Tony Scott: 0:13

Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a behind-the-curtain look at the entertainment industry, with insights you can't pay for and stories you've never heard. Now here's your host, Jay Franzi, and Tiffany Mason.

Jay Franze: 0:41

And we are coming at you live. I am Jay Franzi and with me tonight the Tina to my Ike, my beautiful co-host, Miss Tiffany Mason.

Tiffany Mason: 0:51

Good evening.

Jay Franze: 0:56

And if you are new to the show, this is your source for the latest news, reviews and interviews. So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any questions, please head over to jayfranze. com. All right, my friends, tonight we have a very special guest. We have a recording artist hailing from the great state of Illinois. I said it Illinois, I called it a great state.

Stella Soleil: 1:17

Is it? I don't know. I don't actually know anything about Illinois except Chicago. There you go.

Jay Franze: 1:24

We have Stella Soleil. Stella, my friend, thank you for joining us.

Stella Soleil: 1:28

Thanks for having me, jay, it is our pleasure.

Jay Franze: 1:30

And Tiffany, tiffany's alright, tina Tonight's all right.

Tiffany Mason: 1:34

Tina Tonight's.

Jay Franze: 1:35

Tina, tina, tonight she's.

Tiffany Mason: 1:36

Tina.

Jay Franze: 1:39

All right, miss Stella, you, my friend, have a new song out. Can you tell us a little bit about this song?

Stella Soleil: 1:45

Sure. The new song is called Hello, and it is a song about connecting with people and finding people that are a lot like you Good people. Finding each other is really what it's about, nice.

Jay Franze: 2:02

So how did it come about?

Stella Soleil: 2:05

I was in a band 14 years ago called Dirty Little Rabbits and we were a pretty hard rock band Three of the guys were in Slipknot and me and then one day we just wrote this really great pop song called Hello and we didn't know what to do with it and it just kind of got buried on the record because it just everything else was really aggressive. And then just kind of got buried on the record because it just everything else was really aggressive. And then all of a sudden you have this like hello, you know, like this, like this, like pop song. So it didn't really do anything. Back then. No one really noticed it, except for a pretty decent size radio station in Nebraska, 89.7 the River, who played it like 469 times. She told me Sophia John is the general manager there. She loved it so much and then it just went away for 14 years and I just I literally I tried during COVID to get the guys from the Dirty Little Rabbits back together.

Stella Soleil: 3:11

They were a little busy with Slipknot and so I was like you know what? It's time for this song, the time has come. People need to hear this song, especially like right now, like with everything that's happening around the world. We need some like love and positivity. So I got John Fryer, who's my producer. He's a really well-known, famous, amazing producer. He did like Depeche Mode, he did Nine Inch Nails, pretty Hate Machine Just so many incredible records and I sent him the demo we had done like 14 years ago and he's like, yeah, I'm going to do it, it and yeah, and we reworked it and updated it to 2025 and here it is. This is, I mean, this is what it sounds like now and I think it came out really great all right, I have too many questions at this point okay all right, I am a fan of hard rock music, so let's start there.

Stella Soleil: 4:15

Okay.

Jay Franze: 4:16

How did that come about?

Stella Soleil: 4:18

So I have been friends with those guys, the guys in Slipknot. So when I was first starting out I got my record deal first on Universal Records and they were in Des Moines and I used to tour a lot in Des Moines, iowa, and so much that the Des Moinesians thought that I was like a local band. But it's just, the radio station was there, sophia John was there and that time it was KKDM and she was playing my project. At the time it was called Sister Soleil and I just thought Slipknot was going to be huge and they were like really having a hard time getting even bookings, like nobody got the masks nobody practice a little bit more, they'll be pretty good and so I used to like take them everywhere with me and like, when I got to Universal, I went to the president of Universal Records and I said these guys are going to take over the planet.

Stella Soleil: 5:16

You have to sign this band. And he's like I don't get the masks. And I'm like, oh man, have you ever heard of Kiss? I mean, come on. And they wound up signing to Roadrunner eventually and they did take over the world. So I was right.

Stella Soleil: 5:33

So you discovered Slipknot yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say I discovered them, I'd say I helped them. They were from Des Moines, they're low, they were Des Moines locals and I always insisted that we play on the same show, even though, like I, at that time I had an electronic project that was closer to Nine In nails than it was metal, like Slipknot.

Tiffany Mason: 5:53

But I just thought that they were monumentally talented and I just kept pushing and pushing and pushing for them, you know that's so awesome, though, that, like you, were willing to believe in them before they could believe in themselves, or you were able to help others see what you saw in them yeah, I mean amazing artist to obviously try to advance your own career, but then also take them under your wing and be like no, these guys are amazing.

Stella Soleil: 6:20

Well, it's kind of my personality. I'm always helping other artists and I developed a lot of artists. I write for other artists. I like working with other artists. I'm a really good collaborator. I don't play any instruments. I'm a really good collaborator. I don't play any instruments. I'm a lyricist and I write melody, but I don't play any instruments. So most everything well, pretty much everything that I've ever put out is a collaboration with other people.

