ADÉLA's "Ain't in LA" Is the Underdog Hit of the Year (And Nicole Kidman Agrees)

ADÉLA is 22 years old, from Bratislava, Slovakia, and she just landed the kind of debut most artists spend a decade chasing. Her album PRIMA arrived in September 2026 and debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200. The single“Ain’t in LA”became her first entry on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 27, while follow-up“Nicole Kidman”climbed to No. 11. She’s also crossed half a billion global on-demand streams this year.

The backstory is what makes it hit. ADÉLA competed on HYBE x Geffen’s Dream Academy in 2023, the show that formed KATSEYE, and didn’t make the final group. She trained as a ballerina, learned English at night, and kept going. When her team hesitated on the rollout for“Ain’t in LA,”she trusted her instinct after strong fan reactions on tour with Demi Lovato. Then the song took off on TikTok, and Nicole Kidman herself used it in her first-ever video on the platform.

There’s a fun irony baked into the whole thing.“Ain’t in LA”is a 2010s-flavored pop anthem about rejecting celebrity romanticization, and she recorded it in Los Angeles. ADÉLA acknowledges that contradiction openly. Her message lands anyway: if you get it, great, but you don’t need it, because you’re great on your own. So what’s the song you loved before everyone else caught on?