Adéla is a Slovak singer/songwriter who, from a very young age, showed an interest in the performing arts. It can be seen in her movement and strong foundation from classical training in ballet. Adéla had only gained a small amount of traction until she participated in the Netflix K-pop survival show “Dream Academy,” where she gained netizens’ attention due to her Slovakian nationality. But that wasn’t enough, since she was the first girl to be eliminated from the competition. Reason being, as said by Dream Academy’s staff “We see her as a soloist.” So if Adéla was so good, why was she the first to be eliminated? The problem with the show was that whoever stayed in the competition was entirely decided by fan-voting, and the impact of mentors was heavily minimized.
Approximately a year after Dream Academy’s ending, a Netflix documentary covering both events prior to and during the survival show was put onto streaming called “Pop Star Academy.” A little bit of time after it was released, Adéla released her first single by the title “Homewrecked,” in which she touches on her father’s affair with a younger woman and how she dealt with that information at fifteen. This track was the starting point of her career where we see her roots in Hyperpop and Electronic sounds. At this point in her life, she received a lot of hate from netizens who watched Pop Star Academy, where Adéla was featured talking about Manon, one of Katseye’s current members, being exempt from penalties due to her sickness or injuries. It was unfair, since all of the other girls were working 9 to 5 for this dream. The netizens labeled Adéla a “fake” and an attention seeker- which she embraced, rather than denied, in her recent single.
“Superscar” is the track that put her on the map as an industry promise. She sings about how the media and industry treat her like a puppet, saying that the controversy she was involved in was the only valuable thing she could bring to the table. This single showcased that the staff was right to say she was better off as a soloist. She touched on this in an interview with the internet personality “Swiftologist,” where she stated: “Self-expression is everything to me, I can’t live without it.” If she were to be in Katseye, she wouldn’t be able to explore her sound and identity as much as she wants to because Katseye is shaped into a K-pop mold. All of the material that is released is pre-fabricated and chosen by individuals outside of the group. The creative freedom she has as a soloist is the most valuable thing she has; it gives her the space to create the music she has been releasing- the music that reflects her true self.
As the media was leaving the controversy previously mentioned involving Adéla and Katseye’s Manon behind, Adéla released “Machine Girl,” a song about her being used as a scapegoat by the Dream Academy staff. In it, she is being blamed and accused of being a “mean girl” because of what she said, when in reality people should be blaming the metaphorical “machine” that turned them against one another: in this case, the industry and its desire to spark drama. In the lyrics she states that “past her lips you will find her brain.” She was minimized to only a few words; they forgot about the fact that beneath the surface there was a deep thought process that didn’t involve only her, but also all the girls who felt impotence because of the high stress situation that they were in.
These past tracks got her the attention of some labels who wished to sign her. She finally decided on Capitol Records; looking at the current state of her artistry, she made the right decision. Following this game-changer in her career, she dropped “Death By Devotion,” a single about the trauma her classical training brought her. It is about being obsessed with clean moves and over-working herself for the perfect take.
All these previous singles made people interested in her upcoming project. At this point it had been almost a year since she dropped her first single “Homewrecked.” Thus, she revealed her upcoming EP “The Provocateur,” dropping it with her latest single “SexOnTheBeat.” It is a heavy track that may seem superficial, but if you analyze the lyrics she touches on some pretty dark topics about women in the music industry. She calls out the fact that many women are considered icons only when they oversexualise themselves. This leads to a desensitized view on women’s bodies and normalizes misogyny. She is making the statement that many women play on male desires for fame, reducing their art and effort to meat. Practically begging people to look at her, she uses her promiscuity as a last resource when everything else doesn’t work.
The last track to discuss, “FinallyApologizing,” is the perfect closure to this era. She addresses everything that has been said about her in the second verse, saying the following: “Sorry that my friends are all still friends with me. And that I’m not as bad as you want me to be. You only get to know me parasocially. There’s parts of me I need to show you personally.” ‘Cause it’s easy to judge when you don’t know someone personally, leading to you allowing yourself the privilege of not double checking and attacking without regret.
“The Provocateur” is not just a meaningless trashy-pop collection of sounds, but a personal and critical project that explores issues in the music industry/media. It is wrongly being sold as a shallow creation while begging the ones critical enough to analyze it, to digest every word coming out of her mouth in the most revised way possible. This is Adéla’s side to the story. This is what she has to say both to her fans, haters, and the general public. This will be the foundation of her artistry and when future generations look up her origins, a masterpiece that has extensive history will be revealed.
