Stage Girl

That Eli released her debut album on Halloween is no coincidence—it’s her favourite day of the year. Growing up in a conservative Massachusetts town, it was the one time she could step outside and be whoever she wanted, if only for a night. “Now that I’ve accepted myself and have allowed myself to be more grounded in my body, I am living every day that way,” the singer shared on social media. Like Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce or Mariah Carey’s Bianca, Stage Girl is her act of becoming, but instead of shedding her persona when the show ends, she’s stepping fully into the person she was always meant to be. A self-described “stan of pop music making pop music”, Eli built her debut from the DNA of her idols. It glitters with 2000s nostalgia and full-hearted ambition, echoing the powerhouse vocals (and, occasionally, whistle notes) of Carey, Jordin Sparks and Ariana Grande in her agile runs, while her songwriting stays witty, grounded and, above all, radically joyful. She kisses off an ex with bubblegum bravado on “Girl of Your Dreams” (“For a man who’s such a child/You don’t know how to play with dolls,” she taunts), finds divinity in emotional overwhelm on “All at Once” and aches on “Marianne”, a ballad about losing love and an imagined future after coming out. Where “I Wish I Was a Girl” reframes dysphoria as rediscovery, “Like a Girl” turns gender confirmation into flirtation. By the time she reaches “Somebody I’m Not”, her transformation feels complete: “I don’t wanna die in the body of somebody I’m not.”