They told Adela no. She proved them wrong.

There are very few artists you could say had to work for it as hard as Adele. Born in Slovakia, a country with less than half the population of Ohio, she started training in ballet at three years old. By the time she was 10, Adele was pulling 13 hour days to study this art form that demanded rigorous discipline and settled for nothing less than perfection. Not only that, she taught herself English by watching TV shows like Hannah Montana and listening to Western pop music like Madonna. By the time the pandemic hit, she did the only thing she could think of to continue to grow as an artist, taking singing lessons over Zoom. So she went online and found some random interview where Olivia Rodrigo mentioned her vocal coach, Jennifer Dussman. She began taking lessons from her until one day, Jennifer casually mentioned this opportunity about an open audition. It was for this thing called Dream Academy. A new project between Hype and Geffen to build a global girl group. So after an audition process of 120,000 girls, she made it to the final 20. Move to LA and studied this program for two years before getting eliminated in the first round, solely because of fan voting. While most people would have felt like their heart was broken and had their dreams cried from their fingertips, for Adela, it did something different. It lit a fire in her, a fire to prove them wrong. So she released a few singles as an independent artist before getting signed by Capitol Records in May of 2025. Since then, she has performed to festival crowds of tens of thousands of people, open for Demi Lovato, had her first song on the Billboard charts, and now just released her debut album, Prima. This did not happen to Adela by accident. She earned it. And every day that goes by, it seems like more and more people are waking up to that fact. So today, we are doing a deep dive on the rise of Adela, what set her apart as an artist to break out this quickly, and where I think she's going to go from here. So with that, welcome back to Nikki and I, I'm your host Nikki Reardon, and it is a pleasure to be here with you all this morning. The baddest bitches are in Virginia. (laughing) They said me this shirt, and I died. Her record label said me this shirt, and I was literally cracking up. Also, minorly concerning because I don't think I ever told any of them that I live in Virginia, or not that I live in Virginia, that I was born in Virginia and raised in Virginia. So I'm like, how do they know who told, right? But I'm obsessed with this. I am so excited to be doing a solo episode this week. Actually, I'm filming two solo episodes today, so if you see me in this exact same shirt in the next video, I don't wanna hear anything about it, okay? (laughing) But wow, I feel like it's been so long 'cause I did one of these. Oh my God, there were so much that happened with like Charlie and Katzai and all the things. That was so, so cool. If you were diagnosed by it, imagine how I felt. (laughing) Imagine how I felt. It was the craziest experience of my life. I have cried about it multiple times. I have also tried to like have this sort of like, hard to hard-carb, and I just don't wanna put it into words. It's like out of nowhere. If you guys have been watching this channel for a long time, in the beginning of the year, I was like, I feel like we could get an artist to guess this year in my new years episode. It was like a manifesting. And then I got my favorite art in all times, just to try the exact, so like, hey, thank you for being here. Thank you for watching. Thank you for making this happen. Like you guys are letting you live all my dreams. And, you know, Adele has been like one of the most requested, both like artists to do a review on. And guess, let me tell you, baby. The emails have been sent. Okay, I'm trying, I'm trying everything I can do. Leave a comment saying, you wanna see Adele on Nicky at night, guys. And I will scream Johnny, and I will send it to her team. Okay, I'm doing what I can. But it finally felt like the time, you know, I've been obviously obsessed with Adele since the beginning. I mean, I was like tapped into Dream Academy and then the Netflix documentary. So before she even got signed, and before she released like a super scar in like the first two singles she did as a dependent artist. And I feel like I always knew. You know, I'm funny enough have a crazy lore drop of like I randomly met Adele at a coffee shop in Los Angeles. Like a year ago, two years ago. And I just like saw her as standing in line. And I went up to her and I was like, oh my god. Like I love you because we follow each other. I was like, I fucking love your work. Like I think you are amazing and so talented. We were chatting and then I told her I was like, I just want you to know I think that like, 'cause this is before she got signed again by capital. I told her I was like, I just want you to know, like I think one day you're gonna look back on like not getting in that group. It's like the best thing that ever happened to you. And she looked at me dead in the eyes and she goes, I already think that. (laughs) I was like, period girl, period. I want my pop stars hungry. You know what I mean? Like I just love somebody with like such