After Die Hard and Midnight Killer, Stela Cole closes the trilogy with the release of Blood Orange Wine, which she says is about “the adrenaline wearing off after being emotionally yanked around by a person I loved.” Accompanied by a harrowing music video directed by Eliot Lee (also in charge of the music videos of the two previous singles), the Los Angeles-based singer’s latest song tells a story that is all too familiar for many of us: toxic relationships and how the hardships you endure both during and after leaving them.
Back in 2020, Stela Cole released the album Woman of the Hour, with hit songs including Love Like Mine (thirty-three million streams) and Kiss or Kill (sixteen million streams), among others. In 2021, it was I Shot Cupid that kept her on top of the charts, a single that garners over fifty-seven million streams on Spotify. And in 2022, she hit the one-million monthly listeners mark and her social media also skyrocketed. And despite all of that, the artist (real name Hollyn Shadinger) felt mentally and emotionally apart from herself. Hence, she removed herself from public life, exited her label deal, and focused on her mental health surrounding herself by guitars and her favourite records in the studio.
And as the saying goes, new year, new me. 2024 is seeing the rebirth of Stela Cole, which is back with a vengeance. Clearly, that time away from the public eye and working on herself has payed off. Testament to that is the singular trilogy she’s released since February, including the songs Die Hard, Midnight Killer, and now Blood Orange Wine. If the second one was about “becoming stronger through the pain, and learning how to protect my heart and energy moving forward. It’s the Phoenix rising from the ashes,” as she puts it, her latest release focuses more on putting an end to a har relationship. “For months, I was turning to vices to bury the pain and I soundtracked this period of my life with a lot of Fleetwood Mac and Electric Light Orchestra. I’m not surprised they ended up having a huge influence on how the record ended up sounding. It turns out that time is the only thing that truly heals, and honestly thank God for that,” she concludes.