The internet and Stella Lefty? Never a good match.
The 24-year-old has carved out an impressive career for herself, with her viral hit “Boston” still sitting at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Unfortunately, the song’s success has largely been overshadowed by the fact that she had to hand over writing credits to Noah Kahan, along with ongoing copycat allegations, criticism surrounding her nepotism status, and the fact that she’s far from what could be defined as a “country singer.”
Nonetheless, despite the daily online hate she receives, the Illinois native and daughter of Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky is continuing to push forward with her budding career. She’s currently overseas for the Australian leg of her headlining Long Way Home Tour, which celebrates her debut album of the same name.
And yes, that’s the same collection of songs that has drawn comparisons to hits from The Chicks, Blake Shelton, The Greatest Showman, Wheatus, and more.
Unfortunately for newer artists, when you only have a handful of original songs to perform and a two-hour show to fill, that means you’ve gotta pull out the covers. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good cover, and Lefty has already proven she can put her own spin on someone else’s song. She even surprised a lot of people with her recent rendition of Taylor Swift’s “I Knew It, I Knew You” during a BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge session.
With that said… I think we need to stick to what we know and cut one song from the setlist in particular. Lefty played to a packed house at her debut headlining show in Melbourne this past Sunday, October 11, and decided to treat the Aussie crowd to a cover of Rascal Flatts’ iconic hit cover of their own from the Pixar movie Cars, “Life Is a Highway.”
Obviously, Lefty didn’t grow up with two car-loving brothers who watched the movie on repeat like I did (which, honestly, she should probably be thankful for), but then again, that experience might’ve come in handy when it came time to remember the lyrics. The “Boston” singer’s performance at Prince Bandroom is now gaining A LOT of traction online, with fans ruthlessly calling out her noticeably shaky rendition.
Throughout the clip, she’s seen looking down at the stage, presumably reading the lyrics from a sheet of paper or a mini teleprompter before stumbling over several lines. At one point, she even tries handing the song off to the crowd, pointing the mic at everyone, after losing her place, nervously admitting, “Oh my God, guys, I told you this would happen.”
As expected, the internet is having a field day:
I think forgetting the words on stage at least once has to be some sort of rite of passage for every artist. It’s just probably not the best look when it happens during one of the biggest country songs of all time, especially one with more than a billion streams on Spotify. Moral of the story: the internet is brutal.
Hopefully, Stella returns to the stage with a new cover in her back pocket for tomorrow night’s show in Sydney, Australia. She’ll then return to the States later this month as she kicks off her upcoming string of U.S. dates.