deep conviction in themselves and that fire in them is so like drawing to me. And I felt that in this like tiny interaction and so much more has changed since then. So I'm very excited to like talk about it all today. But before that, hey, don't forget subscribe to the channel y'all. I always subscribe that like 90% of the people who viewed this channel, I'm not subscribed to it. So you might be watching the episodes all the time, not even realized. You could go and check right now, okay? You could help me. You could help things happen here, okay? And with that also, hey, follow us in Spotify. If you have a Spotify, I have been told that I have to have like 30,000 followers in Spotify or something in order to like be able to do ads there. So like, it would be cool. Really help me out, you know, to support the show more. And also I am like really getting back to doing solo episodes. While I love doing artist interviews and it has been such a goal and dream of mine, it's just really hard, you know? Like I am really a one person army at this thing. Like outside of having an editor, like in terms of like scheduling, doing the emails, doing the research, having also their publicist, scheduling with everything with them, filming the day of going back and forth with their team, editing all the clips. Like it just, it is hours upon hours. I mean, I probably have to spend like 20 to 30 hours per video, like with an artist. And I love doing them. But like also I want this to still like be a thing for me and for us and feel like we get to talk to each other, you know what I mean? Like that is important to me. And also I feel like it would be like betray the way I like started this thing. If I just like completely stopped this, you know what I mean? So expect a lot more cool good video essays to come. Now we get to the deep dive of Adela. I honestly don't think I really want to talk that much about the whole like dream academy section of it all because I just don't, I'm not sure what is left to be said that hasn't been said already, you know? I feel like that is like being the narrative around her since that came out. And all the things that I have to say about it will be said through other parts of the video. I think what is really interesting to me after watching that is sort of my thoughts on like K-pop versus the Western music scene. You know, I am like a casual enjoyer of K-pop. I am not in it in that way. But I am deeply fascinated by it. The industry of it all is fascinating. How differently it functions from pretty much any other music genre or country is so interesting to me. And I kind of boil the differences down in this way. Like to me, Western music rewards individuality. We like our pop stars messy, vulnerable and flawed. They use those life experiences to tell stories in their music. Audiences care a lot about who this person is and whether or not they feel they can relate to them. There is this expectation to know a lot about the artist, the good and the bad, to understand the vision and sort of what they are doing. Whereas K-pop is the polar opposite. It rewards conformity. They care deeply about technical skill and performance. There is years of development to study the craft. And there is a deep respect for the institution that is K-pop between both the artists in it and the fans of it. Like you never really hear someone calling K-pop artists an industry plant, right? It would almost be laughable. That is the expectation of the genre that you will go in and be trained and cultivated and developed to be an absolute top tier performer. They have to move flawlessly as a group so that no one outshines the other. Everything down to the facial expressions, the faces they make, a wink they give to the camera is scripted and choreographed. The artist isn't measured how much they are able to build their own world, but how well they are able to execute a vision of a larger whole and group identity. And when I think about these two things, nothing about the K-pop institution sounds like a tell-off. This idea of rewarding conformity and being a part of a group and doing as told, and there's this right type of attractive to be and this right type of cute to be. It's just not her. And even if she had made it in this show, there is no way she would have been happy in that. And I think that's also something that you can tell the people doing the development. program knew pretty early on of like holy f this girl is a top tier performer dancer has been training in ballet since she was three years old like she's perfect and every way on paper but I'm not sure this is what she wants and I don't think she can will enjoy this if she doesn't want it you know what I mean and I even think this has been one of the reasons she had talked about why she stopped doing formal ballet training I think at like 16 or 17 was because that there was this expectation and assumption in industries like that where you are so lucky to get the opportunity and there were a thousand other girls who wish they could be doing the thing that you're doing so you should be eager and willing to do 12 past hour days little to no pay have practically zero creative freedom you know not talk back unless spoke into all of those things and that was a big reason why she