Adore Delanocame close to taking the top prize inRuPaul’s Drag Raceduring Season 6 in 2014. The ultimate drag queen competition sawBianca del Riocrowned as winner with Adore Delano andCourtney Actas the runner-ups.Adore was called “unpolished” a couple of times on the show,and although she may have edged her way through the challenges, Adore proved to be fearless on camera and ready to take out the competition.Her training and performances in this famous reality competition were most likely drawn from the experience she gained as a contestant in seasons 6 and 7 of the hugely popular singing contestAmerican Idolcirca 2007 and 2008.
In 2017, Adoreannounced that she was non-binaryand stated that she didn’t align with any specific gender group. Adore later announced via social media that she would rather have people address her with she/her pronouns, asshe now identifies as a transgender woman.She’s also been open to sharing her sobriety journey and that she is expected to receive gender-affirming surgery later this year.
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Adore’s Days On ‘American Idol’
After being brutally rejected in season’s 6 first round ofAmerican Idol,Danny Noriega,as she called herself at the time, decided to try again and auditioned for a second time in 2008.She came in stronger, and after performing a soulful version of John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary.“Adore impressed the judges in her second attempt. Adore was musically in key the entire time and added her twist to the Southern rock and roll classic. JudgesPaula Abdul,Simon Cowell,andRandy Jacksongave their deliberations and gave three yeses to the contestant.
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For the competition’s second round, Adore performed “When I Need You” byAlbert Hammond. For her third round, Adore performed a version ofElvis Presley’s"Jailhouse Rock.“For this performance, Randy Jackson was impressed by the performance aspect, as it seemed to him that Adore just knew how to have “a good time”. As for Paula, she was mostly impressed by her vocals and Adore’s ability to switch “colors” for different genres. On the other hand,Simon Cowell did not like her take on the rock' n' roll classic and thought it was “awful”. Despite that last harsh piece of feedback, Adore was safe enough to go on to the next round in the Top 20.
Adore showed up in the next round, performing “Superstar"byThe Carpenters. Her strong vibrato was praised by both Paula and Randy.Although Simon felt it was not her best performance vocally, he made a good comment on Adore’s standing out in the crowd,which was interesting and “looked terrific on camera.” On a side note, Adore’s parents were consistently showing up in front-row seats to support her performances.
Adore went on to compete in the next round, but unfortunately, it was not enough to impress the judges in the semifinals. Her version of “Tainted Love” fell flat and did not land well with the judges for her to compete in the final round ofAmerican Idol.Although she did not win the competition, by now Adore had made her first mark on television and would go on to pursue a big career in entertainment as a drag performer.
Adore Delano’s Music Career Takes Flight Post-‘Idol’
On American Idol, Adore mentioned she had started a punk-rock band in the 9th grade.Adore’s music endeavors date from 2011, when she started performing with a local band in LA. After her drag platform was cemented onDrag Race, Adore launched her debut studio album calledTill Death Do Us Partyin 2014. The album featured 11 tracks, of which two made spots on theBillboard Dance/Electronic Songs chart: “DTF” and “I Adore You” made it to numbers three and 49, respectively, on the charts.
Adore’s drag fanbase gave her the platform to keep making music as she continued to launch her next albums. In 2016, her second albumAfter Partycame out. The same year, Adore would return as a contestant on the second season ofRuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars.But she decided to quit midway through the season after getting harsh critiques from the judges.Adore would later release her third studio albumWhateverin 2017 and her fourth,Dirty Laundry,in 2021. Adore currently has nearly 150,000 followers and 65,000 monthly listeners onSpotifyand has been touring occasionally.
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