Stella Lefty, the songwriter and singer to quick hit “Boston”, that blew up recently over social media, is facing lots of hate online for copying a song by a well loved performer. When Lefty’s song first was released in Febuary of 2026, it quickly became popular, climbing to number two on the Billboard’s Hot 100. However, after a few months, fans online started pointing to similarities between “Boston”, and another song that gained it popularity through social media in 2022, “Stick Season” by Noah Kahan. 

Although the lyrics, notes, and key are all different, “Boston” does share an additionally similar melody and rhythm to Kahan’s hit. After backlash started to pick up online, Stella denied that she copied Noah Kahan’s work, and was not even “thinking about Noah Kahan at all”, when writing it. 

To this, the internet detectives went digging into Lefty’s past, and found videos that she had posted covering the very song she allegedly copied. They also re surfaced an interview clip of herself stating that she is very inspired by the work of Noah Kahan. 

Very quickly after all of the hate started, Lefty, still denying copying “Stick Season”, quietly added a credit to Noah Kahan to “Boston”, across streaming platforms. Noah Kahan and his team did not pursue any legal action against Lefty, and the conflict seemed relatively resolved. Dee Sweeney, a Junior at HHS, offered: “I think she handled it very well, especially considering that she is so new to the scene”.

However, the internet is not ready to let Stella off the hook. Users across social media are creating videos, grasping at straws, and comparing other of her songs to songs of Blake Shelton, The Chicks, and even a song from The Greatest Showman. These accusations are far less reasonable, and have not warranted any credits like the one given to Kahan. To these claims senior Ashley Sinkus said: “I guess I heard the similarity in the first comparison (“Boston” and “Stick Season”) but now I think people are honestly just making things up for views”.

Now, online critics are not only bashing Lefty for these similarities, but also raging over the fact that she is a “nepo baby”. This term has been attached to many recently famous music artists, like Gracie Abrams. Lefty’s dad, a co-founder for the popular online couponing program, “Groupon”, might have a net worth of over 4 billion dollars, but does not have any clear connection to the music industry. 

This entire “nepo baby” crisis is a clear commentary of the power of online opinion, and how quickly opinion can spread, and the hate that can grow from it. Does being a “nepo baby” mean that one’s music cannot be good, or that their success is in no way applaudable. In the end, a start in a music career means a year with potentially unstable work to support oneself. Is it really such a shock that the young people who are most able to do this are supported by extremely wealthy families, especially in a world where the cost of living is so high?

The hate that Stella Lefty has faced online, whether from truth or not, is a demonstration of how negative and damaging the online climate can be, especially for artists just starting out.