{"id":863429,"date":"2026-09-28T10:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863429\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T10:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T10:40:13","slug":"stella-lefty-parts-ways-with-disruptor-management","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/863429\/","title":{"rendered":"Stella Lefty Parts Ways With Disruptor Management"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tStella Lefty<\/a>, whose breakthrough hit \u201cBoston\u201d is No. 1 on Billboard\u2019s Country Airplay chart<\/a> for a second consecutive week, has left Disruptor Management, according to sources.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Stella<\/p>\n

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\n\tDisruptor helped guide Lefty\u2019s ascent from unknown artist to one of 2026\u2019s biggest breakthroughs and one of the year\u2019s most successful acts. With the two-week No. 1 status of \u201cBoston,\u201d Lefty became the first solo-billed woman<\/a> to have a debut single spend multiple weeks at No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart since Gretchen Wilson, whose \u201cRedneck Woman\u201d spent five weeks at No. 1 in 2004. The song also peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Long Way Home, Lefty\u2019s debut album, reached No. 11 on the Billboard 200. She will also embark on a sold-out tour in November.<\/p>\n

\n\tDisruptor director of A&R and management Zach Horowitz, who had managed Lefty with Disruptor CEO Adam Alpert, told Billboard in June<\/a> that he found Lefty online while he was still in college a number of years ago and she was a burgeoning singer-songwriter from Chicago.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat a lot of people don\u2019t realize is that we\u2019ve been building Stella\u2019s fan base for years. Support runs with [several acts], fan pop-ups in New York and L.A.,\u201d Horowitz told Billboard. \u201cWe\u2019ve always wanted to super-serve the people who were there from day one. Those fans became the foundation, and as the project has grown, it\u2019s felt like a real community rather than just people streaming songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLefty also made a recent change with her press representation, switching from Align to Nashville-based Sweet Talk PR.<\/p>\n

\n\tLefty\u2019s tremendous success has come with a vicious backlash. As the daughter of billionaire Groupon founder Eric Lefkofsky, she was labeled a \u201cnepo baby.\u201d Online critics have questioned her country authenticity since she is from Chicago. She also has been criticized for her songs sounding too similar to other artists, though she has credited songwriters like Noah Kahan, who received a songwriting credit on \u201cBoston\u201d as the song interpolates \u201cStick Season,\u201d while writers Tia Sillers and Mark Selby are credited on \u201cSummer You Were Mine\u201d for the song\u2019s similarity to The Chicks\u2019 1998 hit \u201cThere\u2019s Your Trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite her online detractors, Lefty has plenty of supporters within the country music industry, including country superstar Randy Travis.<\/a> After she posted a video <\/a>on Sept. 22 singing an unreleased song that references country influences, including Travis, the country legend posted an encouraging message on her TikTok: \u201cThank you for the nod, Stella! I\u2019ve always thought you could stand toe to toe with the very best in Nashville. Keep believing \u2026 face to the sunshine and shadows fall behind you!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tKelsea Ballerini <\/a>also showed support<\/a> for Lefty after the singer made her Grand Ole Opry debut and shared a post backstage with two young St. Jude cancer patients that, incredulously, drew criticism. \u201cOpry member chiming in!!\u2026 From different backgrounds and hometowns and generations, we can find ways to say and sing things that resonate with people that fill the seats\u2026 and that is always the goal, right?\u2026 [The Opry is] about celebration of all kinds of country music,\u201d Ballerini wrote. \u201cNew, old, traditional, current, however you wanna say it. It\u2019s all important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn August, Lefty told Billboard she was grateful to have been accepted by the country music community. \u201cIt\u2019s so crazy to be so embraced in a genre that I\u2019ve always loved,\u201d she said. \u201cCountry music has been such a huge part of my life. And I feel like it\u2019s always scary when you start making music that kind of bleeds into a genre. Country is so specific about who they embrace and how they go about things, so to be accepted in that world is truly the greatest honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDisruptor, which also has a joint label venture through Sony, continues to represent a full slate of artists on both the management and label side.<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for Disruptor and Lefty, as well as her attorney and her label Atlantic Outpost, either did not respond to a request for comment or declined to comment.<\/p>\n


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