Once known as a Dream Academy contestant, Adéla is rewriting the story—and this time, she's doing it completely on her own terms.


Three years ago, the world first met Adéla Jergová as a contestant on The Debut: Dream Academy, the global audition project that would eventually create KATSEYE.


Today, she's standing somewhere very different.


With her debut album ** PRIMA ** officially out, the Slovakia-born, Los Angeles-based artist is stepping into her own pop era—and proving that not making the final lineup doesn't mean the dream is over.


Sometimes, it just means you have to build your own stage.


From Ballet to Pop


Before the music, there was ballet.


Adéla trained professionally as a ballerina, including time with the Vienna State Ballet and the English National Ballet School, before ultimately turning her attention towards music. She moved to Los Angeles as a teenager with one goal in mind: becoming a pop star.


That ambition eventually led her to Dream Academy.


The experience didn't end with the outcome she wanted. Adéla was eliminated from the competition, while the project continued on to form KATSEYE.


But instead of allowing that moment to define her career, she used it as a turning point.


And now, she's back with a much clearer idea of exactly who she wants to be.


Enter PRIMA


The title of Adéla's debut album couldn't be more fitting.


“Prima” means “first” in Italian, making it an obvious choice for a debut album. But for Adéla, the word has another meaning: prima ballerina—the leading or principal female dancer in a ballet company.


Her goal?


To become the “prima ballerina of pop.”


That's a pretty ambitious statement.


But if there's one thing Adéla has never been shy about, it's ambition.


PRIMA is essentially her introduction on her own terms—a chance to show listeners the artist underneath the competition-show narrative and define what Adéla sounds like when nobody else is deciding where she belongs.


An Album That Doesn't Pick Just One Side


If you're expecting PRIMA to fit neatly into one pop box, think again.


Across its 11 tracks, Adéla moves between confidence and vulnerability, heavier beats and softer moments, swagger and introspection. The album was executive-produced by Dylan Brady and Blake Slatkin, and explores everything from ambition and identity to relationships, insecurity, friendship and

autonomy.


Tracks such as “KGB,” “Nicole Kidman,” “Boys,” “Red Bottoms” and “Therapy” show off different sides of her personality, while “Ain't In LA” brings the album back to her journey from Slovakia towards the life she's building now.


And that contrast is part of what makes the project interesting.


Adéla isn't trying to present herself as one perfectly polished pop character.


She's showing the contradictions.


The confidence. The insecurity. The ambition. The mess.


“Ain't In LA” Tells the Story


If PRIMA is Adéla introducing herself, “Ain't In LA” is where the story gets particularly personal.


The song looks back at her journey since leaving Slovakia to pursue pop stardom, mixing booming 808s, glitchy drums and chopped-and-screwed vocals with lyrics about ambition and gratitude.


Its music video takes things even further.


Instead of filming the visual in Los Angeles, Adéla returned to her hometown of Bratislava, Slovakia, bringing the story back to where it started.

There's something beautifully full-circle about that.


The girl who left home dreaming about becoming a star is now returning as the artist she always wanted to become.


She's Already Making Noise


And PRIMA isn't arriving quietly.


“Ain't In LA” has become a major moment in Adéla's rise, while her debut album has already entered the top 10 in 10 countries, including reaching No. 1 in the Netherlands and Belgium and No. 2 in the UK, according to Universal Music Japan.


The song has also given Adéla her strongest Billboard Hot 100 performance to date, while reaching the global Spotify Daily Top 10 for the first time.


Not bad for an artist who was once told, essentially, that the group wasn't her destination.


She's Not Running From the Past


One of the most interesting parts of Adéla's rise is that she isn't pretending Dream Academy never happened.


It's part of her story.


But it isn't the ending.


The experience gave audiences their first introduction to her, while the years since have allowed her to figure out what she actually wants to say as an artist.


Her 2025 debut EP, The Provocateur, began establishing that identity, earning attention from publications including Vogue, The FADER, Rolling Stone, NYLON and Interview Magazine. She also sold out early headline shows in London, New York and Los Angeles and opened for Demi Lovato's North American tour.


Now PRIMA takes that momentum and turns it into a full-length statement.


The Off The Mic Take


There is something satisfying about watching an artist take the moment that could have ended their story and turn it into the beginning of something bigger.


Adéla didn't get the ending she wanted on Dream Academy.


So she wrote her own.


PRIMA isn't asking listeners to remember her as the girl who almost made a group.


It's introducing them to Adéla the pop star.


From ballet studios in Europe to Los Angeles, from a global audition show to her own sold-out stages, the journey has been anything but straightforward.


But maybe that's exactly what makes this era feel so exciting.


She didn't make it to the group.


She made it to PRIMA.


And this time, the spotlight is hers.