Adelina
4th April 2022
Interview: Amy Bell
Having an extremely diverse mixed ethnic background of at least 8 countries, after living in 3 different continents, Adelina will always call herself a "Citizen of the World". This explains the multicultural influences in her sound, a sound that is a mix of global pop with afrobeats, latin pop, eastern motifs along with other genres and fusions.
Back in 2012, Adelina sang for Lady Gaga at her BTWB tour and received blessings from Gaga herself to become a popstar princess. Six years later Adelina met producer RedOne who kick started Gaga's career, some would say it’s a message from the world.
Adelina's previous afrobeats collaboration "Chicken Suya" topped 1+ million views in 1 week on YouTube, all thanks to her loving and rapidly growing fanbase all over the world and in particular Africa, Brazil and UK
The London based singer and songwriter is back to talk to us about her latest single 'Butter'.
Congrats on your new single ‘Butter’, how different is this single from the rest of the other singles you have released?
I would say that the biggest difference is that this single is supported by the music video that I was finally able to let out to the world after living in the pandemic world for 2 years. During the pandemic I released 5 singles and all of them had to be audio despite the fact that I am very visually and performance driven artist. My previous single “Chicken Suya” was supposed to come out with vibrant music video, but due to pandemic everything got cancelled and I’m so happy and relieved that I finally let out the visuals that I’ve had in my mind for few years now! Sound wise, I cannot really compare this song to anything else that I’ve heard before due to the fusion of sounds and languages in the song, I just think that it “hits different”.
You have combined a vast amount of genres into this song, how did you fit in so many genres, and what made you decide to do that?
Myself, I am a product of different cultures combination in all possible ways: ethnically, musically, spiritually, the places where I lived. Therefore, it makes so much sense to me to never stick to something just one on purpose. I will, if it sounds amazing but really, fusion is in my nature. And the whole mixture of different sounds and vibes just came naturally together without a force.
You produce and engineer your own music, why do you think it is so important to make sure that you have so much creative control?
Because I am an absolute perfectionist it’s important for me to have a creative control to make sure I deliver the sound the really does represent me and my artistry. I also choose to engineer myself during the recording because I feel like that’s when I am the most free and can take all the time that I need to achieve the sound I want. I also love collaborating with other writers and producers too, as it’s also often brings some of the most amazing ideas when few creative brains come together.
What is ‘Butter’ all about and how did you start writing and producing this song?
I had a beat that I produced more than 2 years ago and it was just pilling up on my laptop but I always wanted to give it a life as I absolutely loved the afro groove. Then, after working on like 10 demos for my next single I remembered about it’s existence and sent the stems of the beat over to another producer RexMadeIt so he can put his magic on it, got in a writing session with amazing songwriters Morien and Shayan Moftizadeh and in the end of the story the “Butter” was created. I said to myself, from now on, I just want to create purely good vibes music and make people feel good, cause I really feel like the world needs it most right now. I just wanted people to have their beautiful moments, especially on the chorus, I was imagining everyone getting up in their feelings, drink up in the air and screaming on the top of their lungs on “silently, you take control of me” part [laughs].
When do you know once a single is finished?
I usually know that the single is ready to go when I get great feedback from the people that I send it for review, those are my colleagues, engineers, producers and just simply friends with a great ear in music. Sometimes you get so excited over a song that you created and next morning you listening to it thinking “that aint even that good” and you always need that second opinion, because in the end of the day it’s the people who decide wether it will be a banger or not!
What is next for you?
I’m planning to release an E.P this year and this will be the first time when I finally decided to ditch singles strategy over the body of work. I am actually really excited to see how it’s going to evolve, but one thing I can say that with my obsessive perfectionism it better be good and it will be good! That’s a promise. I’m here to serve my listeners only immaculate vibes, great music and wide spectrum of beautiful soundscapes. Also we are in talks about few big collaborations (I cannot name the names yet) I have so many amazing visions and creative ideas that I want to bring to life musically, visually, artistically and I can’t wait to see how it all will unfold in the process.