Despite a 2022 that saw Stela Cole hit the 1m monthly listener mark, 4x her social media following, and have her strongest streaming year to date. Stela (real name Hollyn Shadinger) felt mentally and emotionally apart from herself.
Creatively unfulfilled, overwhelmed, and uninspired by social media. Stela Cole used 2023 to address her mental health, exit her label deal, black out her profiles, delete the apps, and trade doom scrolling for her guitar, the studio, and her favorite records.
Working closely with a core group of collaborators, Stela has meticulously crafted a sonic world inspired by Fleetwood Mac, The Mama’s and Papa’s, Tame Impala, The Eagles, Arctic Monkeys and more. The result is more than a musical evolution; it’s a rebirth.
Partnering with Award-Winning Director Eliot Lee, Stela has created a cinematic world through a series of music videos and vignettes featuring co-star Noah Gonzalez. Each piece of content is thoughtfully connected to one another in an endless loop. It is these endless loops, repetitive cycles, or habits that inspired the themes of the upcoming body of work.
Debut single “Die Hard”, thrusts Stela’s vocals into the spotlight with a performance that is equally flawless and harrowing. The accompanying music video delicately mirrors this duality with an insidious narrative and goosebump inducing finale.
Second release “Midnight Killer” is an autobiographical song filled with healing. Stela confides, “It’s about the revival of empowerment and re-discovery after losing myself. It’s about becoming stronger through the pain, and learning how to protect my heart and energy moving forward. It’s the Phoenix rising from the ashes. No more sacrificing my character. No more losing myself.”
“Blood Orange Wine” is the third release in the trilogy. “The song is about the adrenaline wearing off after being emotionally yanked around by a person I loved. For months I was turning to vices to bury the pain and I soundtracked this period of my life with a lot of Fleetwood Mac and Electric Light Orchestra. I’m not surprised they ended up having a huge influence on how the record ended up sounding. It turns out that time is the only thing that truly heals, and honestly thank God for that,” the artist confides.
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