Stella Donnelly Signs to Secretly Canadian

Last fall Stella Donnelly made her bold introduction to North American audiences with the video for “Boys Will Be Boys” following her unanimous win of Bigsound 2017’s inaugural Levi’s Music Prize, an award given to an emerging Australian talent most likely to make waves internationally. After an initial debut on NPR Music, Jon Pareles described the song for the New York Times as “A delicate waltz [that] carries a bitter reproach to blaming the victims of sexual assault. ‘Why was she all alone/Wearing her shirt that low?’ she sings, and then her voice rises and roughens.”

Several months later, with a first US tour and SXSW, on the horizon, Donnelly returns with the announcement of a worldwide signing to Secretly Canadian. The label will release a 12″ of her debut “Thrush Metal” EP plus the never-before heard bonus track, “Talking,” all of which is available to stream today. Additionally, today sees the release of Donnelly’s “Mechanical Bull” video.

‘The song, ‘Mechanical Bull,’ is dedicated to people who work in hospitality who have to deal with customers, especially drunk ones, harassing them and making objectifying comments,” says Donnelly. “I wrote this about my experience working in bars and it was a nice way to release some of the frustration I had!”

Raised between Wales and the burbs of Western Australia, where she currently lives, Donnelly got her start singing Green Day songs in her Aussie high school rock band, eventually turning her interest to jazz and contemporary as an adult studying at the West Australian Academy of Performing Arts. On her debut “Thrush Metal” EP, Donnelly presents brutally honest and witty observations of people and relationships transformed into blissful poems and lyrical punch lines. Her relatable way of writing is her lens to the world in which we live, a glimpse into what it’s like to be a millennial woman in the age of Trump, Tinder and third wave feminism.

The “Thrush Metal” 12″ plus bonus track is out June 22nd; the digital version is available to stream today.