Adela’s Provocateur - an EP review

Adela’s Provocateur - an EP review

12/29/2025

Words by Yessenia (Sen) Halstead

5-7m Read

If you’re looking for the ultimate soundtrack to a night of “unapologetic main character energy,” look no further than Adéla’s debut EP, The Provocateur. It isn't just a collection of songs; it’s a manifesto of confidence, sex appeal, and club-ready production.

From her roots in The Debut: Dream Academy to this explosive solo debut, Adéla has traded the "girl group" mold for a gritty, industrial-pop edge that feels like a cross between Britney Spears’ Blackout era and the futuristic chaos of Charli XCX. It’s bouncy, it’s bold, and it’s undeniably sexy.

SUPERSCAR 3:13

The EP opens with a punch. "Superscar" is a slick, synth-heavy anthem where Adéla addresses the exploitation of the music industry with a chillingly confident delivery. The beat is crisp and mechanical, setting the "bouncy but dangerous" tone for the rest of the project. The bridge is my favorite part, using the lines “Shut my lips to speak, Stick to your strategy, I know you like ‘em weak, Sold you a piece of me” to show that the music industry doesn’t like it when an artist disagrees with them and will typically push the careers of those who fall in line. 

Miguel Zárata’s choreography for this song is a pure example of visual storytelling. The puppet-like, mechanical choreography for this track, combined with Adéla’s years of professional training, creates a perfect blend of gritty yet grounded hyperpop chaos. 

SexOnTheBeat 2:46

This song is the ultimate confidence booster. With lyrics like "Give me rage, I give sex on the beat," Adéla leans fully into her power. It’s a rhythmic, thumping floor-filler filled with chopped vocals and flirtatious energy. If you need a song to get ready to, this is the one. In the same token, the song is showing the oversexualization of women within the music industry. This is highlighted more when watching the music video. While Adéla is a proudly sexual and liberated woman, I believe it’s a commentary on how the music industry is selling sex as a marketing tool. 

Robbie Blu’s choreography for this track can only be described as alien-like. It perfectly blends bouncy and graceful, showcasing Adéla’s hyper-flexibility, control, and impressive ability to perform intense floor work. 

MachineGirl 2:35

This track is a jittery, rebellious highlight. It’s faster and more experimental, blending sweet vocals with abrasive, distorted textures. This sound made even more sense to me when I found out Grimes had a hand in the project.  It captures that "it-girl" mania and the feeling of being watched.  This track throws a little wink at Adéla’s haters, who primarily dislike her for her perceived “mean girl” character in Dream Academy. She hints at editors and executives blowing situations in the show out of proportion for the sake of entertainment with the line “Why you comin' at me, baby? Yell at the machine, girl”. She also pokes fun at the criticism she receives on her physical appearance and cosmetic surgery allegations with the line “Past her lips, you will find her brain” This song takes confidence in your own character to a whole other level, and you can feel her strength behind the lyrics. 

Adéla worked with Miguel Zárata once again on this choreography showcasing a brilliant face-off between herself and dancer Sofia Wylie. Both Adéla’s and Sofia’s dancing for this music video is incredibly sharp and precise, almost knife-like. One of my favorite aspects of the choreography is the symmetry between the dancers. The choreography is clearly extremely athletic and very impressive. Miguel Zárata clearly has a talent for bringing the songs to life through movement. 

Homewrecked 2:53

While it slows down slightly, the "bouncy" club DNA remains in the pulsing bassline. It’s a raw, introspective look at betrayal and adultery from the eyes of the child finding out about her parents' affair. However, Adéla doesn’t play the victim. Instead, she turns her pain into a cinematic, moody banger that feels both vulnerable and incredibly sharp. This song is the most melodic on the EP and showcases a softer side of Adéla while still maintaining her pulsing synth-pop vibe. 

