Stella Cole didn’t set out to become the face of a jazz revival. Growing up in Springfield, Illinois, she fell in love with The Wizard of Oz and movie musicals. By the time she reached college at Northwestern, she nearly abandoned singing altogether—discouraged by a culture that told her the “old” songs weren’t marketable.
Then the pandemic hit. Locked down at home, she turned back to the comfort movies and music of her childhood, and began posting short videos of standards to TikTok. What started as a private practice blossomed into a viral phenomenon: millions of views, hundreds of thousands of followers, and, eventually, an invitation to make records.
Her new album It’s Magic (Decca Records US) is both a culmination and a beginning. Produced by Matt Pierson with arrangements by Alan Broadbent, its lush, romantic, and unapologetically classic—a reminder that sometimes the most radical move is to sing the songs straight, with heart and conviction. For Stella, it’s also the first time she’s felt truly proud of a project.
Here she talks about the anxieties of early releases, her complicated relationship with social media, the importance of telling stories through song, and how she’s learning to trust her instincts. It’s the story of an artist who found her voice in an unlikely way, and who now wants to share that magic with the world.
