Steinfeld’s biggest hit so far, “Starving” - a collaboration with future “The Middle” producers Grey and Zedd - is a grocery-aisle pop-rock-EDM hybrid euphoric enough to withstand lyrics as clunky as “I didn’t know that I was starving till I tasted you/ Don’t need no butterflies when you give me the whole damn zoo/ By the way, by the way, you do things to my body.” It’s proof that Steinfeld, ever the actress, is capable of making complete nonsense sound good when supplied with a strong enough foundation. “Capital Letters,” her song with BloodPop® from the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack, thrives on that same wavelength. Bumblebee anthem “Back To Life,” an effervescent synth-pop track situated somewhere between Halsey and Chvrches, remains a certified banger. “Love Myself,” the violently winking early Steinfeld single with a big shout-along chorus and heavy allusions to masturbation, is one of those tunes that bombards you into submission whether you like it or not.
Rarely do Hailee Steinfeld songs communicate any sense of who Hailee Steinfeld is, yet if you’re able to appreciate pop music as a feat of harmony, texture, and technology rather than a heartfelt personal expression, they’ve been catchy enough often enough. Her singles often sound like something Selena Gomez or Camila Cabello passed on - tracks that live and die by the strength of their hooks, where the production is the real star and any competent singer could feasibly be subbed in. Apple Music’s Hailee Steinfeld Essentials playlist - an assortment of songs that certainly stretches the definition of “essential” - does not reveal a signature sound so much as a tendency toward boilerplate sparkle.
Judging strictly by her discography, she would not seem to be the kind of persona who stans can build an entire identity around worshipping. Onscreen, she bursts with personality, but her songs tend to err on the side of manufactured product built for Top 40 radio and YA rom-com syncs.
Even now, as she finally readies her first full-length project, she’s piecing it out in a series of EPs, starting with a five-track installment this Friday pointedly titled Half Written Story.Īlthough Steinfeld has some good songs to her name, it’s always been hard to say whether she brings anything to the table musically. Steinfeld’s not an A-list pop artist by any stretch, but she’s scored enough hits that at this point she’s one of the biggest pop stars left who hasn’t yet released a debut album. This venture has been more successful than your average Hollywood star’s musical vanity project. For the past five years, starting with her debut EP Haiz, she’s maintained a music career alongside her acting work.
Surprisingly, one of Steinfeld’s most convincing roles so far has been that of a real-life pop star.
She has pulled off the transition from child actor to legit movie star.
She voiced Gwen Stacy in Into The Spider-Verse and currently stars as Emily Dickinson on the Apple TV+ quasi-sitcom Dickinson. None of her gigs in the decade since have dripped with quite so much prestige, but appearances in films like the critically acclaimed coming-of-age flick Edge Of Seventeen, the reportedly enjoyable Transformers offshoot Bumblebee, and the Pitch Perfect franchise helped establish her as one of the most promising and charismatic young actors in Hollywood. At just 14 years old, Steinfeld scored an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Coen brothers’ 2010 True Grit remake. Hailee Steinfeld was precocious from the start.