Ain’t in LA: Adéla’s Anthem for the Ordinary Person

How does it feel to be the only person in the world with naturally pink hair? Adéla has the answer. Unashamed, powerful, and bold, the Slovakian Singer rocks her fiery fuchsia hair that celebrity hair stylists call “electric petal pink.” Truth be told, this highly saturated color is nowhere near natural. Still, fans love to joke that she was born with her bright pink hair because it suits her so much. However, “electric petal pink” doesn’t only grow on Adéla’s head—it follows her everywhere. From tour posters to billboards, the color has truly become a trademark that solidifies the 22-year-old as a global pop star. 

For me, “Adéla Pink” reminds me of the person I once wanted to be. I dreamed of dyeing my jet-black hair a vibrant color and becoming an “it girl” pop star who danced on the big stage. Clearly, that did not happen. I am still an ordinary student in Singapore living my boring life. In my mind, an “it girl” was a person I could look up to and aspire to be. It couldn’t just be anyone—of course not. They had to radiate confidence and have a distinct aesthetic that grabs attention. Despite my current incompetence at becoming the next “it girl”, Adéla has accomplished all of my childhood dreams and possibly hers as well. In an interview with Spotify, Adéla recounts the profound influence pop music had on her life as a girl raised in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. She always longed for American pop culture and looked up to artists like Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus for inspiration and guidance, often listening to their interviews and mimicking their American accents to sound more like them. Adéla has always wanted to reach for her dreams in America, and she has achieved them. 

To become a successful pop star, Adéla had to leave her mark—in hot pink, of course. On April 13th, 2026, she wore an extravagant tutu with pointe shoes and a baseball cap, then strutted confidently onstage to perform her new single, “Ain't in LA”, from her debut album. At the time, she was opening for Demi Lovato and didn’t have her own show yet. On that very stage, her jaw-dropping outfit and difficult ballet dance moves captivated the audience. That was the start of her global pop star journey.

Fast forward a couple of months, "Ain't in LA" has accumulated 134 million streams on Spotify, and peaked at #2 on the Global Spotify Charts with 3.4 million daily streams.

The hit song opens with heavy synthesizers, a deep bass, and an iconic vocal introduction by Theron Thomas (a Grammy-winning songwriter who co-wrote Miley Cyrus’s We Can’t Stop and Rihanna’s Pour It Up). In this song, Adéla channels an emotional and dreamy chord progression reminiscent of the early 2010s. This track serves as a bittersweet “anthem” for ordinary people with big dreams who live far away from the major cultural hubs, conveying the idea that you don’t have to be in a large city to be cool. In the first verse, Adéla sings about her mom’s childhood, sharing a bedroom with her younger siblings and wearing secondhand clothes: “She shares a room with her younger brother / Clothes secondhand from her best friend's mother”. She highlights her mother’s experience living in Czechoslovakia but wanting to escape from her hometown and chase Western pop culture. However, Adéla takes the idea of escaping and flips it around in the chorus: “Maybe tonight, we don't gotta run away / It's all a lie, the baddest bitches ain't in L.A.” She sings of small towns and small places and tells the audience there is no need to run away.

I felt "Ain't in LA" on a deeper note as an immigrant and international student living in Singapore. After listening to the song, I’ve realized that we are often trained to think our dreams can’t be achieved in the place we call home. We always feel this urge to abandon our tiny towns for the mega metropolises. For me, it’s my parents intentionally sending me to an international school, the perfect pipeline to a college in a well-known city in the US. With all the talk about our futures after high school, it has become especially clear that the average student spends these four years working towards an idealized dream of living in a major city. We imagine working on Wall Street or drinking Unicorn Frappuccinos at Paul Smith’s Pink Wall in LA—essentially, the “it girl” lifestyle. Hearing Adéla’s song made me feel validated because she’s right. The “it girls” (or, baddest bitches, as she would say) aren’t always in the big cities. Oftentimes, the coolest people come from unknown places. 

Beyond the lyrics, Adéla’s entire image reinforces this message. Many people, including me, felt Adéla’s aesthetic was new and refreshing compared to most pop stars today. Her style and self-expression don’t adhere to conventional beauty standards. In a world where many artists sing about love and money, it’s truly valuable to hear a song with deeper meaning that empowers ordinary people and connects to the artist's roots. Because of Adéla’s powerful message, many of us might realize that we no longer have to chase after the glamorous it-girl image. With "Ain't in LA", we can learn that sometimes, our ordinary selves are enough. Though I still aspire to pursue a future in the US, I know that those big dreams and aspirations don’t define me. After all, it can’t always be in LA. Somebody has to hold it down in Singapore.