Stella Lefty and the Downfall of Pop Music
Over the past week, I listened to Stella Lefkosky’s, under stage name Stella Lefty, debut album, Long Way Home. The singer recently gained a controversial prominence in the music industry through her hit single “Boston”, currently sitting at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Her record clocks in at just under 40 minutes, and the entire project, from beginning to end, feels as though one asked an AI generated program to create a “hit” country-pop album that combines bland guitar arrangements with underwhelming vocal performances and lack-luster lyrics.
When interviewed by Vanity Fair about her newfound artistic success, Lefty went on to state that the alleged “copying” of Kahan’s song, which she had been accused of for her song “Boston”, was completely unintentional. “When I was writing the song, I wasn’t thinking about Noah Kahan. I was literally thinking about nothing at all. I don’t want to step on anybody’s toes, so I’m like, if this sounds like that, whatever, all good,” She stated. This sentiment seems to carry throughout the entirety of Long Way Home, as none of the 14 tracks appear to carry any greater artistic thought behind trying to write a catchy tune, or at least catchy for the modern era of music dominated by TikTok trends.
Bad music and poor artistry aren’t anything new, though. So, what makes Stella Lefty special? Some might argue that it comes from her background: a billionaire father backing her rather unremarkable music career is certainly a bonus in any creative field, after all. Or maybe, as I will end this article, it comes from the consumer themself.
If we wish to see an elimination of the ‘Stella Lefty’s of the world, we as consumers must be willing to demand more from the products and artists who sell us their art. Otherwise, I see Stella Lefty as just the beginning of a new dawn of bleak, underwhelming nepotism in the creative sphere.
