Σtella: Five Essential Albums

Women's history is world history, but care is taken in March to elevate the message and mission of Women's History Month. We've asked some of the women we love — including Miso Extra and Sunny War — to write about their Five Essential Albums for FUV.

Adagio, the fifth album from Stella Chronopoulou, who records as Σtella, is just under a half hour in length, but it grapples with life's big questions on love, time, and the brevity of both. Although most of her songs have been sung in English, for Adagio, Chronopoulou, who lives outside of Athens, sings two songs in Greek, including the original "Omorfo Mou."

When Σtella released Up and Away, her Sub Pop debut, in 2022, she was concurrently working on Adagio, which — as its title indicates — needed a slower tempo of five years work for it to achieve what she desired. One key collaborator, she discovered, was Las Palabras, better known Rafael Cohen of !!! (chk chk chk), who began to work with  Σtella during the pandemic. The pair wrote five songs together remotely, swapping files. Three of them suited Adagio, including the warm Tropicália zephyr of "Baby Brazil."

With Adagio bounding towards its April 4 release, FUV reached out to Σtella for her "Five Essential Albums" — and with nostalgia on her mind, Chronopoulou picked a quintet of albums that were cornerstones in her childhood and teen years.

Σtella: Five Essential Albums

Guns N' Roses, Use Your Illusion I 
I remember singing this whole album with my best friend Effi (who had introduced me to Guns N' Roses), smoking cigarettes for the first time on my parents balcony. We were 13, puberty had hit hard. “Don’t Cry” was that year's tune!

Nirvana, Nevermind
Kurt was a king. This album is like a temple for me.

Sade, The Best of Sade
I had never heard anyone sing like that before. Sade’s voice is like a journey to another place. Somewhere warm, erotic, and mysterious.

Björk, Debut
When Björk landed in 1993, it was like a bomb exploded. A good bomb. I remember the guy at my local record store recommending this album; he had that look in his eye: “This is cool, you have to listen to it." He was right! I was so fascinated with this album and this new artist from Iceland! I didn’t even know where Iceland was back then.

Jeff Buckley, Grace
“Last Goodbye” was my favorite track out of that album. I had just learned how to play it on the guitar and that was worth millions! His voice sounded like angels singing.

- Σtella
March 2025