There isn’t a more controversial rising artist in country music today than Stella Lefty. The internet is flooded with videos and articles profiling her as an untalented product of nepotism who doesn’t deserve any of the attention she’s achieved. However, from the view of anyone who understands the internal clockwork of the entertainment industry, there’s a little more to her success than her money alone.
They understand that a viral moment is the easiest way to move money. At the moment, Lefty is quite the sensation, and it all started with one short video. Once she took off, it wasn’t so surprising to see radio stations, brands, outlets, and other media sources getting involved… They wanted a piece of the pie.
Still, regardless of whether she paid for the bestowal of the inescapable “industry plant” label, she has consistently produced material that maintains the same attitude and quality that launched her career in the first place. Her debut album, Long Way Home, is a mixed bag, containing some of her strongest and weakest work, with flashes of innovation throughout.
The singles released before this album seemed to revolve around two common themes: infatuation and an underlying reluctance to embrace it. In “Boston,” she explains that she’s about to push past the point in a situationship where she would typically begin to back away. “I Know I Know” takes the opposite approach, following her struggle to resist reigniting a flame that isn’t in her best interest. Similarly, nearly all the new tracks contain these same themes. Other than “Feel Better,” which solely explores themes of depression, the furthest Stella strays from this pattern is “Forever Guy.” Here, she gives up on a relationship that was never meant to work, without displaying the same attachment typically associated with that sentiment in her catalog.
READ MORE: Making Sense of Stella Lefty & “Boston’s” Fit In Country Music
With so little variety between the messaging of each song, avid listeners might check out early in a full listen through Long Way Home. It’s clear that general good vibes were prioritized over lyrical profundity; it’s probably not what they’re looking for anyway. The cheeky nature of lines like “One glass of wine and you’re on my mind, one sip of gin and I’m right back in” might be enough to turn some people away. The term “forever guy” is also clunky in its usage. In Lefty’s defense, most of her lyrics support the main points of each track, but there aren’t really any examples of extremely focused, great songwriting.
On the other hand, if infectiously catchy, positive music that doesn’t make you think too hard is appealing to you, you’ll likely enjoy this record. Everything she sings is sticky enough to get stuck in your head for days. That said, there’s still much to critique in the category of listenability.
While listeners obviously don’t have public access to the exact specifications of Stella Lefty’s record deal, we can reasonably assume the recording budget was fairly large. With that in mind, the production is a bit of a letdown in multiple areas. The vocal feels consistently overprocessed and harshly tuned, with considerably more production attention given to it than to the instrumentation.
The instrumental groundwork beneath Lefty’s voice is usually quite barebones, leaving it up to the backing vocals to fill the space. As heard in “Slow Dancin’,” when more instruments do finally begin to enter the sonic space, the mix gets muddy fast, which seems partly due to the amount of space that the highly compressed vocals take up. With as much rasp as Stella sings with, her producers should certainly consider a lower dose of digital enhancements during the mixing process.
As you’ve probably already picked up, Stella Lefty doesn’t overcomplicate in her songs, but that doesn’t negate their hit potential. With four chords, typically sparse production, and a rather tame lyrical concept, she still has an impressive ability to craft an instant earworm. Stella’s good energy and likable, friendly personality all bleed into her songs. On a scale meant for purebred country songs, she may stumble for a lack of intentionality and deeper meanings, but in the broader realm of mainstream music, she stands strong. Compared with artists like Olivia Rodrigo and Gracie Abrams, who share thematic and stylistic similarities, Lefty’s work shows less lyrical creativity and falls short in production quality.
You might not find prolific writing and excellent production in Long Way Home, which is somewhat of a downside. Still, Stella also avoids many of the pitfalls common among other artists in a similar space. She never resorts to victimizing herself after the consequences of a rough relationship. She rarely sacrifices the overall concept of a song for the sake of saying something clever or flipping a classic country phrase.
If your high-brow and sophisticated palate can only withstand a few songs with the same lovey-dovey central themes from someone you’ve already coined as a nepo-baby, you should check out “Why Wouldn’t We,” “Summer You Were Mine,” and “Something To Lose.” Those are the strongest easy listens of the collection. If you’re into those, there’s a good chance you could enjoy the rest of the album. If not, there’s plenty of other great artists at your disposal, both current and from the past, so there’s more than enough reason to move on and not waste your time complaining about one artist whose fame you can’t comprehend.