stopped you know doing ballet in that way and you know maybe is foreshadowing of some other things to come in her life but I really want to get into like what makes you know a delus such a compelling new artist I have a theory that there are three things that make or break a new artist number one is narrative it's not just about what you make but who you are what adversity did you have to overcome to get here does the audience know your life story do they see themselves reflected in the experiences of your life so they can relate to the music number two is ethos this is your why factor what do you stand for when the music isn't playing your morals your values guiding beliefs that make people want to root for you because they understand the success of you mean something more than that that could shift culture last is visual identity a great artist is so much more than just the songs it's the entire world they built around it the colors the fonts the outfits is everything in pursuit of one cohesive vision and as I'll talk about later I think there's a reason why aint in LA was her biggest song I think it's the best song that hits those three factors flawlessly let's start with number one the narrative your life story and telling a compelling narrative is the most important thing for an artist in this day and age what you do isn't not special you make pop music cool so do a million other people how you do it is a little more interesting maybe you sing a certain way a certain production style the choreography but at the end of the day how can be replicated it can be a trend it is not necessarily yours but your life story how you got here the things you had to overcome what shaped you and molded you into the person you are today how is that influence the stories that you're writing in your music that is this unique piece of value that belongs to you and only you know other person will ever have the same narrative as you and the artists anything are really breaking through are people who have cultivated a very compelling narrative you know when you think of adela there's the there's multiple pieces of it right like number one I think is is you know this idea of like being born in Slovakia a foreigner from a tiny country pursuing a dream that feels impossibly far away and the amount of odds she had to overcome in order to get one chance that many people get just because they happen to be born in LA there's this idea of being a dancer in the formal ballet training right and you see how like dancers are a very core part of her fandom like people who know that and like can see the craft and the technical skill she possesses and uses and are very much in all of that but again it's not just like having these things about your life it's integrating them into everything you do right like her ballet background is built into the world she has a dance bar on the stage like in a dance studio every time she performs live there is uh this use of like the tutu there is this sometimes she even does very classical ballet moves in the music videos or incorporates them into the choreography in a way that is still like very modern dance right it's not just this is the thing I did in my past it's like this is a piece of me and my story and who I am and like my art is is it is derivative of that narrative and that's why I think this all like dream academy thing uh in the pop star academy documentary did so much for Adele and why she was the you know the first artist to really break through outside of cat's eye itself um was because it gave her narrative like why do you love her hated her in that docu series you very much understand who she is and what she values right like um even the whole situation where they were upset with menon for like not you know putting in as much work or like skipping rehearsals and stuff like I I very much understand why somebody who had to teach themselves English by watching Disney channel um and was born in a country less than the size of Ohio and has been training since she was three years old is frustrated by that you know what I mean like I and even again on the and the other side of the system like who's to say that either one of them is right or wrong right like is the expectation of doing a 13-hour day normal or healthy I don't know right but like I do understand why that is important thing to her and like where that sort of friction came from and you know so much of I think of Adele as narrative to ended up being the sort of anti cat's eye in many ways um not in the sense that they aren't friends but in the sense of like you know not wanting to do the things that she knows those people have to do to like appeal to a certain audience right like there is very much uh like a very young fanbase of cat's eye like like little girls and Adele is so clearly as like very like sexualized and dancing and the songs are um you know you watch the sex on the B music video like that's not for an eight-year-old girl right like I it's it's like I think there's this driving force in her to um reject the thing that she was told she had to be um and that is I think again like a very compelling narrative that people can see themselves in um and you can see why she was able to write from that um I also think this very interesting thing