(Credits: Far Out / Atlantic Records / Raph Pour-Hashemi)
Mon 6 April 2026 1:30, UK
In 1981, Stevie Nicks finally got to experience life as a fully fledged solo artist.
Just four years after Fleetwood Mac’s chart-topping triumph with Rumours, an album that married Nicks’ commercial success with personal trauma, she was finally set free from the shackles of her somewhat toxic band to go and pursue a solo career.
‘81’s Bella Donna was a masterful outing for Nicks, who proved she didn’t need her remaining band members at all. Her songwriting remained as compelling as it had in the previous decade, and without compromising, she could wholeheartedly embrace the mythology of her songwriting style.
But more than the music, Nicks proved her resilience. Despite the never-ending toxicity that surrounded her in Fleetwood Mac, she continued to trust her voice and ensure that her own femininity was heard amidst an era of thinly veiled rock and roll misogyny. Bella Donna was a celebration of that and so rightly became a blueprint for a myriad of future female artists.
So many have cited Nicks as the inspiration since then, be it Haim, Florence Welch or Lana Del Rey. But the rock legend doesn’t take that for granted – no, she has seen her position as a legacy artist as a responsibility, engaging with the new generation to an almost maternal point. For Del Rey, that meant outright collaboration on her track ‘Beautiful People Beautiful Problems’, from the 2017 album Lust For Life.
When Del Rey called up her longtime producer, Rick Nowels, and asked if Nicks would be interested in collaborating with her, she was not only apprehensive as to whether or not she would oblige, but also if meeting her hero upon acceptance would be a cripplingly disappointing experience. The truth of the matter was, she had little to worry about, as Nicks in all of her class proved both fears to be pointless.
“She was amazing,” Del Rey explained. “She’s just everything you hope she’s gonna be. She’s so contemporary, and she knows all the new music that’s out weekly. She loved the track, and she added so much to it.” Immediately, the pair shared a creative kinship, centred around the same songwriting values. Nicks has always taken her writing seriously, as has Del Rey and together they understood the importance of following a clear source of inspiration, no matter the distractions.
Del Rey added, “She’s one of the few people I know that says the muse is the most important thing to her. More than anything else, her priority is just following the muse wherever it takes her, whether it’s a 60-date tour or new record or solo endeavour. So she’s inspirational like that.”
In the song, Del Ray ultimately had more than she could have ever asked for. But Nicks then offered her a compliment that would only add to the honour, explaining that ‘Beautiful People Beautiful Problems’ allowed their spiritual outlooks to combine, with Nicks adding, “We are witchy sisters, and that’s it.”
Del Rey got a first-hand invitation into the mythical world of Stevie Nicks, and for a generation of musicians, that is as close to hitting the jackpot as possible.
