On Sunday (Aug. 2), during her Lollapalooza set, Stella Lefty announced that her debut album, Long Way Home, will be released Aug. 21 via Atlantic Outpost. That release date is exactly one week before the end of the eligibility period for the 69th annual Grammy Awards.
The Chicago-born singer/songwriter, who turns 24 on Aug. 13, has a good chance of landing a best new artist nomination and could contribute to a historic showing for country artists. Ella Langley and Megan Moroney are both very likely to be nominated. If all three make it, this will be the first time that three country artists have been nominated in the same year. Kelsea Ballerini and Maren Morris were both nominated in 2017, back when there were just five nominees in the category. (There are currently eight nominees in each of the so-called Big Four categories – album, record and song of the year plus best new artist.)
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Two country artists (broadly defined) have been nominated in the category twice since then: Luke Combs and Margo Price in 2019 and Jelly Roll and The War and Treaty in 2024.
Other country artists who could be nominated this year include Tucker Wetmore and The Red Clay Strays. Lefty opened shows this year on Wetmore’s The Brunette World Tour.
Lefty’s current hit “Boston” exploded at just the right time. It reached No. 3 on last week’s Billboard Hot 100 and this week dips to No. 5. Lefty co-wrote the song, which interpolates Noah Kahan’s “Stick Season.” (Kahan was a best new artist nominee in 2024.)
Lefty – it’s a simplified version of her last name, Lefkofsky – grew up listening to country and pop artists, including Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Tim McGraw and Brad Paisley.
Billboard’s Jessica Nicholson profiled Lefty in May, soon after she made a big impression at the Stagecoach country music festival – even though she wasn’t officially on the bill. She joined tourmate Cameron Whitcomb for a rendition of Tyler Childers’ “All Your’n,” and sang “Boston” during Wyatt Flores’ and Diplo’s respective sets.
“It’s so crazy to be so embraced in a genre that I’ve always loved,” Lefty told Nicholson. “Country music has been such a huge part of my life. And I feel like it’s always scary when you start making music that kind of bleeds into a genre. Country is so specific about who they embrace and how they go about things, so to be accepted in that world is truly the greatest honor.”
That love for both country and pop threads through her music.
“I’ve been super particular about wanting to live in both spaces as best as I can,” Lefty added. “Every time we’ve been talking about doing something, it’s like, ‘Maybe it would be helpful for the audience if they really understood what lane you wanted to be in,’ and I’m always like, ‘No, I will not pick a lane.’ I won’t, because it wouldn’t be authentic for me. Music now is so genre-bendy and so fluid. I don’t want to put myself into a box because whoever is going to love the music is going to love it.”
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Non-country artists who seem like sure bets for best new artist nominations this year include Sienna Spiro and Geese. Other strong contenders for the eight spots (they fill up fast) include Dominic Fike, Bella Kay, Role Model, Malcolm Todd, Ken Carson, Miles Caton, Dijon, Ravyn Lenae, Mariah the Scientist, Slayyter and Trueno.
A big question mark in the category is Don Toliver, who is highly regarded as an innovator in the hip-hop world, but who has had five consecutive top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 dating back to March 2020. It will be up to a screening committee to determine if that runs afoul of the first guideline under “Not Eligible” in the Grammy Rules & Guidelines book: “Any artist who had achieved a breakthrough in a prior eligibility period.” (The best new artist rules are spelled out on pages 14-16.)
The eligibility period for the 69th annual Grammy Awards runs from Aug. 31, 2025, through Aug. 28, 2026. First-round voting will be conducted from Oct. 12 to Oct. 22. Nominations will be announced Nov. 16.