The talented New York-based indie-pop/folk artist stella. crafts music that speaks to heartbreak, loss, and life’s pivotal moments. Drawn to his sound and artistic vision, we wanted to meet him to dive into his journey, inspirations, and how Groover is helping him connect with new audiences.
While researching and planning for releases, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon Groover and it has been a game changer to say the least!
stella.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your musical project? How did you come to create your project and take it seriously?
Hey, Groover! My artist name is stella. (my real name is Daniel) and I’m a New York City born, raised, and based singer-songwriter that writes indie-pop/folk music and like most musical projects stella. was born out of heartbreak, haha.
I created stella. back in 2018 as an outlet for this pain and to explore a different side of my songwriting.
For context, I have two other musical projects: one where I write and perform pop/funk music under the name “Francis Aud” (which I started in 2017) and then another where I write, record, and produce children’s music alongside a friend of mine under the moniker “Matt & Dan” (which I started in 2020) and so up until that point, I had been focusing on writing very formulaic – and what I like to call, “safe” – pop-music.
I released an EP and single as stella. and even wrote an entire project during the pandemic (which I just released). However, life happened and for a solid stretch of 2021 – 2023 I didn’t really do much at all musically… I felt so burned out from performing high energy shows as “Francis Aud” and could no longer relate to the joy and innocence of the kids’ music I was writing alongside “Matt & Dan.”
As far as taking this project seriously, that started after my father passed away from a long battle with cancer in 2022. I didn’t even touch an instrument or write a song for about 8 months… Around the middle of 2023, I decided to pick up my guitar once again as a means of honoring him through music and the songs just started flowing.
Now here we are!
How would you describe your music? In your opinion, what would be the best conditions for discovering your music?
I like to joke and say that I write “existential/grief-pop” but in all seriousness, as someone who was big into writing poetry before beginning to explore songwriting, I usually found myself exploring and reflecting on questions about life, love, loss, heartbreak – pretty light topics, ya know??
So long story short, I’ll put it this way: my music is perfect for you if you’re currently going through a breakup, loss, or major life change.
How did you discover Groover and what convinced you to use the platform? How has it helped you?
Before this year, the last time I had released music under the name stella. was in 2019 and so I felt like I had a lot of catching up to do as far as getting a sense of the playlisting landscape had changed in my absence.
I was already familiar with SubmitHub as well as other playlisting sites and blogs that allowed you to submit directly to them, but I was never really satisfied with the level of feedback, coverage, or engagement I received from them in the past.
While researching and planning for releases, I was fortunate enough to stumble upon Groover and it has been a game changer to say the least!
Aside from the fact that the website is super easy to navigate and use, Groover has helped me by expanding into new markets, putting me in touch with more of my global listenership, and providing a network of robust and intentional curators that for the most part, provide really high quality and in-depth feedback.
What opportunities have you had through Groover?
Though no performance opportunities have materialized as of yet (fingers crossed!) I’ve had the opportunity to expand my listenership into markets I’d previously never been able to gain a foothold in.
And by providing curator’s email addresses, Groover has made it super easy to build personal relationships with curators and even find ways of collaborating outside of their platform!
The biggest opportunity I’ve gotten through Groover is the chance to learn where and how my perception of music may be out of alignment with the playlists that I’m submitting to. For example, I may think I’m a perfect fit for a particular playlist, but then the curator will reply with pretty thorough feedback as to why I may not be and being able to see that incongruence helps me refine my blog research and application process!
What are your upcoming projects and other cool news you’d like to share?
After five long years since my last release as stella. in 2019, I’m proud to announce that I just released my second EP ‘A Study in Balance’ last summer (it is a body of work that I am extremely proud of) as well as a recent single, “Friendly Reminder” which I promoted using a fake dating app I created.
I’m going to be releasing an EP this year before I start releasing songs from my first full length album. There’s lots of music coming down the pipeline so stick around!
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What advice would you give to artists starting out on a music project?
This isn’t so much a piece of advice as it is a reminder: Everything in life is a muscle!
Writing songs is a muscle.
Releasing music is a muscle.
Crafting pitches to playlisters is a muscle.
Receiving rejection and criticism is a muscle.
Feeling like no one is listening and you’re just releasing music into the void and wanting to give up and then reminding yourself why you make music in the first place is a muscle!
There’s only one thing that happens when you use a muscle over and over and there’s only one thing that happens to a muscle when you don’t use it at all…
Oh, and one more thing: Regardless of how many streams they do or do not receive, playlists they do or do not get featured on, accolades, accomplishments, etc. I don’t see enough of my fellow artists and friends giving themselves credit for all of the work they’re doing and for sharing their art and striving in one of the hardest businesses to make it. Give yourself some love!

Any final words?
Both of my parents are immigrants from the Dominican Republic. They grew up on farms, had to walk miles to go to school and then had to overcome a lot of adversity when they moved to America.
Being born here in the U.S combined with the “growth spurt” that technology has experienced in the past couple decades means that I’ve had access to things my parents couldn’t even dream of.
And so at the end of the day, playlist features, stream counts, and accolades don’t mean that much to me because I’m blessed to have the means and ability to make and share music as a means of connecting with people which at the end of the day is all that matters.
What a gift! So thank you Groover for the opportunity!
Oh, and I hope you all listen to my music too!
| Read also: Art Longo meets his label, Cracki Records, thanks to Groover
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