She goes by STEF

Stephanie “STEF” Weisz doesn’t want to be the next Z100 artist. Her goal isn’t fame. Her goal isn’t fortune. As a singer/songwriter, STEF wants to be an authentic artist whose voice sets her apart from those on the radio.

At age five, STEF began performing. She exited the shower singing Kelly Clarkson songs she heard on the radio. The day she learned to talk, STEF started singing, and she never stopped. Today, she is a sophomore at Syracuse University where she is following her passion of songwriting and performing.

STEF’s journey to songwriting began with her love for poetry. She remembers writing childish poems in the first grade, which led to her singing. STEF was born into a family of performers: her mother is a singer and her father is a bassist.

“For me writing is more of self-expression,” STEF said. “I’m a very emotional human, and I feel like that’s why I write a lot of sad songs.”

While other students are taking notes in class, STEF is jotting down song lyrics. Finding inspiration in her day to day life, STEF said she is most inspired when she is sad or angry about the state of the world or people being fake.

“Noose,” one of STEF’s three EPs available on iTunes and Spotify, was inspired by her friends’ and sister’s toxic relationships. She watched as they all stayed in their relationships because they were in love.

“That was women empowerment or human empowerment,” STEF said. “If someone treats you like shit, drop them. I really value independence and being who you are and not relying on someone else especially when the don’t treat you the way you’re supposed to be treated.”

Rachel Price, STEF’s freshman year roommate and close friend, recalls meeting STEF for the first time before school began. “She sang for me and her friends, and it was insane,” Rachel said. “I had no idea she was even into singing.” From that day on, Rachel would get a behind the scenes look at STEF’s songwriting process.

“Freshman year, she was always singing and playing her guitar in our room. Everyone around her could see that she had a real passion for what she does. She has been writing songs for so long. She’s an amazing singer, but I think songwriting is her biggest talent.”

STEF describes her songwriting process as “all over the place.” Most of the times she plays chord progressions on the piano or the guitar and starts singing random words that come to mind. Sometimes, she said, she is triggered by something and jumps to the piano to start singing.

“Part of being an artist is that there is a very big lack of structure in my life in all facets,” she said.

Her new song, “What is this World” is an example of this process. “I was looking out the window staring at Ernie [Davis dining hall] thinking about how everyone’s fake, and I was all pissed off and that triggered that song,” STEF said.

The biggest inspiration behind STEF’s music is her grandma “Bubbe’s” journey through the Holocaust.

Bubbe’s mother was a poet and singer at their local home theater in Poland, and her sister was also a singer, STEF said. The book One Step Ahead is about how Bubbe’s family was always one step ahead of Hitler, running away for six years.

“There’s literally no reason why I should be alive today because bombs were going off in front of them, behind them,” STEF said. “Miracle after miracle happened to allow them all to be alive.”