If you’ve been on social media recently, it’s likely you’ve heard the melodic, almost chanting chorus of “maybe tonight, we don’t gotta run away, it’s all a lie, the baddest b**ches ain’t in LA” somewhere on your For You page. If you’ve lived in a boring or relatively unknown place, chances are someone else from there has lip-synced to these lyrics with the caption “we can’t all be in LA, someone has to hold it down in [insert location name of choice].”
Behind the success of “Ain’t in LA” is the voice of Adéla Jergová, who, with the rollout of her second album PRIMA, has recently been seeing new heights in her career. These lyrics encapsulate Adéla’s spirit as an artist, more than most casual listeners would catch without knowing the pop star’s roots.
Los Angeles is synonymous with celebrity culture, the place aspiring artists move to in order to seek success in the industry, and Adéla hails from a background that certainly contrasts this.
Born in Slovakia, she had a different mindset from her peers around her growing up. For living in a small Eastern European country with practically zero internationally known stars, she had big dreams of stardom. In an interview with The Line of Best Fit, she said, “I developed this very Americanised view of the world, randomly in the middle of Slovakia, where nobody else thought the same way.” She set her mind to learning English from a young age by watching American T.V. shows like Hannah Montana, eventually becoming fluent by 9-years-old all on her own time (as she sings about in the lyrics of “KGB:” “I was, like, eight, working the night shift to learn English”). She also rigorously studied ballet throughout her childhood and attended a dance academy in London, which gave her both skills useful for an aspiring pop star and the important discipline she’d need to achieve her dreams.
The real turning point for her was when she joined the cast of Pop Star Academy, a Netflix reality T.V. show in which the winners would be selected to be in a global girl group. This group eventually would become another popular name in recent times — Katseye. Unfortunately, after a year of living in Los Angeles in a house with her competitors, and undergoing stringent vocal and dance training, evaluations, and audience feedback, she was eliminated. She’d later describe the experience as “identity stripping” and the worst year of her life. Fans made snap judgements about her and the other girls, fell for drama manufactured and emphasized by producers, and relentlessly bullied her on the internet. She has, however, continued to speak about the other girls she met on the show positively, and is on good terms with many of them.
The elimination ended up being a blessing in disguise, though, and she later acknowledged that it was the push she needed. The judges on the show stated that they believed she would succeed better in a career as a solo artist.
And they were right. If you watch Adéla’s music videos for the punchy, hyperpop-esque single “KGB,” or the glittery, sensual track “Nicole Kidman,” you would quickly notice how artistic control has given her freedom that group environments like Katseye certainly do not have. Her music and productions are oozing with personality, an edge of raunchiness, and opinionated statements.
Her video for “Ain’t In LA” switches between her dancing in a club and dancing in her hometown of Bratislava while surrounded by children in traditional Slovakian clothing, painting a poignant message of pride in your roots and the courage to dream for yourself no matter your background. Her music video for “Machine Girl” features her and dancer Sophie Wylie both performing for the camera and viciously fighting each other, with the song’s themes of women being pitted against each other in the entertainment industry, likely drawing from her own experiences.
After leaving Pop Star Academy, Adéla moved into a “really sh**ty apartment” in LA permanently to pursue music, refusing to give up on aspirations she’d held since childhood. Her EP The Provocateur saw a promising start to her career, with audiences and critics already tuning in and receiving it positively.
Her creative prowess and work ethic have paid off most of all with PRIMA, her debut album released this month, however. She’s grown from an audience of just 65,000 from the release of her first single to now an average of almost 25 million monthly listeners on Spotify. PRIMA debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 from its first day of release.
Adéla is certainly a fresh, exciting voice emerging in the industry. Brimming with bold artistic statements, excellent choreography and dance skills, and snappy production, I have no doubt that she has much left to give as an artist. Whatever comes next for her, me and fans (both in LA and everywhere else around the world) are awaiting excitedly.