is you know like people love to pit women against each other and weirdly so often it kind of helps them is like something I was thinking about you know like I think the comparison of Adele and cat's eye helps both of them right like both anytime one of them does something big it elevates the other um I felt this way with like Olivia and Sabrina like a terrible situation and I'm not saying that we should like support this and keep doing it but like interesting how like both of them benefited from it tremendously in terms of career growth you know what I mean um and the number one goal of having a compelling narrative is so that there is like a very tangible ethos the audience can understand and embody themselves which brings me to number two the ethos the narrative has to define what the ethos and why factor is right born in Slovakia is part of the narrative but the ethos is what the audience feels so she has this mantra of chasing your dream no matter what the odds are it doesn't matter where you were born or what circumstances you came from if you truly work for it relentlessly in pursuit of a vision anything is possible and I think you can see and feel how this helps somebody have a global appeal right like there are many artists like bad bunny or tyla that I feel like have had this very similar narrative around them of like coming from these countries with little to no music presence at the time and sort of becoming this like champion of their people in that way um and people being so excited to see them win because it doesn't just mean something for them it feels like it means something for the country and I think it's very cool that like while edela isn't a person of color herself that ethos is most definitely something you feel from her and I think people from other countries were anyone who's immigrated anywhere in their life like they feel very seen by that um and and want her to win because of that which brings me to a very fun piece of information that I love did you know that edela was the first and only artist from Slovakia to have a song on the billboard hot 100 the only one in history like literally the first that is so fierce and Slovakia is less less than half the population of Ohio like that is tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny there is not a music pipeline to a global audience or a western audience even in that place like it so much of it had to come from her taking these chances and risks on herself and like believing herself and being so unafraid of fear like she moved to I think Austria to do formal ballet training by herself at 14 years old like that is crazy and it is so impressive to have such like a deeply rooted sense of self that young like at 14 I had no fucking idea what I wanted to do no idea right but like there is something in her like this dried in tenacity that is so palpable and has always been there and like you want heard a win because she's so hungry for it. And what is such an interesting part of, again, the ethos is like, it's not just that it exists, but it is an integral part of her writing, right? We go death by devotion, talking about, you know, what I was talking about earlier, with this expectation that you should be willing to kill yourself, sacrifice yourself to be, go through immense pain, because you're so lucky, you got this opportunity and entertainment. Super scar, talking about this trauma from the industry and from that experience. You know, machine girl, like, I love the chorus where it's like, mean girl, what's not even mean girl? Say it to my face so we can see just what you mean girl. Wow, why don't we ask the crowd? You know, like, the playing this on its head, one, like, I love the, you know, symbolism of like machine girl and mean girl, like, I think that's so cool. People talking to her and also like, this, again, this rejection of the machine itself is like, this integral part of her story. You know, KGB is like, her tongue might literally study this shit. And then aint in LA, right? It's like, where you are from, doesn't need to define who you are or what you are capable of achieving. Like, every single song that is like, gotten momentum, like, you feel how it is directly derivative of the ethos and her narrative, right? Like, all of these things are all in pursuit of one cohesive vision. Um, it cannot just be making good music itself. I think people always get mad at me and they're like, hey, when did you say making good music? It's like one of the requirements because like, to me, it just feels so obvious. It's like not worth mentioning. It's like saying like a basketball player has a play basketball. Like, duh, like, oh, you know, what do you mean? And also to me, what is good music is subjective, you know, like, you might hate my favorite song. I might hate your favorite song, who's to say one is good, one is bad. But like, I am very interested in these things and these outliers that, because there's a million people who make great music that you've never heard before. And, and there's a lot of people who make bad music that make it. So if music was the one who only deciding factor, we'd be living in a different world, which brings me to number three. I want to talk about the branding because that is something that I think