Adam Pavlovčin

Born in Myjava and raised in Senica, Pavlovčin took an interest in dancing and singing at an early age, encouraged by his older sister.[3] Following in her footsteps, he joined a junior dance crew, took singing lessons and started playing the piano.[8] In his teenage years, however, he experienced a significant voice change associated with puberty, resulting in him losing his vocal range, with his voice dropping from tenor to basso profondo, the lowest bass. Frustrated, he quit singing.[4]

He focused on dancing instead, performed with professional dance crews and went on to win the Slovak Championship in the IDO street dance disciplines five times.[9] When he was fifteen, he moved away from his family to Bratislava to attend C.S. Lewis Bilingual High School[10] and took acting classes at an academy located in the New Scene theater.[11] At 16, he got into modeling.[5]

Subsequently, he rediscovered singing and moved to Prague to be classically trained by renowned opera singer Hana Peckova, whom he credits with expanding his bass vocal range up into his pre-teen tenor.[4] He made a living as a freelance artist in Prague for a year before he decided to follow his dream and pursue a career in music.[11] "I would step away from singing only to always come back. And I'd made so many comebacks that I told myself: 'Well, Adam, you really can't do any other job!'"[12]

He earned his bachelor's degree in Songwriting and Creative Musicianship at the prestigious[13] British and Irish Modern Music Institute in London, United Kingdom, graduating with first class honours.[14][11]

Struggling to pay for tuition and living expenses while pursuing a degree, he took jobs preparing espressos, babysitting, teaching music, modeling, and serving up drinks in a gay bar to make ends meet.[14] Pavlovčin, who came out as gay to his parents two weeks after "falling madly in love" with a boy at 18, has described his college years in London as the time of "complete liberation" and "self discovery", molding him into the man he is today.[14][15][16]

He is one of the faces of the ad campaign Every Love Is Love that features scenes of him kissing a man before turning to the camera, paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, a biblical text about love frequently read during wedding ceremonies.[44][13] The Constitution of the Slovak Republic bans same-sex marriage and civil unions.[45] "If I'd seen an ad like this in Slovakia as a little boy, I'm sure it would've had a very positive effect on my growing up."[46] Speaking in late 2021, Pavlovčin said he had never considered himself an activist, but "my actions made me one".[28]

In addition to the campaign, Pavlovčin has called for an official change of the definition of the word "love" (láska) in the Slovak dictionary, to make it inclusive of all sexual and gender identities. The current edition of the dictionary defines love as "an affection of an individual of one gender for an individual of another gender".[47][48] In comparison, the Merriam-Webster dictionary of English language defines love (noun) as "a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person".[49] The initiative has yielded a result as the linguistic scientists who authored the dictionary agreed to a change of the definition.[50]

Since March 2022, he has participated in Artists for Ukraine, an initiative to raise funds for NGOs that provide humanitarian aid and shelter for refugees fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a neighboring country of his native Slovakia.[51][52] He told Forbes that the news had left him emotionally "paralyzed" for days.[5]

Pavlovčin is a natural basso profondo, the deepest bass, possessing a vocal range that extends up into tenor, which gives him a distinctive timbre in the upper register. He has been working on his voice with an opera singer for over a decade.[4][34] His vocals have been described as "haunting", "deeply soulful", "heart-wrenching",[53] "breathtaking", the timbre of his voice as "silky".[21][54] His songs have been characterized as "atmospheric", "reminiscent of film music".[19] Pavlovčin described his music as "melancholic".[24]

His songwriting style is narrative, following themes of self-love, lust, confusion, attachment, heartbreak, moving on from the past, or loneliness.[19][11] Composing all of his songs on the piano, he considers the songwriting process a therapeutic tool and "medicine" for a broken heart.[3][55]

He has cited AURORA, Sevdaliza, Josef Salvat, Sufjan Stevens, London Grammar, Lorde, Birdy, Florence + the Machine as some of his musical influences, while mentioning Woodkid as the key inspiration in his career beginnings,[24][11] and Damiano David of Måneskin, Sevdaliza, Prince, Freddie Mercury, or David Bowie as his influences in fashion.[14] He is known for his pre-show rituals such as painting his nails for good luck.[5] ELLE dubbed Pavlovčin "the queer king".[14]

His sister Radka is an actress and singer based in Prague, Czechia.[56] His mother is the critically acclaimed visual artist Monika Sabo and his stepfather is a paramedic.[57][58][15] He does not keep in touch with his biological father.[15]

Pavlovčin is a fan of RuPaul's Drag Race.[59][16]

He resides in Prague and London.[15]

Audition: "Skin" by Rag'n'Bone Man[65]
Grand Selection (Top 82): "Power Over Me" by Dermot Kennedy, "Into You" by Ariana Grande
Duets (Top 50): "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen
Semifinal (Top 20): "Another Love" by Tom Odell
Final 1 (Top 10) : "Drivers License" by Olivia Rodrigo[66]
Final 2 (Top 08): "Physical" by Dua Lipa
Final 3 (Top 06) : "Hold Back the River" by James Bay,[26] "Pár dní" by Desmod feat. Zuzana Smatanová
Grand Finale (Top 4): "Arcade" by Duncan Laurence
Grand Finale (Top 3): "Láska" by Marcel Palonder[67]
Grand Finale (Top 2): "Skin" by Rag'n'Bone Man[68]

• List of Idols winners

• Adam Pavlovčin on Instagram
• Adam Pavlovčin at IMDb