Stella Lefty heads to Austin for an exclusive show tied to UT’s football season.
Jason Kempin/Getty Images
‘Twas the week before college football, and all throughout Austin, the beer is being restocked, the parties are being planned, and on the back of Arch Manning will the hopes of Longhorn fans pin. And with all the hubbub of UT’s football season comes star-studded events for students and alumni—including one with a mildly controversial rising star.
EA Sports is hosting a concert on Sept. 10 exclusively for the Big Ticket holders—UT’s all-access sports ticket for students—featuring Chris Stapleton, Stella Lefty and the Longhorn Band, aka the Showband of the Southwest.
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For those deep in the internet discourse, the inclusion of Stella Lefty may raise an eyebrow.
Who is Stella Lefty?
Stella Lefty is a singer-songwriter whose song “Boston” has become a runaway hit on TikTok and thus the broader internet. An inoffensive country-pop track about new love, “Boston” has 183 million plays on Spotify and is second on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, just below Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas.”
Lefty, or Lefkofsky, has been putting out music since 2024. She’s signed to Atlantic Outpost, the country imprint of Atlantic Music Group, and released her debut album, Long Way Home, in August.
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So what’s the discourse?
Lefty is the daughter of Groupon co-founder and multi-billionaire Eric Lefkofsky. So, a “nepo baby,” according to some on the internet. An August piece by Brady Brickner-Wood in The New Yorker pondered “Stella Lefty and the Rise of Nepo-Baby Musicians,” while others have meditated on the potentially “Astroturfed” nature of the 24-year-old artist’s fast-rising music career. (She doesn’t have family in the entertainment industry, so the “nepo baby” label may be off.)
“Boston” has also garnered controversy based on its similarities to Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season,” an absolutely massive song that catapulted Kahan and his folksy sound to superstardom in recent years. After Lefty released “Boston,” Kahan’s team reached out about the similarities. Lefty claims Kahan didn’t have direct influence on the song, but she granted him a writing credit.
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“When I was writing the song, I wasn’t thinking about Noah Kahan,” Lefty told Vanity Fair. “I was literally thinking about nothing at all.”
What’s your opinion on Stella Lefty’s music?
However, multiple videos of her covering “Stick Season” have resurfaced, so she is undoubtedly familiar with the song. (Lefty has also borrowed from Texas trio the Chicks’ Grammy-winning song “There’s Your Trouble” for her new song “Summer You Were Mine,” but that apparently got clearance beforehand.)
But besides her billionaire father and potential “Stick Season” inspiration, Lefty is breaking into the country scene without actually being from the South. Lefty grew up in Glencoe, Illinois, and now lives in Los Angeles. Yet “Boston” utilizes a distinct twang in the chorus—not one that Lefty seems to have in her actual speaking voice.
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Stella Lefty performs onstage during Lollapalooza at Grant Park on Aug. 2, 2026, in Chicago, Illinois. Her country-tinged song “Boston” has become a hit.
Joshua Applegate/WireImage
Wait, is somewhat country music the Thing now?
Palatable, nonspecific country music becoming the most popular genre? Sure looks like it. On the Billboard Hot 100 as of writing, we’ve got Langley, Lefty, Morgan Wallen and Taylor Swift’s vaguely country Toy Story 5 track “I Knew It, I Knew You.” Artists of all genres are jumping into country, from Post Malone, who is solidly in his country era now, to The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers with his new album Thrasher.
Smart, funny and sometimes unhinged look at the week that was.
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Of course, music always goes through trends. Remember the “tropical house” days of 2016?
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Will any of this affect Arch Manning and the Longhorns’ title chances?
No. But I bet Lefty will change her lyrics from “Boston” to “Austin” for this performance. It would work.