really started to sink in with A&LA specifically. I mean, in the beginning, we always saw the pink color was so brilliant, right? Like the bright pink hair, the A&LA font, like, even every time she posts on Instagram, like an Instagram sorry, she only uses like the pink font, right? Like, I love it. I love the dedication. And again, like visuals aren't just like a thing for a music video. It's not just like a set you did for a concert. It's not a picture you took on Instagram. Like, like true visual identity, true world building, true branding is in everything you do everywhere all the time. Like, it is like a costume. It is like a cartoon character almost. And it has to be, it can only be achieved through repetition as well, you know? It has to be this thing that you do in multiple settings, in multiple dynamics, in multiple ways, so that people understand it's like a cohesive world around it. And Adele reminds me so much of Banger's Miley Cyrus era, like not just because of the A&LA reference, but because her artist story is so deeply rooted in rejecting what is the music machine, right? Like, Banger's as an era was Miley going, I see exactly the type of girl that this industry wanted me and was molding me to be. The perfect girl next door, totally brand safe, so she can appeal to children. And then Miley took every single rule of that trope and like broke it on purpose, you know? The way she showed her body sexualizing herself, changing the music from this very like country leaning pop to more dance leaning pop, dancing in a way that was deemed inappropriate at the time, changing her hair to a different thing than like, what would appeal that way? Every element of that is also Adele. Her entire identity is a rejection of the K-pop machine in a way that I feel like Miley's was a rejection of this sort of like, you know, 2010s-era Disney Channel machine. And Adele has never been afraid to be polarizing, you know? Like, she's not trying to appeal to everyone. She's trying to appeal to the right people deeply, you know? Like the provocateur EP is like insane cover, is insane. Like, that is not a massive, a mass appeal commercial picture. Like, it would probably be like illegal to put on a billboard. You don't even need that. Like, that is the point of it. Like, the entire point is, it's provocative. Like, you can't do it, right? And like, challenging that and poking that to like, get a reaction under people. You know, you'd be in their look at something like that and you love it or you hate it. And I think that is such a sign of a good art. Like, the worst thing an artist can be to me is boring. There is a lot of value to being polarizing, you know? If somebody looks at something and absolutely hates it to the point where they feel a need to talk about it, there's value in that. There is also value in somebody seeing something so left out of center that no one else is doing it and they feel very excited and inspired and drawn to it, right? Like, I think the worst thing you can ever be is in the middle. This like perfectly polished thing that is when you try to appeal to everyone, you end up appealing to no one, I truly believe. And Adele understands that and again, like, he uses that, right? Like, Adele is the only pop girl doing like sexy right now. Like, Britney Spears slay for you VMAs performance type of sexy. Actually, Tate, I would say, is kind of doing it right now. They're really the only two. And it makes me mad. Adele is not going to be in a nomination for the VMAs. Like, she is the type of artist that was born for the VMAs. It would have been a generational performance. They denied us for what? Like, for who care? Like, well, I could not believe that like that didn't happen. But then again, when we talk about, you know, like the success of Adele's music and the songs that really, you know, popped off, like they are all built into this world, right? Like KGB draws from, you know, the Eastern European backgrounds, like being born there. Her, you know, it's like very punny and camp in the ways with the music video. And, and this sort of like KGB references there, you know, and is silly and provocative in the chorus with the KGB. But like, again, like you see his pursuit the story again, right? And it's also this, you know, I love where she's like, what is it? What is she saying? Like, she talks about how like I studied the shit. Like I like literally like being a pop star didn't just happen to me. Like this was my goal. Like I have been in pursuit of this since I was a little girl. In LA is, is I think really where, you know, like all of it comes together. Actually, wait, rewind with the KGB music video. There is this one shot in the music video where she's wearing that red hat. That shot in the music video is so good. Oh my god, it makes me angry that it like didn't get its own music video. This should have been an entire concept for itself. Like my girl loves a fuck ass hat. And I love to see her in a fuck ass hat. Gets in day with that big hat in the music video. A meeting of minds of mega minds, large brains under large hats. But again, that takes me back to In and LA and really why I feel like this song popped off so much. I mean, one, it's a fucking amazing song. Like I, again, like I love that it was, she used