Jay Franze: 6:45

So yeah, Was it the Slipknot that we know today?

Stella Soleil: 6:51

Well, paul died in let's see, died in 2008,. I think he died. Paul Gray, what a sweetheart, oh my God. He was so sweet. And Joey died, the drummer, just a few years ago. So it's funny because, dirty Little Rabbits, two of the guys, mike and Jeff, are now in Slipknot. They were Sean Cran and his clown. I was living in LA and he came to LA to convince me to move to Des Moines to front his new his new band and I and I did and it was great and we played together for like three.

Stella Soleil: 7:29

We toured all over the world and I loved being in that band. I thought we wrote great stuff together.

Jay Franze: 7:35

But, like I said, when we wrote Hello, I kind of wanted to go more in the pop direction and they wanted to go more in the hard direction that's what I wanted to get to, so yeah you did finally find that turning point that brought you into the world of pop versus the world of rock or metal well, when I was on Universal I did a pop pop record like no getting around it, straight up, cookie cutter, corporate pop.

Stella Soleil: 8:02

But I did learn a lot. I was sent all over the world to work with like the hit makers and I did as much as I hated pop at that point in my life. I didn't really learn a lot from working with these writers and how to craft songs and even if I didn't like the style or the production, I really learned how to write a strong song. So then by the time I got into the Rabbits I had that sensibility, that pop sensibility. So Hello was very easy for me to write Like in minutes. I wrote that like in 10 minutes.

Jay Franze: 8:38

So yeah, Well, while we're there, why don't you go ahead and tell us what the writing process was?

Stella Soleil: 8:44

So I was very poor and I lived in a house without furniture and the boys would come over Mike and Ty, actually and one day we were sitting on my hardwood floor with no furniture and Mike was playing the keyboard and I just started singing Hello, hello, you know, and it just came together so fast and we were like, oh my God, I think we're onto something, and then went to rehearsal and played it for the rest of the guys and it just wrote itself. It was such an amazing experience because we kind of all knew like, wow, this is something really special. But now what do we do? Because it doesn't sound like anything else, that this record that we're making is just completely different. It did get released but it was never pushed as a single.

Tiffany Mason: 9:35

It just kind of got buried on those records, those two records that came out twice and well, I think, with the genre being different, right, it probably threw the listener for a loop a little bit. We say that sometimes the general public just isn't ready for the song yet too yeah, it could have been timing as well, you know, or that it's marketed to a different you know, listening population.

Stella Soleil: 10:00

Well, I mean I think part of the problem is that we were being marketed to the slipknot fans and we were our own thing.

Stella Soleil: 10:10

And I think that was the big mistake, because when I did Warped Tour in 2010, kevin Lyman, who owned that festival, he always put us at the top five best bands to see. There were 70 bands on that tour and we were always in the press as the top five bands best bands to see, best bands to see. And literally whenever I played the song Hello Live and no one had ever heard it before, it would go from like 50 people in our audience to kids literally running full speed trying to figure out where this song which which of the 10 stages the song was coming from and then, like by the end of the song, there'd be like 1500 to 2000 kids like for the song was coming from and then, like by the end of the song, there'd be like 1500 to 2000 kids like for the song. So I'm like, okay, there's something really, really special with this song because I mean, they were like running, running to get to us well, at that time, what was the sound of the song?

Stella Soleil: 11:08

it was, um, it was similar, I guess. Uh, there were no harmonies, it was just a single vocal line. But Sean couldn't come on the road with us, so we went down from a five-piece to a four-piece and back then there was a Hammond organ in it too. We took that out. John Fryer said I think I want to make it more guitar driven than the kind of quirky guitar, the quirky Hammond B3 organ, and it's more anthemic now than like it was. It was quirkier back then and now it's more anthemic. I think it's a lot more powerful now and I wrote these really beautiful harmonies that that weren't there before, when we first wrote it so was it your band at that time that went in the studio with you to record it yeah, the players back then were from Dirty Little Rabbits, and and then now re-recording this and working with John Fryer, I used all musicians from the western suburbs outside of Chicago.

Jay Franze: 12:12

So are they studio musicians or are they just known musicians in that area?

Stella Soleil: 12:17

So one of the like, pat Gilroy, is in the band One Life they're on the Plain White Tees label and like Adam Cryer, he was AM Taxi and like Lucky Boy's Confusion. And Ricky is the bass player in a really well-known band called Liquid Soul who's been around for like 20 years. I mean, they were graminated. They were graminated. They were graminated for a nominee.

Jay Franze: 12:43

Grammy nominated.

Stella Soleil: 12:45

They were graminated for a nominee.

Jay Franze: 12:47

I like that, let's start using that for now.

