If you’ve listened to contemporary radio at all in recent months, then there’s a good chance that you’ve encountered Stella Lefty’s hit single “Boston.”
It might be second only to Ella Langley’s “Choosin’ Texas” as the song of the summer — but many listeners feel like they’ve heard it somewhere before.
Yes, Lefty — who is the daughter of billionaire Groupon founder and Tempus AI CEO Eric Lefkofsky — has been accused of plagiarizing Noah Kahan’s hit “Stick Season.”
Stella’s fans have ardently defended her, but the similarities between the two melodies are undeniable (we’ve included music videos for both songs below).
That doesn’t mean that the young singer-songwriter intentionally ripped off Kahan, of course.
But whatever the case, this probably isn’t how Stella had hoped to kick off her career.
She has her first major hit — the song currently sits at number two on the Billboard charts, behind, of course, “Choosin’ Texas.”
But across social media, Stella is earning more scorn than praise at the moment.
Her situation is not helped by the fact that her dad is worth over $6 billion and made much of that wealth from AI — tech that’s not especially beloved by folks working in creative fields at the moment.
Lefty’s career trajectory has drawn comparisons to other “nepo babies” currently churning out mainstream hits, especially Gracie Abrams.
But at least Gracie’s dad, J.J. Abrams, is a beloved filmmaker.
To many, her rise seems a little more organic due to the fact that she’s the daughter of a writer-director, not an entrepreneur.
Is that assessment fair? Not necessarily, but as we’re often reminded in 2026, public opinion is rarely governed by logic.
Of course, for most of her detractors, Stella’s greatest sin is her alleged act of plagiarism.
Lefty may not have helped her case when she granted a co-songwriting credit to Kahan, but if that move enabled her to avoid a messy lawsuit, then it was probably a smart one.
After all, nepo babies are the norm throughout the entertainment industry today. In fact, it’s hard to think of a current rising star who doesn’t have at least one parent with their own Wikipedia page.
But taking advantage of inherited wealth and privilege is one thing, and ripping off a beloved recent hit song is quite another.
“When I was writing the song, I wasn’t thinking about Noah Kahan. I was literally thinking about nothing at all,” Stella told Vanity Fair (via Variety).
But as many online sleuths have pointed out, Kahan seems to be on her mind quite a bit.
In videos posted to YouTube, she’s covered several of his songs — including “Stick Season” — and she’s often cited him as one of her biggest influences.
So yeah … consciously or otherwise, Stella seems to have been influenced by Noah.
As her signature song approaches 200 million streams on Spotify, it seems that Ms. Lefty’s fans are unconcerned about “Boston”‘s origins.
Stella Lefty: ‘Ultimate Nepo Baby’ Accused of Ripping Off Noah Kahan Song was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.
