The Summer Pop Charts Were a Slog. Can Adéla Save Us All?

A new Prima donna is aiming to dominate the pop charts: Adéla, the first Slovakian to be on the “Billboard Hot 100,” is gaining popularity at a rapid pace. Two of the top five songs on Spotify’s “Global Hot 100” are hers, and they’re both inescapable on TikTok and across social media. One of those songs, “Nicole Kidman,” is currently the fastest rising song on the “Billboard Hot 100,” and its continued growth seems inevitable — it’s slated to hit No. 11 this week. The 22-year-old’s other top song, “Ain’t in L.A.,” which dropped July 23, was her first breakout hit, and her debut album, Prima, which came out September 4, peaked at No. 4 on the “Billboard 200” album chart.

All the signs are there that Adéla and her neon-pink hair are about to have an incredibly successful fall (can’t you see the Halloween costumes now?). It’s a welcome change, given the complete stagnation of the “Billboard” chart this summer. Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” has been at No. 1 for 24 weeks now; the songs “Man I Need,” “Boston,” “Dracula,” “I Knew It I Knew You,” “Hate That I Made You Love Me,” “Be Her,” and “Been by Now” have all held top-ten spots for the whole season. Even breakout artists like Slayyyter and Zara Larsson have been kept out of the very top tier. Adéla, by comparison, is a breath of fresh Slavic air. But even though she seems new, she’s been in the public eye before. Below, find everything you need to know to understand the pop scene’s latest not-so-overnight success.

How did fans first meet Adéla?

Adéla first appeared on the music scene not as the megacool rising sensation with colorful hair, but as a sweet, blonde, and totally screwed-over reality-show contestant. The singer was plucked from Bratislava, Slovakia, to compete on Dream Academy, the fan-voted competition aiming to build the K-pop girl group that would become Katseye. In 2024, fans watched, via the reality series Pop Star Academy, as Adéla spent months training for the group and dedicated herself to learning how to be the best pop performer imaginable. She was near the top of the pack for most of the show and was known as one of the crew’s leaders. But she was cut by the label after the first week of fan voting, to the shock of her fellow contestants. “Adéla was eliminated because she was the lowest in the fan voting,” Hybe x Geffen president Mitra Darab explained to the camera, callously. “We see Adéla as a solo artist. I think that was always something that we saw even in training and development with her.”

The tragedy of Adéla’s harsh treatment forced anyone watching the show to take her side. She exited the competition gracefully. “I want you to know that none of you need this,” she told the future Katseye group. “If you get it that’s great. But you don’t need it, because you’re great on your own.” Ultimately, those words applied to nobody more than herself. 

Does she have a good relationship with Katseye?

Because of her history with Katseye, Adéla’s relationship with the group (which scored its first No. 1 album earlier this year) is a point of fan scrutiny. But all signs point toward goodwill. Lara Raj, a member of Katseye, has a speaking part on the Prima song “Boys.” Adéla also calls them her friends. “I really am rooting for them, because they’re my real ones,” Adéla told Teen Vogue. “We understand each other very well because we went through something very strange together.”

How would you describe Adéla’s solo sound?

Adéla, unlike to the country and country-adjacent girls who owned summer by singing about yearning, makes dance pop that foregrounds the amount of work it’s taken her to get to this point. The Prima single “KGB” is the most aggressive track on the record, and it’s about how she “studied” pop music in order to become a Main Pop Girl. “I was like 8, working the night shift to learn English / I’m like a spy, studied this shit, call me the KGBitch,” she spits. Similarly, “Ain’t in LA” is a tribute to all the women who live in places like Slovakia, far removed from Hollywood glamour. This vein of her music seems like a specific response to the pop girls from rich, well-connected families, like Groupon heiress Stella Lefty or Gracie Abrams. Adéla takes pains to emphasize that none of this would have happened without her own ambition.

Her less uptempo songs are largely in the Ariana Grande mode. Like Grande, Adéla’s beats often have a trap influence to them, and she sings with a cooing softness. “Nicole Kidman” is a perfect example. She’s bragging about how great she looks and how awesome her life is. It’s so good, in fact, that she feels the Oscar winner (“Babygirl in control, I feel like Nicole”), with a kind of chilled out, “for the afters” vibe. Notably, none of her music is in the K-pop, “more is more” modality, despite her training. 

What type of performer is Adéla?

A powerhouse. Not only does Adéla have the pop-star academy dance training, but she was also a ballet student for years in Slovakia. At her recent sold-out Brooklyn Steel performance, the visuals focused on the tension between classic pop star and ballerina aesthetics. There was a hot pink barre, and Adéla wore a glittery purple two-piece with a black tutu. At times, she danced en pointe and stretched her leg well above her head. Combining hip-hop and ballet may sound like a bad combination (see: Julia Stiles in Save the Last Dance), but Adéla manages to make both styles look natural.

So … what’s next for the our new “Nicole Kidman”?

With an ever-expanding profile, Adéla’s next job will be to further define herself worldwide. The album is out, the singles are hitting, so now it’s just about building name recognition (and making sure people don’t think she’s “Adele”). One place no fans should expect to see her, however, is on the Grammy nominee list for Best New Artist this year — she was not submitted, perhaps because Prima won’t be eligible until the next Grammy cycle. Expect to pay attention to this girl for a while.