Pretty good one to have in your corner.
Stella Lefty has been dealing with quite a bit of backlash lately, after the 24-year-old was accused of ripping off several popular songs on her debut album.
Her debut single, “Boston,” features Noah Kahan as a co-writer after his team reached out to her about similarities to his song “Stick Season.” And Stella also confirmed that her song “Summer You Were Mine” was an interpolation of “There’s Your Trouble” by The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks), with the co-writers of the original song given credit on Stella’s track.
Since then, the internet has pointed out what they believe to be similarities between several other songs she’s released, including “Misery” sounding especially similar to “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman and “Why Wouldn’t We,” which has a melody in the chorus that’s similar to Blake Shelton’s 2017 #1 hit, “I’ll Name the Dogs” (honestly though, that one’s a bit of a reach for me).
Anyway, all these comes as Stella was already under the microscope for her quick rise to fame and accusations of being an “industry plant” thanks to her billionaire father, Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky.
(There are also a lot of disgusting anti-semitic comments on her posts, so my guess is that a lot of the criticism is from people who hate her based on reasons that have nothing to do with her music).
But despite all of the criticism she’s received early in her career, she’s got at least one big name in the country music industry who’s a fan: Randy Travis.
Stella frequently covers Randy’s classic hit “Forever and Ever, Amen” during her live shows, which has caught the attention of Randy himself. She often cites Randy as one of her biggest inspirations in country music, and her and her boyfriend, fellow country artist Vincent Mason, even had the opportunity to spend time with the legend himself recently:
Well Stella recently teased another song seemingly called “Raised by the Radio” that included a shoutout to Randy and some other country legends:
“Yeah I learned to love like Whitley
And I learned how to live like Tim McGraw
Got my first heartbreak to Randy
That dashboard’s seen it all
No matter how this life hits me
Turn it up and just let go
Born to love a six string
I was raised by the radio”
The song and video caught Randy’s attention, who took to the comments to share some praise and words of encouragement for the young songwriter:
“Thank you for the nod, Stella! I’ve always thought you could stand toe to toe with the very best in Nashville! Keep believing…face to the sunshine and shadows fall behind you!”
@stellaleftymusic ❤️❤️
Despite the backlash, Stella’s song “Boston” has already been a monster hit. It’s currently sitting at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, behind only Ella Langley’s record breaker “Choosin’ Texas.” It also managed to reach #2 on the Hot Country Songs chart, while topping the Country Airplay chart to become Stella’s first #1 single.
Regardless of how you feel about her, Stella is a phenomenon in country music – and the wider music world – right now, and we’ll just have to wait and see whether she’s able to keep up the momentum.
And she’s got Randy Travis rooting for her, which is never a bad thing.