Stella Cole Was a “Glee ”Fan. Then Darren Criss Asked Her to Collab on Instagram: 'If My Middle School Self Knew' (Exclusive)

Stella Cole went from a Darren Criss instrumentality to 1 of his collaborators.

The singer, whose caller medium It's Magic is retired connected Aug. 22, tells PEOPLE astir really her collaboration pinch nan Tony Award-winning character came to beryllium and really her emotion of aged movies influenced her career.

Cole, 26, shares complete a Zoom telephone from her Upper West Side flat that she was a "huge fan" of Criss' "watching Glee erstwhile I was successful mediate school."

"If my mediate schoolhouse aforesaid knew that we had sung together connected nan TODAY show, I don't cognize what she would do, astir apt person a bosom onslaught aliases something," she quips astir their December 2024 capacity of "Snow" connected nan greeting talk show.

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They first connected connected Instagram successful November 2022 erstwhile a clip of her singing "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" ended up connected his feed.

"He saw maine singing a Christmas song and he commented connected it like, 'Oh my gosh, this is truthful great. How astir you travel singing pinch maine astatine The Carlyle?' And I was like, what are you talking about?" Cole accepted his invitation and joined him astatine nan Upper East Side hotel.

"He had a mates of different young musicians, a trumpet subordinate and a saxophone subordinate besides conscionable sitting in, and I conscionable deliberation that describes very overmuch who he is," Cole continues of Criss, 38, who won his first Tony Award successful June for Best Actor successful a Musical starring successful Maybe Happy Ending.

"He is truthful generous pinch his level and truthful excited astir uplifting up-and-coming musicians. So I was truthful excited to singing pinch him that night, specified a bully guy."

After her quality astatine The Carlyle, Cole, whose powerhouse vocals rival Judy Garland and Rosemary Clooney, asked him to beryllium portion of her Christmas album. "He's nan best," she gushes. "He's conscionable truthful talented, I respect him truthful much."

Cole, whose philharmonic tastes are much retro than not, has been enamored by classical movie musicals her full life. She grew up watching The Wizard of Oz and had been captivated by nan classical movie philharmonic genre and dreamt of being a musician her full life.

"There's thing really magical and sentimental and awesome astir those aged movies, and carrying connected nan euphony is specified a dream, precisely what I want to beryllium doing," she says of her emotion for movies for illustration Singin' successful nan Rain and Meet Me successful St. Louis.

The Springfield, Ill. autochthonal sewage her commencement aft assemblage during nan COVID-19 pandemic and went viral for her rendition of "Somewhere Over nan Rainbow." She cites Judy Garland arsenic 1 of her biggest influences.

"I deliberation it was a spot of an flight for group during lockdown and everything, during times of sickness," Cole reflects.

Since moving to New York and breaking done online for her covers of classical songs for illustration "Moon River" and "Cry Me a River," she caught nan attraction of artists for illustration Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox, who took her connected a serendipitous whirlwind circuit successful 2023.

"I was a immense instrumentality erstwhile I was successful mediate school, truthful again, conscionable [a] crazy afloat circle infinitesimal story," she said of nan spontaneous induce to circuit years aft her first reachout.

She's besides performed astatine storied New York venues Birdland, Carnegie Hall and Madison Square Garden.

It's safe to opportunity that her euphony sensation hasn't changed. With her caller album, It's Magic, she covers standards specified arsenic "Till There Was You" and "Fools Rush In."

"I wanted to create this world of magic that feels for illustration nan first clip you're falling successful love, aliases for illustration an impressionist painting, aliases for illustration nan beautiful magic of aged Hollywood," she says. "That sanction conscionable really encapsulates everything I was trying to do pinch this record."

Cole besides hopes her caller medium opens up a caller genre for a younger assemblage who mightiness not beryllium arsenic acquainted pinch nan Great American Songbook.

"For a batch of my young listeners especially, I dream I tin present group to immoderate caller repertoire... So I deliberation that if I tin conscionable beryllium a pathway to discovering much euphony from this time, discovering these beautiful songs and keeping them alive, that's ever a large extremity arsenic well."

Up adjacent for Cole are circuit dates kicking disconnected successful September. She will beryllium performing successful support of It's Magic in New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, San Antonio, Nashville, Atlanta and different cities passim nan U.S. earlier heading to Europe successful October.

Cole will besides execute astatine nan Segerstrom Center for nan Arts successful Costa Mesa, Calif. for a constricted number of shows successful January 2026 earlier wrapping things up successful Napa that period astatine nan Blue Note.

It's Magic is disposable to stream.