CLICK HERE FOR MORE SXSW 2018 COVERAGE!
AUSTIN, TX- For most of our SXSW artist coverage, we’ll keep it relatively short and sweet. We have over 80 artists to cover, so cut us some slack! 😉 We’ll basically be formatting each post into two parts: (1) Why our contributor wanted to see this act and (2) what our contributor thought of the performance”. Easy peasy. If you want to learn more about the act, make sure you click through to their social media links to get in the know. You won’t be disappointed!
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Why I Wanted To See Stella Donnelly: I was driving home one evening and listening to NPR station KCRW when a soft voice accompanied by an acoustic guitar practically hypnotized me on the highway.
So delighted by the prettiness of the melody and the dreamy quality of the vocal, I illegally worked my cell phone to hurriedly Shazam the tune. The song was “Boy Will Be Boys” by Stella Donnelly, and when I got home and got ready for slumber, I played her Spotify playlist and her lull me to sleep.
The more I listened to her latest EP, “Thrust Metal”, the more charmed I became. Her song “Grey” was particularly engrossing, as the chorus’ lyrics really pulled on my heartstrings:
“I wish that I could paint myself
In all your favourite colours, but
I don’t know what you want from me
So I’ll just wait in grey
Oh, I’ll just wait in grey”
Plus, her album cover, with the noodles handling out of her mouth, anticipated that she was more goofy that her delicately emotional music lead on to be. I wanted to see her perform live, and got to do it at SXSW.
What I Thought Of Stella Donnelly’s Performance: Her performance at Lustre Pearl for “Sounds Australia” embodied all of my initial impressions of Stella to a “t”.
As she performed, she seamless weaved her cheery personality into the heavy, and personal, subject matter of her music. She lightened up mood with pleasant, and often times funny, banter between songs about their origin. And that can be a difficult task to accomplish when the subject matter her music is so serious (i.e. self-identification, sexual assault).
But you know when an artist has got tremendous appeal when she can sing about difficult topics and not alienate anyone in the crowd. But in today’s social climate, it seems that her music and her messages is ready to be heard and appreciated up by the public.
NME quoted Stella as saying:
“There’s journalists I’ve been speaking to in Australia who’ve been trying to get this stuff out for so long – they tried it 10 years ago and it just didn’t fly,”
Well, I’m certainly glad that it’s out now, and look forward to hearing more from this songstress in the future.
Follow Stella Donnelly on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SXSW 2018 COVERAGE!
LIVE CLIPS
Stella Donnelly at Lustre Pearl for SXSW 3/13/18. Thoughts and photos coming soon to @BlurredCulture. pic.twitter.com/vSjmz4200D
— Derrick K. Lee (@methodman13) May 14, 2018
Stella Donnelly at Lustre Pearl for SXSW 3/13/18. Thoughts and photos coming soon to @BlurredCulture. pic.twitter.com/r9SMBQKdwZ
— Derrick K. Lee (@methodman13) May 14, 2018
