Stella Donnelly on the painful friend breakup that inspired her new album: ‘I’m trying to protect them – but I’ve written this record’

<p>On her third album, Love and Fortune, the Australian singer has captured the dull ache of being rejected by a friend – and how she fell in love with music again</p><ul><li><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/newsletters/2019/oct/18/saved-for-later-sign-up-for-guardian-australias-culture-and-lifestyle-email?CMP=cvau_sfl">Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email</a></p></li></ul><p>Stella Donnelly didn’t want to write songs about a friend who broke her heart. But any time the Welsh Australian singer-songwriter tried to channel anything else into her lyrics, the hurt was always there on the surface.</p><p>We have a language for coping with romantic heartbreak, learned from movies and songs – but there are fewer mirrors in art for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/21/like-having-limb-cut-off-pain-friendship-breakups">coping with the end of platonic bonds</a>. On her third album, Love and Fortune, Donnelly has captured the dull ache of being rejected by a friend who once knew her best of all. It might become the record ghosted friends turn to when they find a person they knew intimately for years no longer wants to hear from them.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/29/stella-donnelly-singer-interview-friend-breakups-new-album-love-fortune">Continue reading...</a>