“Red Bottoms” — the June single that named ADÉLA’s first headline tour — is the quietest thing she has released. That’s notable because quiet is not what got her here. Her debut EP, The Provocateur, landed on Capitol Records last August with songs about betrayal, defiance, and exploitation, and singles like “KGB” — co-produced by Blake Slatkin, Dylan Brady of 100 gecs, and The Dare — that ran on hyperpop and dance-inflected sounds that made her immediately loud. Then she spent spring opening for Demi Lovato on the “It’s Not That Deep” tour, and the day after it closed, she announced a 21-date headline run of her own.
The pivot to a ballad as the centerpiece of that run is deliberate. “Red Bottoms” uses a Louboutin red sole, a worn-out heel, as a metaphor for a partner’s absent affection and the self-doubt it produces. She has called it her debut heartbreak ballad; press coverage has called it a departure from her bolder earlier sound. Both are right. The Emma Drew Berson-directed video stays close and intimate, a tonal shift from “KGB,” whose video was filmed at the LA Theater and drew on her background as a professional ballet dancer trained from age three in Moscow, then Vienna State Ballet, then English National Ballet School.
About the Show
The Red Bottoms Tour runs 21 dates from London (August 25) through Mexico City (October 16), with North American stops including Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Brooklyn, Nashville, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The Austin date is Thursday, September 24. No support acts are listed. Her catalog spans “KGB,” “Homewrecked,” “Superscar,” “SexOnTheBeat,” “DeathByDevotion,” and the tour’s title track, enough to build a full headline set around. Coverage from Vogue, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, and Interview Magazine has followed her ascent since The Provocateur. She also appeared in Netflix’s Pop Star Academy: KATSEYE, the documentary following the HYBE/Geffen reality program that first put her in front of a national audience.
Venue & Logistics
Emo’s Austin is a 1,700-capacity club at 2015 E. Riverside Dr., a reasonable first-headliner room for a 22-year-old on a tour that sold out quickly after announcement. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8 p.m. More Austin shows on our regional calendar.
Tickets
No general ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. A VIP Early Entry Upgrade Package is listed at $75. Buy tickets