NME’s latest star of The Cover, Sophia Stel, has compiled an exclusive playlist to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.
The introspective alt-pop musician is on this week’s (October 6) edition of The Cover, a weekly manifestation of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read the profile of Sophia Stel here, written by Alex Rigotti and featuring photography by Sam Keeler.
To accompany The Cover, Sophia Stel has curated a playlist of unique mix of tracks that takes you on an emotional journey. Called ‘Songs To Get Stronger To’, the collection includes Rihanna’s 2010s hit ‘Only Girl (In The World)’, Adele’s critically acclaimed single ‘Chasing Pavements’, the Clean Bandit song ‘Rather Be’ with Jess Glynne and ‘MISIDENTIFY’ by internet rap sensation Cortisa Star, among others. Listen to the full playlist on Spotify below and on Apple Music.
In this week’s The Cover, Stel opens up about moving to Vancouver in 2021, getting into the skating community, and working at a small after-hours club and creative studio called Paradise. Only open on weekends, it was the sort of place that was “everyone’s second job”, and Stel’s coworkers quickly became some of her closest friends and collaborators.
They would also go on to foster her relentless work ethic: “We can’t give up on making art just because we have to work our asses off all the time, that’s all the more reason that we need it. I’m very inspired by my friends – they inspire me to keep trying harder.” She would begin releasing the first inklings of debut EP ‘Object Permanence’ in February 2024, pairing it with spontaneous, lo-fi footage inspired by skate videos.
She also touched on how she is a “big advocate” for partying. While the singer is a self-described “late bloomer” and only embraced nightlife when she moved to Vancouver, she reasons of partying: “Sometimes the world can be so like… ‘wake up, get to work, always feel your best’ – we forget to celebrate. You have to treat everything as a big deal, [take] every little celebration. Partying is a big part of that.”
Find out more about Sophia Stel in the full Cover story here and see who else has been on The Cover here.