Shock-Pink at the Fonda, Adéla Sells Out Two Nights in Hollywood

On Thursday night, October 8, a stage at the Fonda Theatre held very little. There was a hot pink ballet barre, a wash of pink and red light, a team of backup dancers and Adéla, in knee-high pink heels, running through 16 songs for a room full of fans in shock-pink wigs. It was the first of two sold-out nights, Variety reported, and Billboard noted that she was due back on Friday, October 9, for the second.

A Breakout in Real Time

The numbers explain the lines. Adéla released her debut album, Prima, last month, and it has produced two hits at once, “Nicole Kidman” and “Ain’t in LA,” Variety wrote, and the paper put the two songs at Nos. 2 and 4 on Spotify’s Global 50 chart. Earlier this week Kidman herself filmed a TikTok to the track with Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Dua Lipa, according to Variety.

On stage, Variety’s Steven J. Horowitz heard pop lineage in the show. The razor-sharp dance moves of Britney and the sass of Madonna were both there, he wrote, and Madonna’s “Vogue” was mashed into the opener, “KGB.” Adéla is a trained ballerina, and the barre was a nod to that training. She moved through songs from Prima and from her debut EP, The Provocateur, including “Superscar,” “DeathByDevotion,” “Red Bottoms” and “I’m the Man.” Billboard added that the look is part of the package, with a collaboration with 5 Gum bringing its Stimulating Style Collection to select stops on the Red Bottoms Tour.

From the Balcony

The most pointed moment came between songs. Adéla told the crowd she moved to Los Angeles from Slovakia a couple of years ago for the competition that formed Katseye, which Billboard calls Dream Academy, and Variety noted that she did not get past the first round. Then she pointed to the balcony, where Katseye’s Lara Raj and Megan Skiendiel were watching beside Emily Kelavos of Saint Satine.

“It’s crazy because my best friends that I met through the show are here tonight. We would train just down the street every day for two years and try to become pop stars together. And guess what, that didn’t work out for me but it did for them, shout out to y’all,” she said, according to Variety.

Chappell Roan was in the balcony too. Variety described her as gobsmacked as she watched the set.

An Apology to the City

Billboard caught the other talking point. When she reached “Ain’t in LA,” a song whose title could land awkwardly in the city she now calls home, Adéla warned the crowd. “I have to say … the next song that I’m gonna sing is a little bit awkward,” she said, and asked for no boos. She explained that she had grown tired of an industry that seemed to celebrate the same people over and over, and she framed the song as an acknowledgment of those whose contributions go unrecognized.

“I’m an immigrant,” she said. “And you know what? LA wouldn’t be LA without who? The immigrants.”

As a gesture, she swapped the unreleased “Kiss Here,” which she usually plays on tour, for “Homewrecked,” a song she had not been performing on the run, Billboard reported. Before closing with “Nicole Kidman,” she told the room what she was manifesting, including keeping that song at No. 1 on Spotify in the U.S. and, in a final nod to the earlier tension, hoping Los Angeles would not stay mad at her.

Billboard pointed out that it was only her second headlining show in Los Angeles since The Roxy last year, and that the hot pink outfits and tutu skirts in the crowd made it feel like a victory lap for a debut that has found a large audience.