Lennon Stella Unpacks 'Fear Of Being Alone' Video Secrets

Reporting by Alissa Godwin


In this age of self-isolation and quarantine, it's never been more key to check in on each other and to connect. This goes for artists, also, who have been social distancing alongside us: livestreaming concerts and hangouts, creating their own talk shows, and... Well, that's what we want them to tell us, with Remote Access.


Homemade music videos have become a necessity during the age of self-isolation and quarantine, yet thanks to innovators like Lennon Stella, they don't have to look homemade. Her recent visual for "Fear of Being Alone" is moody and artsy, after the 20-year-old singer as she poses and contorts around an empty room. Most rag-tag DIY creations often don't rise to this aesthetic level. Nevertheless Stella's a professional, even any time once she has to MacGyver a top-caliber visual using less-than-professional staging and tools just out of frame.


"I was doing my glamour shot on the ground," she told MTV News. "It's literally my mom dragging me — it couldn't be more, just, dirty. I'm on the ground. We were laughing the entire time because I'm doing this shot that looks so glamorous, and the light is just coming across my face, and really, my mom, she has towel wrapped around my ankle and [is] pulling me. It was so funny."


These are the tricks Stella had to pull out to help create that visual, which also received some help from her boyfriend as a set decorator, stringing up lights to help redesign a vibe similar to a Kate Bush video. "You have to get so creative, which is nice, in a way," she mentioned. "It's stretching my brain to do things that are a little bit more uncomfortable as well as just out of the ordinary."


And there's plenty more to celebrate — her brassy, poppy debut album, Three. Two. One., dropped on April 24, and she's been eager to show off another side of herself than the country-tinged one she first broke out with alongside her sister, Maisy, and the characters the duo played on Nashville. (Of course, her sister shows up on the album, also, on the cut "Weakness (Huey Lewis)," which Lennon wrote about her.)


Below, the artist unpacks Three. Two. One. — including what it's been like to release it amid quarantine — and also what she's been up to as soon as she's not getting dragged across the floor by her mother, all in the name of getting the perfect shot.


MTV News: Why did you title your album Three. Two. One.?


Stella: I actually saw this photo on Pinterest of those people. It was this really pretty photo in black and white of all these people jumping off this building. Plus it was the freedom that I feel was captured in the photo [that] I just was so drawn to, plus it felt like such a release. And I sent it to my mom, and we were going back and forth on this idea, because that's ultimately what this album feels like. Speaking of pressures and all those expectations — I really wanted to let go of all that and just feel free of all of it and just excited to dive into something new. And Three. Two. One. just felt right of the first jump.


MTV News: Releasing an album, your first album, in this unknown moment that we're all living in, is there something that stuck out to you that you wouldn't have realized if things were more normal?


Stella: I feel like it made it so much more special in a lot ways, because of all the glitz and glam just got fully taken out. It's so weird right now: Each person feels a little bit more connected than I've ever seen people. I feel most connected to the people of my Instagram more than I ever have. Each person on there, we just feel way more tight, and putting an album out Once I feel like that is just so much more fulfilling, because I think there's just such a good vibe going, and I really feel like we're all just companions and everyone's messaging me as a friend. So it feels very nice also it doesn't habitually feel like that. ... I think if anything should not be canceled, it should be music. Everything else can be pushed back, and I get it all, although I feel like music is so key right now.


MTV News: Right now that the album is out, with all this downtime, are you like, "This is my time to relax," or are you still staying creative?


Stella: Well, I just moved, so I'm being very creative in other ways. I love styling the residence and doing all of the interior design stuff. So I'm getting into that and just sort of still doing stuff to get the album heard and advertised in ways and doing acoustic versions of everything. I think it's critical to have a balance — to also just be a human and not be posting everything, nevertheless there really are ways to stay connected, so attempting to find the balance.


MTV News: converse with me about filming "Fear of Being Alone." Were you the director? Were you the camera guy? Were you audio?


Stella: "Fear of Being Alone" was scheduled to come out any time it did, nevertheless this was naturally way prior to [the COVID-19 pandemic] happening. I was like, wow, this is very eerie and this seems crazy to be putting it out at this time. Plus it sort of took on a whole new life, just the song itself lyrically really had a whole new meaning. We were very limited with how we might could realistically make a music video. Although my friend CeCe [Dawson] — she does just astonishing videos and photographs and all that. So I knew trim been quarantined. She was the only person that I really was comfortable that she had been stuck in her residence. My mom and I just brainstormed, and we're like, what can we do to prepare it unique and not just like someone dancing around their house?


We're like, let's just make it like I'm going crazy in my home, also it worked out so flawlessly, being a song that actually lended [itself] to being filmed in a residence. It made sense. So we just got really creative and yes, we sort of all directed it. There was certainly no director. It was just like, I sort of had a vision for it. We were just bouncing off so several ideas and just sort of spewed it out to CeCe, and she was like, "Yes, I fully, I feel that." And she just executed it perfectly.


MTV News: I know "Weakness (Huey Lewis)" is special to you and your sister. What about this song made it so important for you both?


Stella: This song was written at a very intense segment of our lives, and As soon as I wrote it, the feeling was so heightened. And I think anytime I write a song where the feeling is overflowing, it just hits that much harder every time I sing it because I'm just like, "Whoa, that was so emotional." I think it is sort of heavy and sad, however it's also something that I think both of us have really — we're moved on in a lot of ways and we feel so much better about the entire situation. And thus there's just a sweetness to it that I think makes it really special to both of us. She feels that way identically as much as I do about me being her weakness and the thing that sort of pours it all out of her. So yes, it was nice to have her sing those lyrics to me and then me sing them to her.


MTV News: Unfortunately, you had to postpone your tour. Once you finally get onstage, any time that may be, what can fans expect? Right now that you have this additional time, are you changing your ideas?


Stella: As soon as all this first began happening, we were finalizing all of visuals and all of the things for the stage, plus it was getting very exhilarating and very new to what I'd done before, because this tour was just a little bigger. So yes, everything was getting dialed in, and then all this naturally happened, and we sort of saw it coming that we would have to postpone the tour pretty early on. So we sort of put a pause on it. I'm excited to pick back up on that side of it, also. And that, just the creative visuals and all those things I think [are] going to be really cool. And right now that album has sort of a life right now, I feel even more inspired and more creative as far as making the visuals for the album.


MTV News: Is there an in general message that you're living by now that you wish to relay to fans out there?


Stella: An unknown is the scariest thing. Nothing freaks me out more than that because I'm such a control freak. People keep saying that we're in the same boat, everybody's in the same boat, however we're not in the same boat. We're on the same ocean. And everybody's handling this differently. Everybody's dealing with so several things that we don't know about. And then some folks are financially stable, so this is beneficial time to chill. Some days some folks are absolutely freaking out. There really are so several different things and reasons why we're not all handling this the same way. Yet I think, ultimately, just knowing that we are somewhat feeling the same things and we're not entirely alone, as isolating and lonely as this seems, I think that's really critical. And Instagram and social media can be very toxic, nevertheless it also can be really good. And especially in times like this, I've found just how astonishing it is seeing everybody come with each other and be really making everybody feel much less alone and there's some group kind of unity. So I think just finding something that makes you feel good, and knowing that we're all with each other and we're all feeling somewhat of the same thing.