Stela Cole's spine-chilling stunning return in Die Hard
"Die Hard", the seductive dark pop track is about how "tumultuous relationships can feel like an endless cycle, especially when pain is disguised as passion," confides Stela. She proclaims, "this is something I struggled with for a long time. I’d let myself fall for someone I knew wasn’t good for me, and even in moments of courage, I’d pack my bags and somehow end up right back where I started. Sometimes, habits take an entire lifetime to break. Die Hard is about my experience of consistently choosing the wrong path with the wrong people… even when I know where it ends."
The accompanying visuals are beautifully shot, surreal and gut-wrenching with Stela teaming up with award winning directors Eliot Lee and Maya Sassoon and co-star Noah Gonzalez for the first spine-chilling moment of the vignettes.
Despite a 2022 that saw Stela Cole hit the 1m monthly listener mark, 4x her social media following, and have her strongest streaming year to date. Stela (real name Hollyn Shadinger) felt mentally and emotionally apart from herself. Creatively unfulfilled, overwhelmed, and uninspired by social media. Stela Cole used 2023 to address her mental health, exit her label deal, black out her profiles, delete the apps, and trade doom scrolling for her guitar, the studio, and her favorite records.
Working closely with a core group of collaborators, Stela has meticulously crafted a sonic world inspired by Fleetwood Mac, The Mama’s and Papa’s, Tame Impala, The Eagles, Arctic Monkeys and more. The result is more than a musical evolution; it's a rebirth.
Partnering with Award-Winning Director Eliot Lee, Stela has created a cinematic world through a series of music videos and vignettes featuring co-star Noah Gonzalez. Each piece of content is thoughtfully connected to one another in an endless loop. It is these endless loops, repetitive cycles, or habits that inspired the themes of the upcoming body of work.
Debut single “Die Hard”, thrusts Stela’s vocals into the spotlight with a performance that is equally flawless and harrowing. The accompanying music video delicately mirrors this duality with an insidious narrative and goosebump inducing finale.