Stella Lefty Faces a Fourth Song-Similarity Claim

Stella Lefty’s breakthrough with “Boston” already involved a retroactive writing credit for Noah Kahan. Now a fourth song is drawing comparisons to a well-known hit, adding weight to a pattern that has followed the singer since her rise.

The latest focus is “Misery,” a track from Lefty’s 2025 EP Tragic, Really. Listeners have pointed out a strong resemblance to “A Million Dreams,” written by Justin Paul and Benj Pasek for The Greatest Showman soundtrack. Comments began appearing on the song’s YouTube upload about a month ago, and the similarity drew wider attention this weekend through viral posts.

Lefty’s earlier releases have faced similar scrutiny. “Boston” lifted its melody from Kahan’s “Stick Season,” a song Lefty had covered online multiple times; Kahan was eventually added as a writer. “Summer You Were Mine” was compared to the Chicks’ “There’s Your Trouble,” with writers Tia Sillers and Mark Selby credited after Atlantic said the interpolation had been approved and an initial omission was a streaming platform error. “Why Wouldn’t We” has not led to credits for the writers of Blake Shelton’s “I’ll Name the Dogs.”

On Spotify, “Misery” is credited to Lefty, Madi Yanofsky, and Phil Cook — not the Gayngs and Megafaun musician of the same name. Paul, Pasek, and arranger Rob Mathes are not listed. Borrowing and interpolation are common in pop, but the frequency of these claims, so early in Lefty’s career, is what now stands out.