From Beyoncé fan account to running her own fandom: Jae Stephens' debut album AUDACITY drops September 25

Jae Stephens has a quirk: she loves cramming her name into unrelated words. Mid-interview, she casually drops "a-jae-nda" and cracks herself up before she's even finished saying it. That unfiltered, loose energy she brings on camera isn't far off from how she was as a teenager, deep in internet forums—"My Sweet Sixteen was on Habbo," she says, "any JaeBae knows this." JaeBae is what her fanbase calls itself.

Rewind to the mid-2010s, when Jae Stephens wasn't yet a singer but the person behind Beyoncebeytwice, a well-known Beyoncé stan Tumblr account, active during peak Beyhive fandom years—spending birthday nights in chat rooms trading messages with other anonymous accounts. "I was just that weird kid," she says. Going from being on the fan side to now having a fandom of her own that floods her comments is the most striking contrast worth pausing on in this interview.

From LACHSA to Professional Songwriter

Stephens was born in Dallas and moved to LA with her family at age six. She and her brother started landing commercials and Disney Channel cameos early on, tapping into LA's entertainment industry resources, with their parents fully supporting their acting and music training. She attended Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), whose alumni list also includes Phoebe Bridgers, the Haim sisters, and Jordan Patterson. During the day she rehearsed at school; at night she kept running her Tumblr, where she also started posting her earliest original songs, slowly building up the JaeBae community.

After graduating, she briefly lived in London—the reason was simple: to fulfill her dream as a One Direction fan. Back in LA, she dove headfirst into a career as a professional songwriter, landing co-writing credits on tracks for artists like Chxrry, Ne-Yo, and Jennifer Lopez, while also continuing to release her own singles, like "24K" and "Someone Else," with a sound leaning into that smooth, sultry late-2010s R&B/pop lane.

"Back then I had one foot in and one foot out when it came to being an artist," she recalls. "Songwriting was so much easier—once you leave the studio, the work is done. Being an artist felt heavier, and I wasn't sure I could carry that." The turning point came in 2022, when her manager entered her into a competition with a record deal at Issa Rae's new label Raedio as the prize—and she won. "I remember thinking, oh, someone actually sees something here," she says. That same year she released her debut EP after signing to Raedio, High My Name Is.

After "Body Favor," Finally Comfortable Being Herself

What really cemented her sound was "Body Favor," which sparked buzz online in 2025, with production carrying a Neptunes-style bounce and lyrics that don't hold back on her humor. "Everyone kept asking, who could this song be pitched to? And I said, no, I don't know anyone else's voice that sounds like this," she says. The three EPs that followed this track were later compiled into the collection TOTAL SELLOUT. That same year she also opened for British pop trio FLO, further expanding her fanbase.

On how label head Issa Rae has influenced her, Stephens describes appreciating her directness: "She always has fifty million things going on, but she can still sit down and have dinner with us—I really admire that." She quotes Rae: "If it's not going to pay your bills, it doesn't matter."

Her debut album AUDACITY drops September 25, with lead single "Attaboy!" finding her hitting high notes while stringing a suitor along like a dog on a leash: "Take me out to dinner, but I ain't impressed / So I don't call back, 'cause I like making them beg." Stephens says the album is essentially a breakup record, but done her own way: "My reaction to this breakup isn't 'I'm so sad, I don't know how I'll live without you'—it's more like 'that was such a fucking waste of time, fuck you, I'm out.'" She laughs again after saying it.