Born in Victoria, B.C., and shaped by formative years in Vancouver, artist and producer Sophia Stel found a rapt cult fanbase with her 2024 debut EP Object Permanence, a fiercely vulnerable collection of genre-agnostic earworms fueled by her full-bodied, affecting alto. By following her intuition and going against the grain of online fads, Stel is setting trends, not chasing them — always creating from a place of true originality. Her self-directed, sometimes spur-of-the-moment digicam visuals for tracks like “I’ll Take It” and “You Could Hate Me” have the fuzzy realism of vintage photos or cherished memories: effortlessly cool without ever trying to be. In addition to earning co-signs from Troye Sivan and A.G. Cook and being selected for this year's DAZED 100, she recently made her runway debut at Ann Demeulemeester’s PFW SS26 show and embarked on her first headline tour, which included a performance at Pitchfork Festival in Paris, following the release of her sophomore EP How to Win At Solitaire. Continuing to push the boundaries of today’s music landscape while honing in on a truly singular, post-genre sound that’s all her own, Stel is currently working on her debut album.