StephanieSOUL

From the east side of Bakersfield, StephanieSOUL didn’t set out to be an artist—she became one through survival. Born Stephanie Solis, her alter ego took shape in the echoes of heartbreak and healing. “I was going to go by my government name,” she says, “but StephanieSOUL was birthed through the sound of pain and emotion in my voice.”
Raised on 70s salsa, Motown, and tear-stained ballads, her musical identity was shaped early—by her father’s congas and her mother’s record collection. Artists like Héctor Lavoe, Mary Wells, and Stevie Wonder laid the groundwork. Later, influences expanded to include Kaytranada, 50s/60s vocal groups, and the textures of hip hop and house. Her sonic palette is deep, but one thread runs through it all: honesty.
At just 22, she began writing and recording seriously. The turning point? Co-headlining The Fox Theatre in her hometown—her name glowing on the marquee—and later, signing to Silent Giant Entertainment as her emotionally charged single “HIM” began to take shape. Since then, she’s graced the stage at SXSW, toured with NB Ridaz, and opened for legends like Connie and Amanda Perez.
StephanieSOUL’s music isn’t manufactured. It’s extracted—painfully, beautifully—from lived experience. Her themes orbit heartbreak, trauma, mental health, and the search for stability. She writes the way some people cry: urgently, without apology.
“Music is a cure to my insanity,” she says. “It helps me breathe and speak when I can’t.”