The choreography for this track is a clear departure from her normal choreography. While it still has the elements of cinematic storytelling, with the movement designed to complement the song's narrative, it focuses much more on artistic vulnerability. It didn’t come as a shock to me when I learned that one of Adela’s best friends, Emily Kelavos, had a hand in this vulnerable choreography. This is also the first time in the EP that we get to see Adéla really showcase her ballet skills and technical ability, performing in a pair of pointe shoes during the track's bridge. She is strength, vulnerability, gracefulness, and precision rolled into one. 

Go 2:44

"Go" is a relentless rush of adrenaline. It’s built for movement, a runaway train of heavy bass and urgent lyrics about wanting freedom. It’s the peak of the EP’s energy, where the industrial grit meets pure catharsis. This track is the epitome of all gas, no breaks. Dylan Brady of 100 gecs produces it and was instantly recognizable to me as his work. This super high-energy song has been on repeat for me during workouts, runs, and pretty much anything else that involves moving my body. There is no choreography for this track, unfortunately, but I don’t think this song needs it anyway. The best way I can describe the feeling this song has given me is “cathartic release,” and I believe the movement it inspires displays exactly that. “Go” is actually my favorite song off the EP, and I’d love to hear more songs like it from Adéla if she chooses to lean into the pure industrial, Euro-Dance sound. 

DeathByDevotion 3:16

Drawing on her history as a professional ballerina, this track explores the "violent beauty" of obsession. The production is layered and chaotic, mirroring the physical toll of her craft. It’s sophisticated, dark, and provides a hauntingly sexy contrast to the more straightforward club tracks. At first, the song begins with an ethereal, almost gothic atmosphere. Her vocals are incredibly smooth and melodic, embodying a balletic grace that is representative of Adéla’s start as a ballerina. Towards the end of the track, it shifts into an almost manic breakdown. The production becomes abrasive and fast-paced. 

James Vu Anh Pham’s choreography for this track was spectacular. Taking Adéla’s thirteen years of ballet training and turning it into something much more visceral and “broken” was a beautiful direction for them to take. I loved the transition from polished doll to raving puppet being transcribed through the movement. I don’t think I have ever seen pain, frustration, and a breakdown look so beautiful before. 

Finallyapologizing 2:20

The title is a total fake-out; she isn’t apologizing for anything. The EP ends with a glitter bomb of buzzsaw synths and defiant lyrics: "I don’t do anything I don’t want to do / And maybe that’s why I don’t work too well in groups." It’s a final, middle-finger salute that leaves you wanting a second EP immediately. It is arguably the boldest track on the project because it weaponizes the very thing people criticized her for during her time on Dream Academy. It’s high energy, distorted, slightly chaotic. I have been describing this song as “fuzzy,” and really, that’s my best description for it. Adéla uses a very deadpan, almost spoken word delivery in the verses that I really love. I am nearly impressed by her indifference. This song is the perfect demonstration of Adéla’s rebrand and new sound, and almost her final way of saying she is not going back to the “trainee” mold she was forced into before by Dream Academy.

Overall thoughts 

To say “The Provocateur” is just a debut EP would be a massive understatement. It is a 20-minute masterclass on dismantling and rebuilding an identity. Watching Adéla evolve from the structure and high-stakes environment of Dream Academy into a self-governing force of nature is nothing short of breathtaking. She doesn’t just step into the spotlight as a solo artist; she commands it. She sounds like she was quite literally born for the strobe lights. What makes this project resonate so intensely on a personal level is the razor-sharp intelligence behind the “sexy” facade. Adéla’s lyrics are provocative, yes, but they are never shallow. She is playing a character and speaking her truth simultaneously. There is a sense of hard-won freedom in every vocal run and every glitchy synth. 

Equally as impressive, and honestly, what ties the whole project together for me, is the unbelievable choreography.  Seeing her use her 13 years of professional ballet training not to be “pretty,” but to be powerful and athletic, adds a layer of physical storytelling that many pop stars can’t match. It is very rare to find an artist who delivers a perfect sonic experience and a world-class visual performance in one go, but with “The Provocateaur”, Adéla has proven she’s the one to beat.