Tiffany Mason: 12:49

They're graminated. I'm so cool, I'm always up for now they're grammy. I'm so cool, I'm always up for learning new words.

Stella Soleil: 12:58

Yeah, and Eric is the youngest of all of us and just an amazing drummer and these guys. I went to rehearsal and we reworked it and yeah, and it just popped. It just popped with these new players.

Jay Franze: 13:10

So how did you hook up with John to produce the song?

Stella Soleil: 13:15

So John Fryer I have been begging him for like the last seven years to give me a shot. I mean, he's like my all-time favorite producer, Like my two favorite bands in the world are Nine Inch Nails and the Cocteau Twins, and he produced both of them you know, so I'm like just give me a chance.

Stella Soleil: 13:37

And so, and now we work together all the time. We do a lot of stuff like film stuff and I just did this really cool. There's this on Magnetic Eye Records. They just done the Downward Spiral Redx with all these great artists and I got asked to cover I Do Not Want this Nine Inch Nails off of Downward Spiral and John and I did it together and it's like orchestral and it's really crazy cool. And that comes out at the end of November. So yeah, so now we're working together pretty often.

Jay Franze: 14:12

Let's take it a step further. I know he is known for engineering as well as producing, and he does get his hands into the mix. What was the relationship like between the two of you when you went into the studio?

Stella Soleil: 14:26

It was remote. I stayed in Chicago and I tracked in Chicago and then sent him the tracks and then he produced and mixed them in LA. So it's cool that you can make records like that. Now he doesn't do tracking anymore, he just does straight up producing and mixing Right. A lot of phone calls, a lot of FaceTiming.

Jay Franze: 14:47

So how did you record your tracks then?

Stella Soleil: 14:50

So a studio here in Chicago, illuminate, a guy named Joseph Castelberry, did the engineering for me and then sent the track to John Fryer to produce and mix and actually I sang 52 hours. I know, oh, my goodness, the first time I recorded this I probably sang two hours and the 2025 version of Hello 52 hours in the vocal room.

Tony Scott: 15:23

Oh my goodness, why.

Stella Soleil: 15:25

Because I had written all these really, really amazing harmonies it was. It went from a single line vocal to and John Fryer, he loves like he makes me do quadruples of everything. You know. Before, when I would record, I only had heard of like doubling your vocal. He wants quadruples of everything, and so I mean of everything, and so I mean, if you're doing three harmonies plus the main vocal, that's like 16 vocal tracks just in one spot and by the end it was like 72 tracks that we sent him okay, so I am not from the music industry in the respect of like recording, producing, right okay it's a lot of tracks yes, so what is intriguing me right now is the fact that you sang your harmony parts.

Tiffany Mason: 16:22

Oh yeah, I did all my harmonies on this, yeah ah, I guess I that may would make sense, but it didn't dawn on me that that's how it could be done.

Stella Soleil: 16:31

Oh yeah, I mean I've done a cover with the boys. Love the one you're. With stephen stills we sing in three-part harmony on that. That's, that's my second single. That that will come after hello, and so they did the harmonies with me. But, um, hello, I did all my own harmonies, yeah is that breaking news?

Jay Franze: 16:53

Are we the first to know that as well?

Stella Soleil: 16:55

Oops, I think I wasn't supposed to say that.

Jay Franze: 16:58

No, that's all right. That's what we like.

Stella Soleil: 17:00

Yeah, you're the first one.

Jay Franze: 17:03

We just want to feel special. That's all it is. We just like to feel special.

Stella Soleil: 17:07

I mean yes, yes, that was intentional.

Tiffany Mason: 17:09

We're going to be all back behind the stage information.

Jay Franze: 17:13

That's why we love you, miss Tiffany. When a singer can do their own harmonies, first of all, it's rare, not every singer can sing their own harmonies, but when a singer can sing their own harmonies it's a nice blend. It makes things sound thicker.

Stella Soleil: 17:29

Huge yeah, like a big anthem.

Jay Franze: 17:32

So when you go in with a team of background vocalists, that also sounds great.

Stella Soleil: 17:40

But it's not quite the same. No, unless you're doing like a crosby stills and nash like cover, where you want different textures and stuff like that. Sometimes I've had backup singers come in and it gets a little syrupy sounding, but when it's your, own voice um like not so much emotion. They're singing perfectly pitched vocals, but when you do your own backup vocal, when you're doing your own harmonies, the emotion is still there.

Tiffany Mason: 18:08

You know, so it's more.

Stella Soleil: 18:09

I think it's more powerful when you do your own harmonies Plus when you do your own harmonies, you're matching the melody almost identical. Yeah.

Jay Franze: 18:18

Where you bring in harmony singers, they're going to sing the melody to where it should fall as a background vocal. It doesn't always match the lead vocalist and again, that's personal preference. Sometimes that sounds great, sometimes people don't like it. They'd rather have it match.

