Anyone railing against nepo babies taking over culture has already lost: the rage they engender is as key to the publicity plan as their ready-made profile. But once in a while, you meet one so egregious that it’s hard not to want to flip a table. The breakout 24-year-old country star Stella Lefty is the daughter of a multibillionaire Groupon co-founder. Given her stunningly unremarkable songwriting, you wonder whether that might explain a few things.
After gaining notice for posting clips of her music, Lefty wanted to work as a songwriter-for-hire until music execs insisted she was an artist. It’s hard to tell what her USP is: her huge hit Boston sounded so much like Noah Kahan’s Stick Season that she had to add a retrospective credit. Her writing has none of his introspection or regional specifics, nor the wry country literacy of close competitor Ella Langley. In Lefty’s songs, she’s often catching some guy’s eye at the bar. Maybe they get together but then she runs, because she always does – but maybe this time, she doesn’t? She knows it’s good when he’s nice to her, or they look good in photos. Props: whiskey, neon lights, bar stools. It’s relatable, right? Right??
The sound of Long Way Home is just as indistinct and trope-ridden. Lefty’s putatively “authentic” and grating vocal rasp just highlights the Cali-raised singer’s fake southern accent. There are the songs that evoke drunk gal pals hollerin’ and hootin’ at a dusty bar, the cute banjo-cluckin’ ones, a few heavier numbers. It’s wallpaper for made-for-Netflix movies, beach bars and GRWM videos. All in all, she’s a fine inheritor of the knockdown family business.
