After the rousing response to his much-loved 2019 debut EP 'Amalfi', New York-based artist stella. returns once again to deliver his shimmering new single 'Dreaming'.
Lifted from his forthcoming new EP 'S Study In Balance', which is set to arrive very soon, 'Dreaming' makes for a wondrous return to form for the artist at the helm. With his bright and uplifting vocal performance layered across a dynamic indie-pop production from start to finish, he is returning to the fold with one of his most impactful efforts to date.
So with the new single available to stream now, we sat down with him to find out more about his origins and what has been inspiring him most lately.
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What was the first instrument you fell in love with?
Though I played the saxophone and trumpet growing up and always admired piano players, something stirred deep in my soul when my friend Ariel handed me his electric guitar to play in our high school cafeteria when I was 15 years old.
Yep, from that moment on my heart was pretty much spoken for.
What kind of music did you love when you were younger?
Both of my parents are from the Dominican Republic but since they immigrated to New York at different points in their lives their musical tastes - which they passed on to me - were vastly different.
My Mom came to America when she was six years old so she grew up on lots of R&B music. There was always lots of Lionel Richie, The Commodores, and The Spinners playing around the house when I grew up.
Meanwhile, my Dad came to America when he was 17 years old and by that point his music tastes were a bit more crystallised. He loved to play super romantic Spanish ballads that would tug on your heart strings by artists like Jose Luis Perales and Joan Manuel Serrat. Interestingly enough, one American artist who he loved a lot was James Taylor and I mean, how could you not?
I loved both those types of music until I heard “In Da Club” by 50 Cent which OBVIOUSLY changed the course of my life forever but that’s a story for another time.
What was the first album you remember owning?
Haha, oh man this question brings back such memories.
When I was a teenager I used to work at a sneaker store after school and there was an F.Y.E. (a store that sold videos and CDs that no longer exists) across the street.
One day I walked in on my lunch break and walked out with “Welcome to the Black Parade” by My Chemical Romance and the Shrek Soundtrack (which I was lucky enough to get on sale)… No regrets.
What is the one song you wished you could have written yourself?
This question gives me “BOE” which is short for “Big OOF Energy.”
There are so many songs I wish I wrote, like “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” by Whitney Houston or “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, but at the risk of sounding terribly basic, I really do wish I wrote “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen. I mean, come on!
Do you have any habits or rituals you go through when trying to write new music?
My inner critic can be quite harsh (basically what I’m trying to say is that he’s a total d*ck ) and as every artist knows, it’s impossible to create anything when you have a voice in your head saying “that idea sucks” or “that’s unoriginal.”
In order to sidestep that entirely, I like to put on a timer for 30:00 minutes and give myself permission to word vomit, brain dump, ramble, and experiment with reckless abandon. More often than not, by the end of that half hour, I’ve usually stumbled upon one or two things I think are cool enough to develop as either lyrical or melodic ideas and then I work from there.
Who are your favourite artists you have found yourself listening to at the moment?
At the moment I’ve had: Noah Kahan, Ethel Cain, SYML, and Skott on rotation pretty heavily. Also, yes I am a very sensitive singer-songwriter type but I’m not gonna lie, I love me some Bad Bunny *makes stank face*
If you could open a show for anyone in the world, who would it be?
Once again, I am seized with overwhelming “BOE” when I attempt to answer this question but I would say it’s a three way tie between: Paolo Nutini, Brandi Carlile, and/or Noah Kahan.
What do you find is the most rewarding part about being a musician?
For me, the most rewarding part about being a musician is whenever somebody comes up to me after a show to share and/or I receive a message telling me how my songs affected them.
Streams and playlists and shows and interviews are cool and all, but to know that something I wrote in my bedroom (and at one point in time thought was too stupid or cheesy to share) actually impacted someone takes the cake for me, no questions asked.
And what is the most frustrating part?
This will probably sound very whiney, but hey it’s the truth.
As an independent musician (or an artist in any other discipline for that matter) you learn pretty quickly that if other artists know the right people and/or have large budgets, they can sometimes effectively skip twenty steps a head of indie artists that are hustling and building up their careers from scratch.
It truly is what it is, but it is frustrating and it does very much suck to be passed up on for opener slots with a band you like or working with companies because your Instagram following isn’t big enough (even though you know your songs are damn good.)
And what is the best piece of advice you have received as a musician?
The best piece of advice I received as a musician wasn’t so much a golden nugget of wisdom that was dropped on me as it was a really meaningful question.
I was talking to a friend of mine about my frustrations with my music career not being where I wanted it to be in terms of streams and followers and they asked me: “If you knew you would never get famous or make a living from writing and performing music or hit that magical number of streams in your head, would you still make music?” I said “Of course I would keep making music” to which he replied “So then none of that sh*t really matters does it?” and that shut me up real quick.
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stella.'s new single 'Dreaming' is available to stream now. Check it out in the player below.