Stella Soleil: 18:32

I mean, yeah, If you're like Pink Floyd or something, you remember they brought in that woman and she was like whoa, like that was really cool. Yeah, that's when it's really cool yeah.

Jay Franze: 18:48

All right. So you go in the studio in Chicago, you bring in these musicians.

Tony Scott: 18:53

Yes.

Jay Franze: 18:55

So you had the engineer there. Was there anybody hands-on producing the musicians there, or did you just record all the tracks and then send them off to John?

Stella Soleil: 19:03

No, these guys are such pros, they pretty much can produce themselves. I mean, they've been in the industry for a long time and they just walk right through it. They're just like bam, bam, bam, it's perfect, you know.

Jay Franze: 19:15

So the initial, before they walked in the studio to do their bam bam bam, was there? Somebody give a little bit of a? You know say hey, this is what I'm going for, this is what I did.

Stella Soleil: 19:26

I gave them some direction and they just got it right away.

Jay Franze: 19:31

You know you did go in there and give them a little bit of guidance, and then just yeah, I mean, basically, what I said is I want to make this an anthem.

Stella Soleil: 19:40

I just imagine the stadium like we're playing madison square garden. I want big, big drums, big guitars, which is like night and day. From the original, you know, yeah, so that's what they gave me. I mean, the thing is is these guys are like stars in their own right, and so I'm just like what do you do? And these guys are stars, you do crosby stills and ash with them you know, because you can you know so?

Stella Soleil: 20:09

but um, hello was great because I almost got rid of the intro. I thought I was going to go right into the song and Adam Cryer actually was like no, you have to keep that part. That's like one of the best parts of the song. So, yeah, they know what they're doing.

Jay Franze: 20:25

It's always cool like that, right, so you record with these musicians. Now, do you ever have the hope of performing it live at this point?

Stella Soleil: 20:35

So I did so much extensive touring in my career and man life on the road is like it's hard, it's hardcore, it's hard to stay healthy, it's hard to eat right, you're eating out of gas stations and if I ever see another waffle house, I'm gonna puke and like not a sponsor, but could be, but um, I think probably I will ask these guys to do like target shows with me.

Jay Franze: 21:05

You know, not full-blown touring but that's what I was wondering. Yeah, so would they? Yeah, would they support you to play a show or two? I'm sure they've got their own things going on. They're not gonna be able to tour yeah, they're very, they're very busy themselves.

Stella Soleil: 21:18

But you know, like key shows here and there, I I'm sure that they would do with me. Would they be in Des Moines? No, no, they're here. Yeah, they're here. In Chicago, well, the western suburbs, yeah, yeah. Fun Right outside, yeah, no. So Let me know.

Tiffany Mason: 21:32

I to get up there, I need to see my girlfriend in Carol's stream.

Stella Soleil: 21:36

You can come stay with me, come stay with us. We have a guest room. Okay, perfect.

Jay Franze: 21:43

Don't offer it. Don't offer it unless you mean it, because she'll be there.

Stella Soleil: 21:45

Tiffany can come stay with me.

Tiffany Mason: 21:48

Don't say you weren't warned. Warned of a good time, don't start.

Jay Franze: 21:57

Alright, so you're going to play one show here or there, so I assume it's like the Grammys and a few other showcases like that right.

Stella Soleil: 22:05

Well, definitely the VMAs, because Jeffrey Panzer did the video and I know he's going to get a VMA It'll only be like his 50th.

Jay Franze: 22:14

Who is this Jeffrey person you talk about?

Stella Soleil: 22:16

Jeffrey Panzer. Jeffrey Panzer, the legend, the Emmy winning, vma winning. I walked into his house and I was like wow, like they're everywhere, like you can't sit, there's no furniture, just awards in his house.

Tiffany Mason: 22:34

Welcome to my pile of awards.

Jay Franze: 22:37

So what you're saying is we should know who this Jeffrey person is.

Stella Soleil: 22:40

You know exactly who Jeffrey is. Maybe if he wins one more award we can consider him I think he would have to get a new house. I don't think he can fit anymore in his house. He's already storing a few of them in my house.

Jay Franze: 22:53

It's all right, so tell us what it was like to work with jeff oh my god, oh, he's a genius, this guy.

Stella Soleil: 23:06

I know he's like do you realize? This guy has literally done over 3 000 music videos.

Stella Soleil: 23:15

I mean crazy I know, I'm like has anybody ever made that many music videos in their lifetime? I mean it's crazy. And he's such a good director. He just he had an idea. He loved the song. It was really funny Because I sent him the song and he was jogging and there was this you know, the hook in the song is all good people find one another. And he stopped jogging. And he was this you know, the hook in the song is all good people find one another. And he stopped jogging. He was like he picks up the phone. He called me. He's like what kind of witchery are you using on me? Did you write this about us? So he loved the song so much. He's like I have an idea, come to LA right now and we literally we shot for three hours and 45 minutes and it was all shot and then he spent like 75 hours editing.

