Only ET was invited to check out the vibey project in Los Angeles earlier this year.
Say what?
Lennon Stella is delivering a very direct message with her sweet signature vocals: "It takes bitch to know a bitch."
The 19-year-old singer has been making waves in the pop world since saying goodbye to her Nashville character, Maddie, last year, and her latest (strongly worded) musical offering is no exception.
Only ET was invited to the Los Angeles set of her vibey new music video last month, where she’s offering up plenty of girl power (and lewks for days). Read on for seven secrets from the set and see the interview for yourself in the player above!
1. Maddie Ziegler makes a cameo (twice).
It's very different from her work with Sia, but Ziegler is unmistakable in her “gratuitous cameo” role in “Bitch.” The appearance came together through the singer’s sister, Maisy Stella.
“She’s actually my sister’s best friend,” Stella said. “They're so tight and I literally adore her so much as a human, and she's, like, a freak talent. She's so beautiful, so we just thought, ‘Yeah, just have her in and be another face.’ … She’s such a cool vibe to have.”
2. Maisy was supporting behind the scenes.
"Oh my gosh, she could not be more supportive," Stella said of her real-life (and on-camera) little sister. "It's so nice like having her so involved in everything. Literally, she's the go-to for me. The second I got the [video] treatment, she was the first person I sent it to. Honestly, she's so involved and it's just nice to have her here.
"It's also like, usually I'm shooting stuff in L.A. and then she's back in Nashville," she continued. "So it's cool that her and my mom were just in L.A. and could come."
3. The interiors were actually shot in three neighboring houses.
Filmed at the Los Angeles Heritage Square Museum, the "Bitch" video was shot inside three 19th century homes and edited to look like one large interior. For the exterior shot, she chose the colorful Hale House, built in 1887. According to the museum's website, the home's colors were reproduced from chips of the original colors that were found during its restoration.
"Just outside this house is like my dream," Stella gushed, explaining the idea behind the video.
"It's like, kind of eerie and different weird things that are happening throughout [the house]," she said. "Basically, this boy calls me a bitch and I call him a bitch back, and there's this whole thing back and forth."
4. The song's inspiration is surprising.
"This is one of the only songs -- well, actually the only song -- I've ever written that wasn't a true story of something that actually happened to me," Stella said with a laugh.
"It was just a concept and an idea," she continued. "This guy calling a girl a 'Bitch,' and, almost in a joking way, instead of taking it, she stands up for herself and she's like, 'You're being a little bitch!' It’s like that's the thing that's not usually said back to a guy. … There's a bit of girl power in it, you know? I think it's just a cool idea that we ran with."
5. She’s got an exciting collaboration (or a few!) in the works.
"I can’t say much about those," Stella teased of her upcoming collabs, assuring fans that "it's gonna be super, super exciting."
Pressed for more hints, Stella laughed, "I'm honestly so scared of what would happen if I actually did give a hint on the collabs!
"It's one that I think people probably have already thought about," she admitted. "I think people can already see it happening, so it's not completely crazy random. I think people are probably already assuming."
6. More new music is on the way!
"I've just been writing a bunch right now," she said. "I feel like after putting the EP out, I got a boost of energy and [that] fueled inspiration. Just because I've written for so long and, you know, nothing was being put out. So after everything got put out, and the response [to it], the love and everything just re-inspired and I think now I'm just taking that inspiration and writing a bunch. I feel like I’m able to just expand and create a little more. I don’t know why, I just feel a little bit free-er."
7. She’ll always have mad respect for Maddie Conrad.
Addressing her fans in both the pop and country world, Stella says she'll stay true to the Americana roots that made her a star on Nashville.
"I definitely want to keep everybody on board and I don't want it to be such a big dramatic shift of, like, 'I'm not country anymore,'" she said. "It's definitely something I think about."
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