By Olivia Judd (@oliviacjudd)
Tucked inside a pillow fort lit with fairy lights, music journalist and presenter Iona Bielby lies on the floor with her latest guest, eyes turned skyward toward a constellation of handmade stars. There are no chairs, no suits, no pretensions – just two people having a deeply human conversation. This is Stargazer: part sleepover, part soul-search, and one of the most original interview formats to grace the digital music space in years.
Now entering its second season, Stargazer has already attracted a magnetic lineup of artists on the cusp of breaking through, from Biig Piig to Willow Kayne, as well as a Great Escape Festival special in collaboration with AWAL, murmuring under twinkling lights with Chloe Slater and Della XOZ. The show resists the trend of rapid-fire, TikTok-friendly soundbites and instead creates room for slow, strange, and tender connection.
“There’s something about the intimacy of lying on the floor and looking up that makes people open up in a totally different way,” Iona tells me. “It becomes less about promoting something and more about human connection.”
That connection is at the heart of Iona’s ethos – both on and off screen. She launched Stargazer as a self-funded passion project: “I wanted to make something that felt like a sleepover and a safe space,” she says.
So how did Stargazer come to life, and what’s next for the project? I caught up with Iona to dig deeper into the stars, sleepovers, and the soul behind the series.
Olivia: I absolutely love the concept of Stargazer – the cozy pillow fort and fairy lights make the interviews feel like you’re getting a secret snapshot into a conversation between two friends at a sleepover. How did you come to create such a unique concept?
Iona: Thank you! I genuinely love stargazing… I went to high school in America and it was kind of the only thing to do at night during Summer because I didn’t go out and party, so it was a pretty big part of my life growing up. I’d sneak onto the local high school football field at night and just lie there with my friends. I also grew up making pillow forts with my brothers that we’d hang out in for hours, and I’ve always thought that would be a really dreamy set design.
When it came to coming up with ideas for the series, I could only afford one camera guy and I didn’t want a boring shot, so the fort idea came first followed by the idea of ‘stargazing’ up at some fake stars!
What made you want to get into journalism and interviewing in the first place?
I’ve always been fascinated by subcultures. I love the Internet and I love falling down rabbit holes and sharing things I’ve found whether it be articles, musicians, or artists – so it’s never been the interviewing aspect that’s drawn me in, but more so the shedding-light-on-underrated-things aspect.
I fell into interviewing by accident, which is how most good things start in my opinion, and now I’m very in love with it. A couple of years ago I was working for a crypto startup (lore!) and I realised how much I hated crypto bros. So as part of the marketing team, I co-wrote and hosted a series where I roasted the industry’s biggest crypto bros. At the time, hosting that series was the biggest source of joy in my life because it combined all my favourite things: improv, writing, editing and producing. I didn’t really consider I was particularly good at it until I had floods of people in my DMs asking if I could write or host for them, which made me realise this might actually be worth pursuing.
After that series ended, I knew I wanted to continue investigating subcultures in an interesting format, and the perfect place to start was with what I’m most interested in: underrated artists in the UK. I was a wannabe SoundCloud artist when I was 18, and I’ve always wanted to return to music in some way, so this is really the perfect thing for me.
Your motivation behind this series is to champion underrated artists – I’m curious as to how you discover new music and is there anything in particular that draws you to an artist?
Yes! Great question. I spend a lot of time on TikTok and so I’m constantly discovering underground artists there – especially rappers and hyperpop artists. I always creep through my friends of friends of friends on Instagram and usually find cool artists that way, too. I’m really drawn to artists with a strong sense of visual identity – especially ones who are world-building. That’s really important to me. I tend to stay away from artists that look like labels are too heavily involved in the visuals. I want it to feel authentic – not like a moneymaking scheme.
If you were to host a sleepover, what movie would you be watching and what snacks would you be eating?
Snack would be Peanut M&Ms, a lot of salted popcorn, and Coke Zero. For movies, I’d give three options to the group: Parasite, Inglourious Basterds, or JoJo Rabbit.
Who is an artist that you would most love to stargaze with?
Quadeca! I am so obsessed with Quadeca at the moment. I think he’s beyond underrated – especially in the UK. His sound and visuals are so eerie and dreamy; I’d love to understand how his brain works. I also love Lausse the Cat – he can wear a mask and everything, I’ve just got some questions.
What are you manifesting for Stargazing’s future?
I want to scale Stargazer to be as big as Chicken Shop Date. Patron Saint Amelia Dimoldenberg really paved the way for modern creative formats in a digital landscape and I’m inspired by how she runs her business. One day I want Stargazer to be a show where if you’re a small artist that comes on the show, your career blows up overnight. That would be the biggest magic for me to come from the show.
Season 2 of Stargazer has now launched, and will feature episodes with Nell Mescal, SOFY, Gao The Arsonist, Genevieve Stokes and Finn Foxell.
You can also follow Iona’s journey on Instagram and TikTok – @misosoupqueen
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