Jay Franze: 24:09

That sounds about right.

Stella Soleil: 24:10

Yeah.

Jay Franze: 24:12

So wait, so come to LA now.

Stella Soleil: 24:15

Now, right now, get on the next flight From that moment?

Jay Franze: 24:19

how long was it until you were in LA?

Stella Soleil: 24:21

Like five days later. Oh wow, you both were moving quick. Oh, yeah, no, we've been on. Jeffrey and I have been on warp speed for the last two weeks. I keep going wait what happened? What happened? Oh, was I in LA? I was there, I was there, right. Okay, now I'm back. Did la happen? Yeah, it was so fast, I couldn't even believe it and I'm terrified of flying. Oh my god, I am so terrified of flying. It was a four and a half hour flight, but they have this cool thing now on wi-fi. So between texting my husband and jeff, there's turbulence, there's turbulence, and I'm like it's just air pockets. Just think of it like going over a street and rocks and I'm like, okay, there's no more turbulence, okay, I'm fine, but I was like texting the both of them like through the whole flight.

Tiffany Mason: 25:10

I thought you were going to say there's this new thing.

Jay Franze: 25:11

It's called chloroform I was gone.

Tiffany Mason: 25:15

Woke up, I was gone. I woke up, I was there.

Stella Soleil: 25:17

No, no, those are Xannies. You just pop Xannies like Tic Tacs.

Jay Franze: 25:25

I get them from a doctor.

Stella Soleil: 25:26

I get them from a doctor.

Jay Franze: 25:27

You have taken a left folks.

Tiffany Mason: 25:30

Well, if you guys get a chance I mean everybody who's listening you should hop on over to Stella's social media on Instagram. She had some fun updates from the trip to LA. I saw it in Living Colors, so I know it happened, stella.

Stella Soleil: 25:42

Yes, you went to LA. It was there right. Yeah, you were there. You were there, you have some great AI videos.

Tiffany Mason: 25:51

You guys should hop over there and just kind of see Stella's great personality and just the fun time that she had getting to the airport and the inside of the I think it was the LA airport you were showing and that looked kind of cool.

Stella Soleil: 26:03

There was O'Hare with the lights and I was like I'm the conveyor belt. I was like wow.

Tiffany Mason: 26:09

I haven't been to O'Hare for a minute so they must have done some upgrades me either, like it looks like a spaceship down there, like you're like holy cow, it's united.

Stella Soleil: 26:20

It's like the. The hub is so huge in chicago like you have to get on this like walking conveyor belt to get over to united yeah that's funny that you flew on united and your song is about people getting united um. You know what's even funnier?

Jay Franze: 26:38

it was on the 13th day of the month and it happened at one o'clock in the afternoon.

Stella Soleil: 26:42

I like interview the pilots before I get on. I'm like, excuse me, sir, how long have you been flying? And I do like a whole lot. How often do they get that, though I bet that's not uncommon. I'm like I just want you to know that twice I turned around two Boeing 747s and went back to the gate, so I need to know all of your experience.

Stella Soleil: 27:05

But the United pilot on the way back was so cool, he had a turbulence tracker like a little iPad and it tracks the turbulence, so he would come running. He's like, okay, look, here's this little patch we're going to hit in like 10 minutes and then it's going to be over. And yeah, he kept running back like every 20 minutes to make sure they wouldn't have to do like an emergency landing.

Tiffany Mason: 27:31

Listen, I am Stella Soleil and I'm a big deal, and so if I am not happy we are landing this way, I need to get off right now.

Stella Soleil: 27:39

Like it's so funny. Did you see bridesmaids? Like there's a colonial woman on the wing and she's turning butter. Yeah, that, that's me okay now question

Jay Franze: 27:52

okay, I'm sorry he tells you, come to LA within five days, you're going to be there. Does the upcoming flight bother you enough to stay in your mind up until the the moment?

Stella Soleil: 28:06

oh, no sleep for five days. No sleep for five days, yeah we gotta talk.

Tiffany Mason: 28:12

I got some. I got some stress management skills dude.

Stella Soleil: 28:14

I went to fear of flying school and everything and and like there's a fair flying school oh yeah, no, it's for real. And and so when I was in this fair of flying class, you know, they said, like this is one of the flights. I turned around they said, you know, pattern your behavior after this. The, the stewards and stewardesses, I know, know that's not PC. What are they called now Flight?

Tiffany Mason: 28:39

attendants Flight attendants.

Stella Soleil: 28:40

Thank you, stewardess. Yes, you can't say that anymore, it's flight attendants.

Jay Franze: 28:44

You can't say what you can't say stewardess.

Stella Soleil: 28:47

Nope, you have to say flight attendant.

Jay Franze: 28:49

So stewardess is a word you don't want me to say anymore.

Tony Scott: 28:52

Jay.

