The AdELA Effect: How This Triple Threat Makes it Happen Without Labels or Luck
The stylization of AdELA’s name was a pure accident, a slip of the fingers at the caps-lock key that resulted in something unique. Similarly, AdELA became the CEO of Off the Burner Music through a chance chat with some video game execs looking to feature an old track. Her forthcoming project, the one she says will follow the rambunctious rap-laced release of Run, Baby Run – a high-powered EP that makes it hard to catch your breath in the best way – was birthed via a random stroke of genius while visiting The City of Angels. It would seem then that much of AdELA’s career has been aleatory – random or lucky – but that would be a complete fallacy. Instead, it’s AdELA’s deliberate, all-in nature that has turned coincidence into kismet. In other words, the South African born, Florida raised, Atlanta based independent artist is so in line with her purpose, destiny can’t help but continuously unfold in front of her like a name-tagged gift. Aptly, SPIN caught up with AdELA to understand more about the way she moves and manufactures in this ever-changing music industry.
This is AdELA, the TuneCore/SPIN Artist of the month:
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What’s your reason for remaining an independent artist?
I like being an independent artist because there aren’t any rules, I’m the boss. And because I have TuneCore, I’ve never really felt like I needed a label, you know what I mean? They empower me because they’re that label piece without being a label. Like, I can go into TuneCore and make sure my music is properly distributed, I can make sure it’s everywhere, and that’s a big part of doing good business as an artist.
As an artist, specifically an independent one who’s garnered some impressive accolades, how do you gauge success?
I always talk about this moment with TuneCore where they actually put me on the side of a double decker bus in New York City. I remember it was a summer day and we drove through Times Square and someone had queued up “Empire State of Mind.” There’s this video of me looking up at the Empire State Building, and I remember at that moment thinking, “Oh, my God, this girl, all the way from South Africa. Who would have thought?” It still makes me emotional.
You’re consistently trying to keep up with this machine – the labels that have all these resources at their disposal – so it’s kind of hard sometimes to celebrate because you’re like, “Okay what’s next? I’ve gotta do the next thing.” In general, people think that to be successful you have to be like this person or that person, or you have to perform this type of show or have this many streams, and so I think as an independent artist, it kind of becomes a mind trip. You start to question, like, “Am I successful?” And you tend to forget to celebrate and appreciate the really cool moments like doing the theme song for the NHL or turning on Netflix and hearing my song playing on a show.
What’s an achievement you’re aiming to add to your rap sheet?
Something I really, really, really want to do this year is create a song for an animated project. I really want to go in and lend my voice to animation and bring my energy to a really cool scene.
Well that’s perfect because you’re the CEO of Off the Burner Music, which connects musicians and recording artists with TV, video games, film, and sports. How’d that come about?
Yeah, I kind of fell into that back in 2020 when I got a call about a record that was on my very first album. They wanted to use it for a video game trailer for Rider’s Republic. I didn’t really know anything about it but we did business on it, and when it came out I was like, “I want to do this all the time!”
We’ve done stuff for Final Fantasy, Nickelodeon, a Morgan Freeman documentary – that was like a 1940s jazz score – a Keyshia Cole movie, and so much other stuff. We’re a well-oiled group of writers, artists, producers, and creators. And the coolest part is that when it’s all said and done, you get to be a part of these universes and legacies.
How would you describe your sound? Who are your inspirations sonically and spiritually?
If I were to form a supergroup, It would include me, Frank Sinatra, Stevie Nicks, ‘Pac, Freddy Mercury, and Lil Wayne. I think that’s my sound. I found this voice a couple of years ago and it’s just so high energy and sometimes aggressive. It has so much character and I think it reflects really well who I am as a person.
Let’s talk about Run, Baby Run. How does this album differ from the rest of your discography, specifically something like Dreamers & Thinkers?
With Dreamers & Thinkers, I was being very conscious on a lot those songs, and maybe even a little more gentle. With Run, Baby Run, I went through tons of ideas because I do have a very eclectic catalog. I decided I just wanted to lean into the high energy, like, I want to turn this album on and from start to finish I want it to be on “go.” I wanted it to feel like you’re driving in a video game with the windows down or you just hit the pavement running. I just leaned all the way into that.
Favorite song on the album?
“Pendulum.” I knew I had something there. I’m not athletic at all [laughs], but I was like “Okay, this is like my sport, and I’m gonna go hard on this.” So when I was recording “Pendulum,” I was like three feet from the mic and I was just going in – my adrenaline was all the way up.
What’s the ultimate goal for your music career and your life in general?
I think my ultimate goal is to be happy in life. Happiness is key in everything. As far as music, I just want to keep spreading it far and wide and never lose sight of the fact that I love doing this. And I’m fucking lucky that I get to do this. At the core of who I am, I’m a creator. That is where I operate. So I just want to keep building my sound, building my catalog, and continue saying yes to things that could be scary. You know, like, “Hey, can you do some 1940s jazz for us?” Like, you know what? Okay, sure.
What’s next?
I want to work on a new EP and a completely different sound. I don’t really want to talk too much about it – I don’t even wanna say it out loud – but when I was in LA recently I came up with this genius-ass idea. I will say, the next EP is something literally no one would ever expect.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
