Σtella

With her emotionally layered songwriting and inventive guitar work, Athens-based artist Σtella (pronounced Stella) has long had a knack for sneaking unexpected depth into sparkling pop songs. Her music has always shimmered — but listen closely, and there’s often a little shadow in the shine. Now, with Adagio, her fifth album and second for legendary label Sub Pop, Σtella sounds more comfortable — and more fearless — than ever.

Born Stella Chronopoulou, she first turned heads with her self-titled debut and 2017’s Works For You, where disco basslines, vintage synths, and a touch of melancholy met somewhere between La Roux and early Moloko. By 2020’s The Break (via Canadian label Arbutus Records), Σtella had refined her sound into danceable indie-pop with an unmistakably human pulse — happiness and heartbreak twirling hand in hand. Then came 2022’s Up and Away, her first for Sub Pop, where she teamed up with UK producer Redinho and leaned into lush Mediterranean grooves — bouzouki, kanun, hypnotic basslines — while chasing the idea of freedom: sonic, emotional, personal.

But Adagio feels like a turning point. Softer, slower, more intimate — and for the first time, Σtella lets her native Greek language slip into the spotlight. It started, fittingly, at sea. In 2019, on an 11-hour ferry to Anafi, a tiny island in the Cyclades, Σtella found herself noodling a melody on her phone, letting go of some personal baggage as the boat cut through the Aegean. The song that emerged — eventually becoming the album’s heart — made it clear: this time, the Greek language had to come along for the ride. Produced by Σtella herself, and mixed by Metronomy’s Edmund Irwin-Singer, Adagio is a 27-minute meditation on love, longing, rest, and slowing down — without ever losing its groove. The album features international collaborators like Rafael Cohen and UK songwriter Gabriel Stebbing, but it’s Σtella’s voice -sometimes in English, sometimes in Greek- that glows at the center. She even covers Litsa Sakellariou’s 1969 Greek New Wave cult classic “Ta Vimata”, alongside her own delicate, stunning original “Omorfo Mou” — both sung in Greek and both shimmering like heatwaves on a summer afternoon. Adagio feels like easy Sunday mornings pressed to vinyl — nylon guitars humming like old lullabies, percussion so light it practically floats, with dreamy keys and sharp little drum hits keeping things beautifully grounded. Every song feels like an invitation — or maybe a secret.

Σtella has emerged as one of Greece’s most prominent pop artists, who doesn’t just rewrite the rules of indie-pop. She slows them down, so you can feel every moment. And honestly? It suits her perfectly.

Photo: Dimitra Tzanou

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