Stella Soleil: 29:00

I'm just trying to get it right. So it's stewardess is the word. Well, I was on a flight from New York to San Francisco and it was bad weather and we were taxiing. We were on the tarmac for like three hours and the fear of flying school said just watch the flight attendants and pattern your behavior after theirs. And so I was watching and then, all of a sudden, this guy a couple rows back gets up. He's like that's it. I'm getting off. And a flight attendant goes sir, you need to go back to your seat. And I'm like oh, that's panic.

Stella Soleil: 29:26

I get up and I run to the back of the plane and I'm like hyperventilating, and a flight attendant grabs me by the shoulders and she's like you're fine, just keep breathing'm like, oh, my god, did she smack you across the face?

Stella Soleil: 29:48

No, I fainted, I went down, I went down, blacked out, and then the next thing I know I come to, I could hear the pilot going everyone return to your seats. There's a medical emergency on board. And I kept thinking to myself well, if this person would get off of me because I had to get back to my seat and put my seat belt on. There's a medical emergency on board. And I kept thinking to myself well, if this person would get off of me, cause I have to get back to my seat and put my seatbelt on, there's a medical emergency on board and not realizing I'm the medical emergency, yeah, and because there's this thing like where, if you're out cold, the flight attendant they have to lay their whole body on top of you and yeah, and so I couldn't get her off of me to give anything more, you're gonna bring back my flight anxiety so so I so this last flight I told the pilot that story, so I think that's why he kept running back to me.

Tiffany Mason: 30:30

Yeah, that was sweet of him, so you made it to la I did, you made it back.

Stella Soleil: 30:35

Yes, and you made it back and I made it in monkeys.

Tiffany Mason: 30:36

Yes, and you made it back Fabulous video and I made it back.

Jay Franze: 30:40

All right, so describe day one.

Stella Soleil: 30:43

Was working with Maxie who's Maxie? Maxie is this amazing makeup artist and stylist that Jeffrey works with and then we glued. He had a bow tie that he cut on this little pink dress, and then we used fabric glue and glued it onto the dress. So it was this cute little black bow, and then we had to, like, stand there and hold it with our hands for like 20 minutes.

Tiffany Mason: 31:09

And then I had to take it home and put books on top of it.

Stella Soleil: 31:12

I think that's called being in wardrobe Wardrobe yeah, air quotes Wardrobe Gluing a man's like like bow tie onto my dress. That was Friday and then um, let's see, saturday was a lot of food and um, hanging out with my friend.

Jay Franze: 31:29

Don't just gloss over the food um seafood is my favorite.

Stella Soleil: 31:34

She took me to a really fancy schmancy seafood place and I like had like two dozen oysters and I saw a lot of stops at starbucks.

Tiffany Mason: 31:44

So how many times?

Stella Soleil: 31:45

did you go to starbucks? Okay, listen, I have a problem. I have a. I have a serious addiction to starbucks, like and and like, so much so that my friend trisha would have it delivered to her house. I get up and I'm like I need Starbucks, I need Starbucks.

Tony Scott: 32:03

You said there was going to be coffee Tricia. I need Starbucks right now.

Jay Franze: 32:06

You guys are both talking about Starbucks to a Bostonian. We're going to have problems here.

Tiffany Mason: 32:11

Although she did say that Scooters is better.

Stella Soleil: 32:14

Scooters is better Dunkin'.

Jay Franze: 32:16

Donuts.

Stella Soleil: 32:17

I love Dunkin' Donuts, dunk. They don't know how to make tea lattes, they only know how to make chai lattes. Oh man.

Tiffany Mason: 32:27

What kind of tea latte do you Real quick side tangent? What kind of tea latte are you getting these days?

Stella Soleil: 32:32

I like Earl Grey tea lattes, the London Fog, but without the vanilla. I mean London Fog has the vanilla in it, so I'll do the London Fog, hold the vanillas, I just like the tea lattes I hold the vanillas I just like the tea lattes.

Tiffany Mason: 32:48

I lived in london for three years and I just got addicted to tea, and so I'm really really had it iced.

Stella Soleil: 32:51

Um, I have had it iced, but I'm kind of snooty about my teas. Okay, okay, well, if you lived in london I was it is, it's an english thing, you know, like I was, gonna say when in rome, but when in england I like um. My favorite is pg. Tips is the best. Like tea, english tea have you had? Ruibas, it's not english yeah, I've had a ruibas, yeah, yeah, no, I, I like it. I like ruibas too, but I'm snooty. I want english tea. Yes, okay, fair enough sorry we derailed so what we digress we?

Tiffany Mason: 33:22

digress. What was day two? Food jay wants to know okay jeff is saying you're very disciplined and it sounds like you are I, yeah, I was a ballet dancer.

