s Grammy bad girl.

Now, Adele has made it clear she’ll be at the Feb. 8 Grammys ceremony in L.A. (In fact, beforehand, she’ll appear at the Wiltern on Jan. 30, then hole up in Malibu to record her second album, which she says may have more of a country influence.) And yes, she wants a miniature gramophone. She wasn’t, she promises, dismissing the awards.

“The quote that came out on the BBC about the Grammys made it sound like I didn’t want to win a Grammy, and that I didn’t need to win a Grammy,” Adele told Pop & Hiss. “But what I meant is that a Grammy is like an Oscar. You win an Oscar when you give the performance of your life. I just hope that this isn’t the performance of my life . . . I didn’t mean it to sound like I was ungrateful. I don’t need a Grammy to feel good about myself, but I would love a Grammy.”

Adele’s debut album, “19,” shot up the U.S. charts after she appeared on “Saturday Night Live” this fall, benefiting from singing the night Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a guest. With a slight smoker’s rasp, the singer graces the simplest of arrangements with a flighty, jazzy styling, an approach she picked up from singing along to Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday albums.

And don’t talk to the 20-year-old about needing a life’s experience to sing soul music. “Etta James is the only artist I’ve ever proper believed when I listened to her, like, ‘Oh, I feel her pain,’ ” Adele says.

-- Todd Martens