Stella Lefty has teased a snippet of her new song, ‘Summer You Were Mine’, on TikTok, giving fans a taste of her debut album Long Way Home, before before it lands on August 21st.

Fans who have seen Lefty live recently may already recognise this uptempo track. The country-folk prodigy has been performing ‘Summer You Were Mine’ - previously thought to be called ‘You Were Mine’ - at a number of shows throughout the year. It certainly feels like Lefty has been road -esting the song before its official release.

The title captures nostalgia of the track, with Lefty looking back wistfully at one particular relationship and summer. It fits nicely with an album rooted in going back to her roots and returning to the country-pop sound Lefty says feels most natural to her.

Lefty's rise has been remarkably fast. The 23-year-old has been writing songs since childhood, but ‘Thinking ’bout You’ gave her an early viral breakthrough before ‘Boston’ changed the game. Lefty has explained that ‘Boston’ began almost accidentally. Waiting for now boyfriend Vincent Mason to pick her up for a date, she wrote the chorus, posted it online and left. There wasn’t even a finished song yet. She later completed it in LA. ‘Boston’ then went on to reach No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, with the infectious song still in the Top Ten at the time of writing.

Thankfully, we don't have to wait long for ‘Summer You Were Mine’. Long Way Home arrives next week, before Lefty makes her Grand Ole Opry debut on 2nd September. She will perform alongside Mason, Little Big Town, Lori Mckenna and Ashley Monroe.

For an artist whose biggest song started with a few seconds online, teasing another on TikTok in a similar feels like Lefty doubling down on the route that works for her.

What’s especially encouraging about this is that it serves as another reminder to young artists watching from bedrooms without record deals that the distance between posting a song and finding your audience has perhaps never felt smaller.