Stella Soleil: 33:32

I started out as a ballet dancer. So I mean, I started when I was three and and and then I became a competitive ballet dancer and then I mean I trained like four or six hours a day and then my mom was my choreographer. We used to tour all over the country competing and stuff. So yeah, wow, I can't. That was my childhood was like competition after competition. So, yeah, very, I am super disciplined. Yeah, you can't get away with like half budding it.

Tiffany Mason: 34:03

I thought that's where you're going.

Stella Soleil: 34:05

I know I was like I'm like, what else can I say, half budding it in ballet you can say it, it's alright food. Tell me more about the food let me see Starbucks always and seafood, and then I think I had ice cream too, on all right we have a winner tell me the right flavor and we can get off the food subject um, I mean chocolate, anything chocolate with chocolate chunks with chocolate, anything chocolate, chocolate, chocolate sound like my daughter we have a place here called graders.

Jay Franze: 34:45

When I moved here I was told was the best ice cream in the world and being from boston and having my local favorite, I thought yeah, okay. But I went and I will tell you it is truly the best ice cream in the world. But graders has a signature flavor, black raspberry chip, and I have just become oh chocolate.

Stella Soleil: 35:02

oh, I love chocolate and raspberry with chocolate chunks in it.

Jay Franze: 35:06

Yeah, you got it so good. Now you have to come visit me.

Stella Soleil: 35:09

Yes, I will. All me and Tiffany are going to do is sit and eat ice cream the whole time.

Tiffany Mason: 35:15

Fair enough, but mine is going to have to be like vanilla or caramel or peanut butter flavored with chocolate and caramel swirled in it.

Tony Scott: 35:24

Tiffany, you're fired, goodbye.

Tiffany Mason: 35:27

I didn't fire you for your ice cream.

Jay Franze: 35:29

No, because I chose a good one.

Stella Soleil: 35:32

But peanut butter. I love chocolate with peanut butter too. Like chocolate, peanut butter ice cream oh no, it's so good oh you know my husband grumbles on top. He hates it. My husband hates like mixing peanut butter and chocolate together. You know those. Remember those commercials where we had this genius idea and they bumped into each other and chocolate meant peanut butter and he's like gross, yummy.

Tiffany Mason: 35:57

Yummy, yeah, yummy. Oh no, we've got people arguing with us about ice cream.

Jay Franze: 36:03

Yeah, ice cream is a subject it's a subject for sure. All right, so you get to la. You get past the food. You get to work with jeff.

Stella Soleil: 36:12

Let's take it from there so he and he did a really nice start time for me. It was not like 5 am, which is what I'm usually used to, getting up like four or five and getting into makeup, like it was like the makeup call was nine o'clock and and then I think our start time was noon or something like that, like two, two and a half hours of makeup and hair, and do you enjoy?

Jay Franze: 36:39

that?

Stella Soleil: 36:40

Yeah, I love it. I learned a lot from makeup artists. Like I'm wearing purple today. So yeah, it's cool. Cool it's, they're artists. You know they're real artists and I'm like the canvas and I'm sometimes I just look at myself. I'm like, oh, is that me?

Tiffany Mason: 36:58

I'm cute, like there's gotta be a pretty good feeling.

Stella Soleil: 37:03

It's gotta be pretty fun oh, I want to look like this all the time.

Jay Franze: 37:08

I don't look like that all the time, well, some people really enjoy it, but some people just hate sitting still and being part of it.

Stella Soleil: 37:16

No, I think it's a cool part of the process, especially when it's coming to life.

Tiffany Mason: 37:24

Your face is coming to life, don't you feel like, or maybe you can tell me if this is the process? It seems like this is the process, like they prime everything and you're like, good God, I hope this turns out Okay, and then they put like the first two layers on. You're like I don't know, I'm getting concerned, and then at the end you're like.

Stella Soleil: 37:43

Holy smokes and then at the end you're like holy smokes, I'm beautiful. So Jeffrey like gave her some specific instructions. I have pretty good skin and I'm so very light. I hardly it was very light makeup and other music videos that I've done is like wearing like pancake batter on your face. You know that's gross. But Jeffrey was like don't put a lot on her, she doesn't need it and you know so.

Tiffany Mason: 38:12

What a compliment.

Stella Soleil: 38:13

I know right, but he's such a pro he knows these things Like he could just look at you and Jeff how much makeup do I need?

Jay Franze: 38:21

I was just going to ask the same question.

Stella Soleil: 38:23

No, he did. I was just going to ask the same question. No, he did. We FaceTimed and he was like checking out my face. He's like, yeah, you don't really need much at all. So he's a pro Dude 3,000 music videos, come on, the guy knows about makeup. I would agree. Well, we shot the whole thing in natural light on a green screen in his backyard, like the first. You know know the shot? Um, there's this big shot of me on a giant stadium stage. It was like 12 noon and the sun was beating directly down. It was like 100 degrees and he's like okay, dance, you know. And I'd be like and I would stop like three quarters of the way through and then they would run me in front of a fan and then Pumayo, his assistant, would hand me like ice water with a straw, and then I would cool down and then get back on the green screen in the full sun and you can't even tell that it was shot outside. The whole thing was shot outdoors, that was so cool.

