“Realizing that pursuing my dreams is up to me is frightening yet empowering.” — Stella Prince’s “Scared”

Stella Prince is a 16 year old singer/songwriter who enjoys sharing her original music to a multi-generational audience. She currently resides in New York’s Hudson Valley and is frequently traveling between the east coast, Nashville, and Los Angeles. Her debut single, “Before You Leave,” was released to critical acclaim. She is a proud member of The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), Global Songwriters Connection, and Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI).

Since the age of three, you’ve been obsessed with music, including your mom’s vinyl folk albums. Began classical training at the age of seven. At age nine, you wrote your first song, “Old Dog,” which is about the day your dog, Scout, died. Can you describe how it felt to realize that you could put your feelings somewhere creative?

I was really upset, because my dog, Scout, was like a sibling. He’d been with me my whole life. It was so awful to see him in such bad shape at the end. So, I put all my emotions into writing my first song about him, and it was a huge life moment to realize I could put all that sadness and anxiety into a song. I knew at that moment that was what I was meant to do with my life.

Winning the Creative Communications Poetry Contest three times. What are the similarities and differences between songwriting and poetry?

Both writing poetry and writing song lyrics are storytelling, and sharing day to day life experiences that many can relate to. They go hand in hand. The obvious difference is that lyrics need to fit a melody. But of course poetry has a rhythm as well, just no guitar chords!

You’ve performed at The Bluebird Café, Pig ’N’ Whistle, Woodstock’s The Colony, The Bitter End, among others…