Chicago-area newcomer Stella Lefty, 23, has rapidly risen to prominence after her single "Boston" helped make history when the Billboard Hot 100's top five was occupied entirely by country artists for the first time, placing her alongside stars such as Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen. Her breakthrough follows a string of viral TikTok moments and marks a swift turnaround from earlier years spent struggling to gain traction with her music, and it comes as she has been named part of Variety's Power of Young Hollywood "Up Next" class.

Lefty recently returned home to play Lollapalooza and announced her debut album, "Long Way Home," out this Friday, telling Variety that her videos once got barely any views before her sudden TikTok success. She began sharing songs publicly in 2020 during the pandemic simply as a creative outlet, though attention later turned to her father, Groupon co-founder and Tempus AI chief executive Eric Lefkofsky, prompting "nepo baby" comments she has largely avoided addressing. She said her album aimed to recapture the unselfconscious spirit of her early songwriting, and named artists including Hozier, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Chris Stapleton and Gracie Abrams as dream future collaborators.