Stella Soleil: 39:23

Yeah, so the makeup when you do outdoor shooting is a lot different than when you're doing controlled lighting which do you like better? Um well, I like them both. I think it's really, uh, it's such an art form to be good at lighting um controlled lighting. It's a whole art form in itself oh, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah.

Jay Franze: 39:48

So, when you're doing these videos, is there anything about them that you don't like to do?

Stella Soleil: 39:57

I don't like wearing high heels Because I move around.

Jay Franze: 40:01

I like it.

Stella Soleil: 40:03

I'm sure you do.

Jay Franze: 40:05

Only on Saturdays.

Stella Soleil: 40:07

But when the director says dance and you're in like spiked heels, you know it's just really tough. Like I wear, I always wear Adidas superstars. There's like that's my main shoe, you know, with like a thousand friendship pins on the laces Comfort, yeah, because I move, I move so much. A thousand friendship pins on the laces, yeah, um, because I, I move, I move so much. I just think high heels like just kind of restrict me.

Tiffany Mason: 40:33

So I love so much that you always have all those pins on the shoes and I love that that's part of who you are, like your personal brand or whatever. But, then it shows up in the video as well, and it was very nostalgic for me those little friendship pins.

Stella Soleil: 40:48

I know I've been doing this since I was 11. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and one of my friend here's a pin that's so awesome.

Tiffany Mason: 40:57

And then I love that the song is just talking about you know, like nice people finding nice people and here you are sharing these little friendship pins and, you know, just spreading the love and I think yeah that's awesome and I think you are

Stella Soleil: 41:08

my god it's just a message that just needs to be out, right now we went down ventura and like we're going to find random people because jeff wanted genuine reactions. So we're asking these strangers hey, can I hug you in my music video? And this one guy goes I do not consent, I do not consent. And he like put his hand over his face and I was like a hug you don't consent a hug.

Stella Soleil: 41:32

And then then there were these other two girls are. I'm like, hey, can I hug you in my music video? They're like, um, no, we're not interested, but god bless you. Oh, and I was like what's god got to do with it? I was, I was so confused, but god bless you. And then like yeah, me and whom I just kind of look at each other like.

Tiffany Mason: 41:51

Is that like how in the south we say bless your heart?

Stella Soleil: 41:54

I think so like bless your heart, and and then another, and then this other girl goes. Well, I usually get paid for this and I'm like well, what's your rate for a hug? Yeah, what'd she say? She?

Tony Scott: 42:07

started laughing, so she was a hooker.

Stella Soleil: 42:10

No, she said she would do it for free. I felt honored. Wow, wow, it was a freebie.

Jay Franze: 42:16

You have the power.

Stella Soleil: 42:17

Donating a hug to the music video.

Jay Franze: 42:21

Nice so we do this thing here. We call Unsung Heroes, where we take a moment to shine the light, then somebody that supported you along the way or somebody who may have been there for you. Is there anybody that you would like to shine a little light on?

Stella Soleil: 42:36

Oh, my dream team. I have a dream team, so Steve Leeds. Steve Leeds is a legend in his own right. I mean, he was head of talent at Sirius Satellite Radio for like 18 years, and before that he worked at Universal. That's how I met him and stayed friends with him. So he's on this team, jeffrey Panzer, I love him so much.

Jay Franze: 43:00

Again, you brought up that name again. We got to figure out who this person is.

Stella Soleil: 43:03

Yeah, and Sophia John, who has been great. She's the general manager of the River 89.7 in Council Bluffs, iowa, which is just across the river from Omaha. And my manager, slash lawyer, who I love and I have known since I was very young, tim Donahue. That's my dream team I have like the best team ever. They're so cool, really good people, all good people find one another.

Tiffany Mason: 43:31

Do they have one of your friendship pins on their shoes? Every one of them. There we go.

Jay Franze: 43:39

All right, folks. Well, we have done it. We have reached the top of the hour. We've actually blown a little bit past the top of the hour, which does mean we have reached the end of the show. If you've enjoyed the show, please tell a friend and Miss Tiffany. If you have not.

Tiffany Mason: 43:49

Tell two.

Jay Franze: 43:50

Tell two. You can reach out to both of us. You can actually reach out to all three of us over at jayfranze. com. We will be happy to keep this conversation going. This was a good one.

Stella Soleil: 44:00

Stella, my friend, I really really enjoyed myself.

Tiffany Mason: 44:02

Thank you guys, thank you so much for having me on.

Stella Soleil: 44:04

Congratulations, Stella. Thank you.

Jay Franze: 44:07

It has been an absolute blast, thank you. You're welcome, All right folks On that note have a good night.

Tony Scott: 44:16

Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show. Make sure you visit us at jayfranze. com. Follow, connect and say hello.