the, it feels very bangers my least address. She used the same rapper from it, which is very, very cool. And I loved, but also like it is this perfect integration of all the elements, right? Like when you look at the music video, there's so much story there. When you, when she talks about how like there's, you know, one of the shots in the music video has posters of Madonna on the wall in the background. And she talked about that that was because, you know, importing things from Western Europe was illegal at that time when her grandmother and mother was growing up. So they literally like smuggled in posters of their favorite artists. And they were like rare artifacts and hard to have, right? So she like, you know, had them on her walls and idolized them growing up, which is so insane. Then we see this sort of like pink duct tape font that she uses, right? And then has a t-shirt, like the brandings on the t-shirt. But then also the created this trend where it's like the baddest somebody can't always be LA. Somebody's got to hold it down for Dayton, Ohio or whatever, right? Like, and again, that is a part of her narrative, a part of her story, a part of her ethos and was integrated into the branding itself, right? Like this is it in the branding. It is taking the story of her life. It is taking something that she stands for and it is adding it into this visual element and world that accompanies the music. And that's how a trend is formed on the internet, right? Like that, it is like, oh, I see, I understand why this makes sense. The story, the backstory of it, I relate to that thing and the why factor of it and to be feel seen by it. And also this one's amazing, right? Like that is how it happens. What people mistake about this sort of like, you know, like three prong or like three chapters approach that I talk about is that like you can do one and not the other. And that all three of them have to be happening in sequence all the time. All three of them should be informing each other all the time. One cannot exist properly or do its job without the influence of the other. And I think this is what Adele really understands so well and has done with her music and why it is resonating with people so deeply. And then of course, like there is just that she's fucking a mate like one of the most technically skilled people in pop music right now. Like it's actually job like jaw dropping every time I see a performance clip of hers. The way she is able to incorporate so many forms of dance the way she can move her body in high heels is insane. The boys are just standing there with an acoustic guitar doing nothing on stage and it does like breaking her bones in a shoe. I would love to see Alex Warren try the KGB choreography. I would love to see him try and he never will. You know what I mean, but like she is so technically proficient. It reminds me very early Gaga in the way that like she has these ways of like, hey, I I can do this and I'm going to show it to you. But I don't want to. Like I am a very classically trained artist. I am very classically trained musician. I can do these things. I don't want to. I don't feel seen by that style of music. And Gaga was very that way, you know, where she would like have these crazy vocal moments and play piano and like do incorporate all of these things into her performances and then do something completely different immediately after that to kind of show you like, you know, like just pop music is not low brow. Like there is actually a lot of like depth to what I'm doing and if you pay attention, you can see all of that. And there is no doubt in my mind. Adele is like a generational artist waiting to happen. It feels like early Gaga. Also, if you watch her interviews and she's like the way that she speaks, like she's so hungry for it. And I love that. I'm so enamored by somebody with such like tenacity and drive, you know, it's why I love Chapel Rones so much. It's why I love Douchy. It's why I like Tyler creator and you know, these artists have such like this like deep one and need in their soul to create something and tell stories to to never sacrifice their own artistry and vision. And three, never taking no for an answer. Always believing in themself and figuring out, okay, how am I going to do this? What do I have to do next? What am I going to do to make it happen? Adele has that, you know, like it is like I truly believe this is like a 10 time plus Grammy-winning artist in the future. There is no doubt in my mind. I'm so excited to watch like what the rest of her career looks like. At the time of recording this, the album is not out. Which is why I didn't mention the new songs unfortunately because at the time it comes out, I'm on vacation. At the time, album comes out. I'm going to be on vacation for a week. So like, I, if you guys are interested, comment and I'll do a review like of the music itself. But Adele, if you're watching this girl, not on the ball. I'm going to talk to you. I'm so interested in you. Like you are literally so kind. And a generational artist who I can't wait to watch blossom over the next year and many more years to come. But with that, y'all, don't forget subscribe to the channel. Thanks for being here. Thanks for watching me. I'll see you next week. Bye!