Alexandria, VA — Since she was a child, Alexandria/Del Ray resident Stevie Nicole has had her fair share of challenging health issues. When she was in her early 20s, she was officially “diagnosed” and since then has been in and out of medical remission, as it affects her life and her stability.
But amidst all of that, Stevie not only has become a longtime nurse, but she has also developed into a very special and talented singer/songwriter, releasing her first album, “Rise,” in March 2025, which is chock full of superb acoustic songs, all of which she wrote and performed during her challenges.
But there’s something even more special about what Stevie does with her music. She wrote a unique slew of songs that relate to her and other people’s health issues, and as a result has received a steady flow of highly complimentary messages. People feel she is more than just a wonderful singer; she has literally helped them deal with their own health problems by writing about grief as well as resilience, and sharing her medical journey and her emotions. It is clearly evident that the music makes them feel “seen,” as evidenced by one comment on our Living On Music With Steve Houk interview together on YouTube: “Thank you Stevie for the music, it has done things for me that I may never begin to express in words, I’m so honored to be able to listen to you sing, and call you my friend.”
“I think that society as a whole is made uncomfortable by people with chronic illnesses,” Stevie said, “and a lot of people who haven’t intersected with other people with chronic illness don’t have a way to cope, and so we all deal with it silently on our own. But I think a lot of the people who are finding my music have lived that experience, they’re used to not having the freedom to talk about it, lest they be labeled a negative nelly. But with my music and with me, they are finding a place where they can be open, and they can feel what they’re feeling about these diagnoses, and they usually don’t have that permission.”
Stevie wrote almost the entire album’s songs in three months, finding ways to reach out to those in common with her, and even using some of her own medical moments to come up with some of her music. “The song ‘Medicine’ is track 3, which is specifically about chronic illness. I actually wrote it during an infusion because my IV pump started alarming, and I heard that rhythm of the IV pump and had the thought of, ‘I wonder what key this is beeping in?’ So when I got home, I figured out how to emulate the IV pump beeping on the piano, and then wrote the whole song about medicine and treatment, and living with this. And people have really bonded with it.”
Stevie is, and should be, proud of what she has created, which is not only solid new music but also helpful to people as well. She does have one favorite on “Rise” that really gets to her, and has also gotten positively to many others.
“My personal favorite on the whole album is probably ‘Countdown.’ It was actually the last song that I wrote for that album, it was written on New Year’s Eve 2024 incorporating the NYE countdown. But the theme of the song is about moving into the new year or a new season, but also leaving someone else behind – (she lost one of her best friends to illness not long ago) – so you’ve still got that grief of who or what you’ve lost, and here’s a new year anyway. So it’s that kind of bittersweet feeling of the fireworks are about to go off and everyone’s about to celebrate…but I’m still sad.”
Watch Stevie Nicole on Living On Music With Steve Houk: https://youtu.be/qqWU-G5xt9s?si=synTTkgwBNgUCMuF
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