Why Stella Lefty’s ‘Boston’ Became the Biggest Musical Punching Bag of the Decade — and One of the Biggest Songs of the Year

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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“I like it when you’re nice to me,” Stella Lefty sings in the hook of her breakthrough single, “Boston.” To which we can only reply right now: Hope you’re not reading the comments.

Try to recall the last time there was as much mass derision directed at one song as there is currently aimed at “Boston.” Would it have been back during quarantine, when Gal Gadot made everyone quesy with a highly mockable all-star cover of “Imagine”? Was it when Oliver Anthony became a quick cultural blip for his ingenious idea to fat-shame welfare recipients? Or would it have been when Jason Aldean was looking to make lynching cool again with “Try This in a Small Town”? But no, not even these examples approach the level of sheer enmity being laid upon what, on the surface, feels like as light-hearted and innocuous a single as anything any pop or country artist ever put down.

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