{"id":2068994,"date":"2026-07-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2068994"},"modified":"2026-07-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:00:00","slug":"wonderland-311","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2068994","title":{"rendered":"Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tWonderland<\/span>
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\n\t\t\tSOPHIA STEL<\/span>
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What does it mean to be a pop star? For Canadian dreamer Sophia Stel, it means anything she wants it to. As she signs to A24 Music and finishes work on her debut album, the 27-year-old remains \u2013 above all \u2013 defiantly herself.<\/h3>\n
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\"Sophia<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In barely the time that it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun, Sophia Stel has had a breakthrough sophomore EP in \u201cHow To Win At Solitaire\u201d; walked for Ann Demeulemeester; modelled for Palace; become A24\u2019s music label\u2019s second artist signing after British singer-songwriter mark william lewis; opened at pop royalty Lorde\u2019s duo of LA arena shows. So, she must be feeling a little bit like a wildcard? A wrecking ball? Something beautiful? \u201cSome days for sure,\u201d she giggles. \u201cI\u2019m like \u2013 \u2018I rock.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

As we speak, it\u2019s morning time for the Canadian. Hoodie on, her first cigarette of the day (one can only assume) dances nonchalantly from her fingers to her lips and back again. \u201cBut I don\u2019t know,\u201d she continues with a delicate flash of doubt. Her voice is slightly hoarse, the endings of her sentences more breathy than the beginnings. \u201cThings are fast, and I take quite a long time to process. There\u2019s an element to all of this that feels a bit like a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

While her rise to fame at times feels lucid, the 27-year-old\u2019s insatiable sense of self never sleeps. Her musical approach and artistic philosophy are rooted in a distinct snapshot of authenticity \u2013 an idiomatic incarnation of what a pop star today looks and sounds like. She writes, records and produces everything herself, mostly in her bedroom. She shoots her own gorgeously grainy videos alongside her best friends, and edits them alone, \u201cto honestly a painful level.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s unafraid of imperfection. And pop music dazzles most when it\u2019s messy. Sophia \u2013 like the \u201cinspiring\u201d Miley \u2013 gets that. \u201cThere was a lot of trying to understand myself, how I could fit into that world,\u201d she meditates, present yet vacant, a tidal wave of thought swimming behind a cool set of dark, curious eyes. \u201cI wanted to be a pop star, but I had to find a way to build my own world and reflect the world that I live in. Because to do it any other way would start to feel really far away from myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

So who is Sophia Stel? She is the icy invasion of deep-seated emotion, and the serene glimmer of impervious immersion. She is hauntingly opaque vocals and ethereal, masquerading synths, tucked between fuzzy mixes and fey atmosphere. She is love that\u2019s lost, and she is love that\u2019s gained. <\/p>\n

She\u2019s Vancouver\u2019s spark; a dense and creative Canadian West Coast hub where she settled in five or so years ago to be with her now ex-girlfriend. She relocated from her childhood city, the secluded, craggy capital of British Columbia, Victoria, where she was raised in a religious household with barely enough fingers on her hands to count her smorgasbord of siblings. <\/p>\n

Her new home is where she found freedom to be herself and opportunity to succeed \u2013 a resting ground that she never wants to fully leave again. \u201cIt is tempting to go other places, but I think it\u2019s best to stay,\u201d she avows. \u201cFor myself and my own identity as an artist, but also for my own health as a person. I live with my brothers and my best friend, and my other best friends live downstairs. And we just hang out and smoke and talk about things. I walk out my front door, and I see more of my friends.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cArtists shouldn\u2019t feel this need to chase something,\u201d she smiles knowingly. \u201cLet it come to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Music has always been intrinsic to Sophia. From making trap beats in her bedroom as a teenager to finding an esoteric and genre-agnostic production identity; to internally mapping lyrics along with the diverse dance music that pumped from the speakers during her eight-hour night shifts at Vancouver club Paradise (now Paradise Cultural Society), where she would erect and dismantle a makeshift studio to record her own songs during the venue\u2019s closing hours.<\/p>\n

In the beautiful but challenging isolation of Victoria, and through her intimate community of Vancouver, the foundations of Sophia Stel, the artist\u00e9, were born. \u201cI make what I want to hear first of all,\u201d she proposes. \u201cAnd then try to make things that reflect my current life as much as possible. Those have been two things that really anchor all my writing as well as my production.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a base-level ideology that\u2019s stood her in good stead. Rather than being sucked into the sonic status quo that drives the bustling cities where stardom feels only just out of reach, she stared straight into the darkness of an impossible dream and found light despite its rarity. \u201cI was talking to somebody about this. In LA, for instance, there feels like a pretty clear path of like, \u2018Oh, this could happen for you in this way.\u2019 So it\u2019s in your mind, this idea about trying to make things or do things in a certain way to create momentum. Here [in Vancouver], a lot of the time, the best-case scenario is that your friends will really like it. So you make stuff that you hope the people directly around you will like, or you make stuff for yourself because there isn\u2019t really much promise of it going anywhere else. I think that\u2019s been a really positive thing for me with my music. That\u2019s why I continue to work at home mostly.\u201d<\/p>\n

