I remember as a teenager watching Lady Gaga go everywhere in heels. “I would rather die than have my fans not see me in a pair,” she told Glamour in 2010, kickstarting a wild dedication to their craft from aspiring pop girlies and gay boys the world over. One of the people paying close attention was Adéla, the Slovakian shock pop ballerina superstar who has since moved to Los Angeles. It’s nearly half past 11 on a Wednesday morning in London and I’m in a coffee shop waiting to meet her. Adéla is running half-an-hour late. Her hotel is barely a five minute walk from here but there’s a hold up with her car: “She’ll be in heels,” her publicist reminds me.
A little later than normal (and on foot, owing to traffic), she rocks up. Long hair pastel pink, bleached brows, plump cheeks. She’s wearing a grey slouched jersey dress and a leather jacket. And, of course, her high-as-hell boots.
She’s in town in preparation for her debut headline show, in a sweaty basement club called The Lower Third. The capacity is just 240 people, but literally thousands more missed out. This fanbase has grown quickly, but Adéla’s fed them well. She arrived in our consciousness last year as one of the trainees on The Debut: Dream Academy, the Netflix series that put dozens of young women through their paces in an effort to become part of the new big girl group. From it, Katseye was formed, and despite not making the final cut, Adéla was one of the few who had the tenacity and skill to branch out on her own terms.
That came with The Provocateur earlier this year, an EP that acted as her aggressive and inventive opening statement. Grimes worked on one track, Dylan Brady of 100 gecs on another. As we collectively veer closer to pop music that sounds nothing more than lovely, Adéla is spiking it with something exciting.
So here we are. She’s a little under the weather, but as she sits down opposite me and orders a ginger tea, I can’t help but wonder: has anyone served cunt at London’s Garden Museum like this before?
Douglas Greenwood: You used to live in London?
Adéla: Yeah, when I was 15.
What did you get up to here?
I was a ballerina, alone, living in a college dorm with college kids, so I had no supervision. But I was never a wild kid because I was locked in from the start. This was around the time that I was like, ‘Fuck ballet’ though I’d take singing lessons in Soho, and go to parties.
House parties?
Yeah—my friends all started going to Heaven but that was after COVID. Oh, and Harrods! I actually got scouted there once, for Bottega Veneta, but I was underage and I couldn’t do it. London has a warm place in my heart because this is the first time that I found my people, my gay ballet friends! One of my best friends here from my ballet school, I put him on to Ariana Grande. We bought the shittiest tickets for the Sweetener world tour and were obsessed with pop culture together. He was the first one that was like: ‘You can totally be a singer.’
Does the pop fantasy feel real now?
It’s definitely more real than ever, but I have a long way to go. I’m sick right now before my show. I’m stressed out and I’m like, ‘This is so cool that I’m sick and stressed out before my show—because I have a show!’
You wrote a pop manifesto a few years back in a Google doc as a guide for your work. How often do you return to it?
I don’t look back at it, but I am gonna write another one for my album.
Have you started that moodboard?
I just started thinking about it but I haven’t put it on a page. After the tour, I’ll start pulling pictures and references, and watch movies that will inspire the visuals, the choreography, the colours, the textures.
You feel like a shock pop artist, a visual provocateur. We had this about 15 years ago then lost it for a while, to quite soft, fluffy, safe things. How did you know the world was ready to have its buttons pushed again?
I was ready to push the world’s buttons, but I don’t know if they were ready for me. I think you’re right: It was kind of missing. When I wrote that manifesto originally, that’s what I liked most about the people that I truly was a fan of. I wrote down all of the names of these pop girls like Gaga, and asked myself: why did they connect? They all had a cool message and a lack of giving a fuck that was just so inspiring and beautiful for a young girl.
Now it’s your turn. Can you tell me about the edge your music has, and what you learned from collaborators like Dylan Brady and Grimes?
I was on edge, I wanted loud, I wanted abrasive. Dylan is just the craziest fucking producer ever. When we started working together, I was so gagged. He’s in the corner with his laptop very nonchalantly pressing buttons, and then he turns it around and plays the craziest shit ever. And he’s smoking three joints while he does it. He’s exactly 10 years older than me. We have the same birthday. I have to work with him for the rest of my life.
This is your debut headline show?
Yeah, crazy. There were 3000 people on the wait list.
“Everybody that I’ve ever known? They can suck my balls.”
adéla
It’s gonna be the sweatiest night of your life.
I’m a sweaty girl. I asked if we could have a fan and they said ‘We don’t really think so.’ I’m just gonna be a sweaty dog by the end of it.
Where are you putting your nerves?
I actually am the least nervous for this performance, because this is the first time that I get to perform things that I made. It’s literally all about me, and I can do whatever the fuck I want on that stage. I’m completely in control.
When you close your eyes and think of your success, who are you giving the middle finger to?
Everybody that I’ve ever known. They can suck my balls. Being from where I’m from, this dream is so unrealistic, so I never felt comfortable enough to even speak it out loud. It’s a middle finger to the non-believers. You guys don’t have whimsy in you! Like, what, you want a nine to five? That’s okay. Can’t I be a songstress? A songbird? Let a girl dream!
What about Slovakia deserves more flowers?
The fact that people are really real there.
What’s not sexy anymore?
Thinking that everybody’s perceiving you. Nobody cares. People need to chill out and embrace the cringe.
What’s the loudest sound you’ve ever heard?
My mom’s sneeze is absolutely fucking insane. I’m the opposite, because she sneezed so loudly growing up that mine is silent. People think I’m such a pick me girl and I’m like, ‘No, this is trauma.’
What’s your favorite thing about being 21?
I can fucking drink in LA! When I got my fake ID, I very stupidly put my real birth date on it, and chose Hawaii as my state. I found this out while trying to order a drink at a restaurant, it was so embarrassing. I just put my Slovakian back accent on and said ‘Oh, I’m an immigrant!’
