When their cover of Robyn’s Call Your Girlfriend dropped back in 2012, the Stella sisters went viral in the span of one night, capturing YouTube viewers’ attention by absolutely nailing their harmonies and with their choreographed use of empty butter tubs, a la Pitch Perfect’s Cups. The two went on to star as Maddie and Daphne Conrad in ABC/CMT’s Nashville, growing up in a faux music industry in an eerie allusion to Lennon’s own musical career.
Late last year, Lennon dropped her first EP, Love, me, and she’ll be embarking on her first headlining tour in just a couple of weeks. “Yeah, it’s wild,” she said, referring to the fact that the tour is very close to sold out. She’s not wrong — her whole career thus far has been wild. She was only 12-years-old when she first went viral, and Lennon has a different kind of appreciation for the way she became famous. “It was just very shocking, and it makes us feel super lucky to be where we are because it wasn’t planned. It was so unexpected.” And while she wouldn’t change the way it happened if she had the option to — she said that how it happened so organically was so perfect and so natural — she would like to tell herself to soak it in a bit more. “I was so young and so unaware of the grand scheme of it all; I was just riding the wave. Even with the show, I had no idea it would last that long, or how big it really was. I was very clueless and in my own little world, so I would probably tell myself to just take a second to really soak it in and understand how crazy fortunate I was.”
Part of that fortune included a seat in the writer’s room for some of the original music featured in Nashville. Lennon credits the arrangements that she once worked on with her sister and her mother for helping her to stretch her creativity and for making her more experimental in her sound. She was able to bring that experience into the writer’s room with her, first with her mother at her side and then, as she got older, working with only the other co-writers.
Today, Lennon is working on her own music. Her recent EP, Love, me, is lyrically and emotionally on the more serious side, exploring topics like heartbreak and coming into your own, but it still manages to make you want to dance. Lennon is a master at weaving peppy melodies, as one Her Campus chapter puts it, together with stories that we may expect to sound more somber. “My favorite songs are all lyrically a bit heavier, with a darkness or a weight to them, but they don’t feel so dark,” Lennon said. “That mixture has always been my weakness. I’ve never been a fan of like super happy lyrics, but I love music that makes me feel, and that makes me want to dance. Like being at a festival, that’s my favorite feeling. I want to make music that feels like that, but lyrically has a bit more weight.” She said that her dream is to one day perform her music at a festival, and she is well on her way.
Her first headlining tour begins March 19, and all but three dates are sold out. The music video for Feelings was shot at her first solo shows, which she said gave her a taste of what this upcoming tour could be like. “I’ve never experienced that feeling before, so it really got me stoked to go out on the full run and just be able to really make it what I want – there’s so much freedom!” One thing fans can look forward to is hearing music that hasn’t been heard before. Another is the intimacy of the show. “I think all of the venues are small enough that it will feel like we’re all just together in my living room, and I think that’s the ultimate goal.”
The rest of the year is shaping up to be just as busy for Lennon. While she recently announced she’ll be going on tour with The Chainsmokers and 5 Seconds of Summer in the fall, she’s spent the last couple of months in LA, writing her first full-length album. So what’s she doing with her free time between preparing for the tour and the album? “That’s really when I’m writing, that is kind of quote unquote my free time. I want to feel like I’m completely – like I have it all out of my system before I make the album. That’s the main focus for me right now, other than touring, obviously.”
Lennon prides herself on being transparent with her fans, between the honesty in her lyrics and their interactions on social media, and if Love, me is any indication of what’s to come? Her Campus can’t wait to see what she has to say next.