There has been no industry shortcut or head start for Sophia. She\u2019s worked various odd jobs, carried boxes in warehouses, painted houses, and survived night shifts at clubs. There has been no silver spoon. No unlocked door. Yet she found a way to open it; rather than bang it down, she slithered through the back entrance.<\/p>\n

Her September 2024 debut EP \u201cObject Permanence\u201d \u2013 all patchwork synths, grainy electro tinges and earnest heartbreak \u2013 cultivated a once-niche alternative pop-adjacent style that was quickly becoming mainstream. By the time its maturer, denser, more cinematic follow-up project, \u201cHow To Win At Solitaire\u201d<\/a>, came along 12 months later, Sophia was critically appreciated by the old guard, among the buzziest names in the online stratosphere, and on the climb to pop culture folklore.<\/p>\n

Last summer, before the release of her sophomore EP, Sophia was \u201ctalking to a lot of labels,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI had decided I wanted to sign in general because I needed the support.\u201d But there was one \u2013 a new scene-shifting disruptor swimming against a sea of majors \u2013 that stood out.\u201c<\/p>\n

For a lot of reasons,\u201d is why she signed with A24 \u2013 officially in late February \u2013becoming only the second artist on the musical imprint of the film distribution mainstay, joining London\u2019s idiosyncratic folk singer-songwriter mark william lewis<\/a> on the roster. \u201cThey\u2019re cool as a company, and want to make interesting stuff. It\u2019s how they\u2019ve built the movie company, and with the label side of things, they want to do something similar, while finding artists that want to grow alongside them. There\u2019s a lot of pressure on artists to grow extremely fast. I\u2019ve been making music for a very long time, and for me, it\u2019s always been something that I need to take my time on and make sure that things feel right in order to feel comfortable. I want to work with people who will take that time with me.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sophia\u2019s first step with A24 will be her biggest stride so far: her debut album. It\u2019s still very much under wraps for now, but she discloses that the body of work is in its \u201cfinal steps\u201d. A first full-length LP is the most quintessential moment of any artist\u2019s career, and there\u2019s bound to be the temptation to switch out processes that have dictated earlier success, to mould your vision into what you\u2019re told or what you observe that listeners and the industry expect. But in her record\u2019s construction, Sophia, bold and unyielding, has been rigid \u2013 to herself, and to her creative maxims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to keep a lot of things the same,\u201d she says on finding her flow to write the album. \u201cI\u2019ve mostly made it in Vancouver, as well as some stuff on the road. But if I\u2019m working on the road, I\u2019m working in my hotel room versus a studio. Making this record is my first time releasing music to an actively larger number of listeners \u2013 that is a huge change in itself. But I\u2019ve tried really hard to keep that out of my head as much as possible, because I want to make sure that I stay true to the way I\u2019ve always made music. It\u2019s about trying to figure out what people want to hear from me versus figuring out what I want to hear and doing that. Trying to keep my head in the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n

The forthcoming record will invariably take her to newfound fame and standing. Her life, too, will inevitably be different. But Sophia Stel won\u2019t ever change. She\u2019ll still be working with her best friends, making music out of her bedroom, editing every last frame of her videos. Why? Well, \u201cbecause honestly it\u2019s just too fun for me,\u201d the dreamer grins exquisitely. And isn\u2019t that what it\u2019s all about?<\/p>\n

WONDERLAND SUMMER 2026. GUEST EDITED BY MILEY CYRUS. SHOP NOW.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photography<\/strong>\u00a0Mario Sorrenti
Chief Creative Officer & Styling\u00a0<\/strong>Alastair McKimm
Words<\/strong>\u00a0Ben Tibbits
Hair<\/strong>\u00a0Bob Recine
Make-up<\/strong>\u00a0Diane Kendal
Set Design<\/strong>\u00a0Philipp Haemmerle
Executive Producer<\/strong>\u00a0Dana Brockman
Producer<\/strong>\u00a0Max Bonbrest
Casting<\/strong>\u00a0Alexandra Antonova for Samuel Ellis Scheinman<\/p>\n

Lighting Technician<\/strong>\u00a0Lars Beaulieu
1st Photo Assistant<\/strong>\u00a0Kotaro Kawashima
Photo Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Paolo Afante, Kurt Mangum
Digital Tech<\/strong>\u00a0Charles Meyer
Fashion Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Taylor Wood, Kassidy Taylor
Hair Assistant<\/strong>\u00a0Jeelan Aleem
Make-up Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Eduardo Jiminez, Breanna Harmon
Set Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Oscar Haemmerle, Xavier Mozejewski
Production Assistant<\/strong>\u00a0Din Morris<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t30 July 2026\t\t\t<\/div>\n
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Magazine<\/a><\/div>\n
Music<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tStarcrawler<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\tCortisa Star<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderland SOPHIA STEL What does it mean to be a pop star? For Canadian dreamer Sophia Stel, it means anything she wants it to. As she signs to A24 Music and finishes work on her debut album, the 27-year-old remains \u2013 above all \u2013 defiantly herself. In barely the time that it takes for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,257],"class_list":["post-2068994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-wonderlandmagazine-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2068994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2068994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2068994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2068994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}