Lennon Stella

PHOTOS BY ALYSSA BUZZELLO AND WORDS BY LAUREN KLONOWSKI

Some things are just a family tradition. Going to the same college, playing the same sport or working in the family business. For the Stella family, that business is music. From a very young age Canadian pop singer-songwriter, Lennon Stella has known that she would follow her family’s musical footsteps. “Coming from a musical family, my parents were always very inspiring to me, as well as the musicians my family were constantly surrounded by.”

It’s not just Stella’s parents who chose music as their career path. Many of her other family members are in the music business as well; most notably, her younger sister and former-costar, Maisy Stella. The two siblings starred as Maddie and Daphne Conrad on the hit ABC television series, Nashville which aired from 2012-2018. On top of being television stars, the sisters even worked together on their own music as the duo, Lennon & Maisy. They started out on YouTube in 2012, covering the legendary Robyn’s “Call Your Girlfriend” and it struck a chord. The video currently has over 30.5 million hits. The video even landed them on Good Morning America. Their discography together includes smash hits they cowrote for Nashville as well as covers, holiday songs and other originals.

Since the show has ended, Stella has taken that time to hone in on her solo music. While she starred in a show that revolves around country music and currently resides in Music City, U.S.A., that doesn’t mean her musical sound is just country-focused. In fact, it heavily leans toward pop with a hint of indie that grants her a unique and exciting sound.

Stella has done a lot of songwriting in her day. At just 20 years old, she has written music in a number of genres for herself and other artists. It is a completely different experience writing for herself versus writing for others. She says, “It definitely was a completely different thing writing for the show, as opposed to my solo music. My solo music is much more of an honest piece of who I am.”

Her debut EP, Love, me granted some major success. It charted in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Spain and Australia. It also landed her a spot on Billboard’s Top Emerging Artists chart right after it’s release. She dropped four of the six tracks on the EP as singles, but the standout of those four was definitely the instant hit, “La Di Da” a synth-pop track that talks of literally holding your ears to avoid hearing someone’s empty words. It’s a hard-hitting message that meets an infectious chorus to make it a highlight of Love, me.

She has collaborated with numerous artists over the years, including her sister Maisy, pop duo The Chainsmokers, English DJ Jonas Blue, former One Direction member, Liam Payne and more. However, she is letting collaborations take a back seat for the time being. She says, “Right now, I’m definitely focused on finishing this album, putting it out and seeing where that goes.” Now that doesn’t mean she won’t return to working with other people after the album has dropped. She goes on to say, “In the future, though, I would love to collab with other artists I love.”

She looks to her favorite artists for inspiration to help craft her own music. Recently, she has been listening to Beach House, Tame Impala and Andy Shauf, but her all-time favorites are Fleetwood Mac and Bread. When listening to her music, you can tell that she uses these artists as influences to create her own sound. When asked how she found her musical sound, she says, “having a lot of time and freedom to explore” is what made it possible.

Stella’s latest single, “Kissing Other People” has been a huge achievement for her. She wrote the track at a writing camp in Cabo, where she also finished her upcoming album. She says, “The song was started because of something I said in passing about the process of me getting over someone to Caroline, my co-writer.” It’s a good thing she made that passing comment way back when. That one quick moment turned into a great song that has brought Stella even more success.

The official music video for the track currently has over half a million views on YouTube with no sign of slowing down. She said the video filming process was “really fun and much more lighthearted than any of the things I’ve done in the past. It had more of a funny and sweet feeling to it, so it was really fun to shoot.” It starts out in the classic house party scene-- red solo cups, people dancing, etc. Then it really starts to encapsulate the track by all the people at the party, well, kissing other people. The first time you watch the video it is easy to see that Stella had a great time making this video and that it’s one of her best videos to date.

When it comes to songwriting, Stella knows it’s not about creating music that will sell, it’s about creating art that connects with listeners and inspires them. She says, “I hope that [my music] evokes some sort of feeling when people listen to it.” Creating that connection builds a strong fan base and makes her live shows even more fun.

Like most artists, touring is definitely a highlight of the job for Stella. Looking back on her time on the road, she has one notable story that still makes her laugh to this day. “Halloween night 2019, [I was] playing with The Chainsmokers and I couldn’t stop laughing gazing into Drew’s eyes as he was dressed head-to-toe as a Harry Potter character wearing a wig,” she remembers. Well, there’s a good chance she’ll have even more memories from tour later this year.

Looking to the future, Stella says she’s excited to put out her new album. “[I’m really excited to be] putting my album out and getting to perform it live. I’m excited to have it in the world and sink in that feeling.” Stella has a lot to look forward to for the rest of 2020. A new album and a supporting tour sure sounds like a great way to spend the year if you ask us! We can’t wait to hear her brand new music and catch her at a show when she sets out on the road.