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Amid the first of two sold-out nights at Los Angeles’ Fonda Theatre on Thursday night, Adéla paused to shout out Katseye members Lara Raj and Megan Skindiel, who were watching in the balcony alongside Saint Satine’s
Emily Kelavos. “I moved out here a couple of years ago; I moved here for the show that I was on,” said Adéla, referring to Netflix’s “Pop Star Academy,” a competition to join the group that would become Katseye. (Spoiler: she didn’t make it past the first round.) “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.”
That clearly isn’t true, as Adéla has spent the past year charting a path towards becoming one of pop’s most promising new stars. Though she’s been steadily grinding for years, she only recently hit full throttle following the release of her debut album “Prima” last month, spawning not one but two simultaneous hits, the swaggery “Nicole Kidman” and “Ain’t in LA.” On Spotify’s Global 50 chart, those songs are currently Nos. 2 and 4, respectively. Earlier this week, Kidman herself cashed in on her namesake song’s success, filming a TikTok along to the track with Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal and Dua Lipa.
All of this, at least by the temperature inside the Fonda last night, felt well-earned. Adéla is a showwoman in the purest sense, working every angle and performing from her gut. As part of her headlining “Red Bottoms” tour, she traipsed through cuts from “Prima” and her debut EP “The Provocateur,” echoing the hallmarks of pop royalty — the razor-sharp dance moves of Britney, the sass of Madonna (whose classic “Vogue” was mashed with opening song “KGB,” perhaps not coincidentally), all with an unmistakable and signature look to match. (Fans throughout the venue wore shock-pink wigs in tribute.)
It came as no surprise, then, that those at the Fonda — including a gobsmacked Chappell Roan, who watched from the balcony — lapped up every bit of it. In knee-high pink heels, Adéla led a team of backup dancers on an empty stage accented by a dance barre, a nod to her own training as a ballet dancer. She went back to where it all began, with songs like “Superscar” and “DeathByDevotion,” while peppering in “Prima” cuts like “Red Bottoms and “I’m the Man.”
Adéla has made her intentions widely known: she wants to be a pop star. (She said as much on “KGB,” sneering, “I wanna pop off so these big mouths can’t say shit.”) Perhaps, if her Fonda show was any indication, that moment may have already arrived.
