ADÉLA plays dress-up with pop history on PRIMA

Escaping a fate of Hershey ads and “Hootie Frutti” Brazilian brainrot, the 22-year-old Slovak ballerina makes up for Netflix’s Pop Star Academy failings by shooting for superstardom on one of 2026’s most highly anticipated debuts. Move over, KATSEYE. In the bright fuchsia haze of a record designed to go for first (the title's literal translation), Adéla Jergová is determined to follow up last year's left-field EP The Provocateur with what she describes as “pumps and pirouettes.” Here and there she shimmers, not least in the subtle sonic touches of sparkle that laces the LP. But for a girl who dreams big, PRIMA’s showy peaks are spoiled by stock slow jams, leaving one wishing for an elevation of the Grimes co-signed eccentricities of her earlier experimental efforts. If The Provocateur was ADÉLA urinating on her competition, viz. the intense electropop moans of “SexOnTheBeat” and “DeathByDevotion”, PRIMA pales in comparison. That said, she’s playing the game, and playing it well enough. A first preview in “KGB” leans further into the smart, sardonic strengths that help propel her rags to riches storyline. Jergová has done her homework and makes her mission statement explicit: “I’m l...