We found a great deal for this song on Groupon
There's still nothing like the rush of seeing a new artist reach the upper echelons of the Billboard Hot 100, searching them up on Wikipedia and finding at least one of their parents' names highlighted in blue. A new nepo baby just dropped: Los Angeles-via-Illonois's Stella Lefty â nÊe Lefkofsky, the surname of her billionaire father who co-founded Groupon.
Maybe she was able to get a Groupon on some professional studio time, and the result was "Boston," which is now No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in Canada. So much for our anti-US sentiment, huh? Much like the case with the not-very-patriotic "Choosin' Texas" and its reign over the charts here and stateside, none of our staffers had actually heard it before.
So, in honour of today's release of Lefty's full-length debut, Long Way Home, the Exclaim! staffers decided we had to find out what's going on with "Boston." (Spoiler alert: it's a bit of a tea party.)
Here are our first-listen reactions to "Boston."
Sydney Brasil, Social EditorThis might be the laziest nepo baby track I've ever heard â I wouldn't be shocked if it was some sort of scam Stella Lefty is playing on her billionaire dad so she can hold off on getting a real job for another couple of years. I'm all for melodic interpolations, but you have to question how hard someone's even trying if they rip off a chorus from one of the most popular songs from three years ago. Her vocals sound passive and void of true effort, and the lyric video has her play up this lo-fi bedroom pop look that we all know is disingenuous. Just because someone has rich parents doesn't mean that they're incapable of making good music, but in the case of "Boston," how plain it is is downright offensive to our collective critical thinking skills.
Alex Hudson, Editor-in-ChiefAfter Ella Langley set the standard for boring country hits about US geography, "Boston" slightly exceeded my expectations. It's got a pleasant enough hook, and I sorta like the pedal steel and electric guitar leads. The main drawback here is Stella Lefty's voice. Y'know when really young kids have that raspy voice and you're like, "Huh, why's that kid's voice so hoarse? Are they sick, or do they always sound like that? How does a child sound like a two-packs-a-day smoker?" Stella Lefty sounds like that, except fake Southern. Still, I'm choosin "Boston" over "Choosin' Texas" (which naturally autoplayed immediately after "Boston" was over).
Megan LaPierre, Online EditorFirstly, it's a crime that this is not "Boston" by Augustana. And it gets worse! Stella Lefty's breathless, raspy twang is the kind that feels put on â does she have to smoke a certain number of cigarettes before recording her vocals? This really is the countrified, piano-driven Noah Kahn rehash nobody wanted, and while I know it can be a revelation for a woman to realize she likes it when a man is nice to her, actually, packaged like this, it feels like a brainrotted "Stick Season" cover that changes the pronouns so we all know they're not gay.
Karlie Rogers, Staff WriterIn comes the latest indistinguishable country singer-songwriter of 2026, this time: Groupon heiress version. I had to unblock Stella Lefty on Spotify just to listen to this! As many others have already pointed out, melodically, "Boston" is just an even worse version of Noah Kahan's already snoozy "Stick Season." I do have to give Lefty props â unlike Ella Langley's "Chosen' Texas," at least there's a hook this time? This song just proves to me that just because you can carry a tune and have a raspy voice doesn't meant mean you should have a music career â the karaoke bar is down the hall to the left!