Hannah Montana was the ultimate girlboss of the early 2000s. 

She was able to lead a double-life by spending the day as a normal teenage girl, and then by night, transforming into a popstar all by the power of a blonde wig. But the glitz and glamor of a Malibu home, a best friend sidekick and having Dolly Parton as your godmother are far from the reality of being a young musician — at least for singer-songwriter Kate Stephenson.

Stephenson, who got her popularity on Tiktok, told The Panther she aims for getting what Miley Cyrus always strived for — the best of both worlds of being a normal young adult and also a performer — minus the stress of putting on a different persona on the internet. 

"My mission is just to let myself be me," Stephenson said. "I've seen so many artists and people I've been friends with in the past who portray a totally different version of themselves on the internet. They're like, 'People are going to figure out that I'm not who I say I am.' And I don't want that stress."

With two albums under her belt — "Lonely" in 2019 and "Growing up in Reverse" in 2020 — and a third on the way this summer, Stephenson said she always strives to be honest and undeniably herself in her music, her presence on social media and while performing on stage. Before she had over 180,000 followers on TikTok, 15,000 followers on Instagram and left for a nationwide tour with band Summer Salt, Stephenson was just a normal student at Chapman.

However, when she was a sophomore, Stephenson realized a career in film production was no longer her passion. So she dropped out of film school, packed her bags to move to New York City and built a following online that led to her current musical career.

"Instead of doing my homework, I kept writing music, and I ended up needing to drop out," Stephenson said. "I decided to move to New York on a whim, where I am a really small fish in a really massive pond, and that's something to adjust to. But it's humbling, and it's good. It just reminds me to stay true to what I'm doing and believe in myself." 

As she struggled to finish late assignments and manage her anxiety, Stephenson told The Panther she never realized dropping out of college was even an option. But the epiphany that songwriting was her true career path came to fruition when she wrote the song "Future Dropout" in one night.

"The thought (of dropping out) lifted a huge weight off my shoulders — just thinking about the idea,” Stephenson said. “Once it was in my head, I was like, 'I literally can't do this.' So I sat down, and by the time the sun came up, I had finished my song 'Future Dropout,' and I had a full draft of it produced. I brought in some of my friends and had them scream, 'I want to drop out of college' into a mic, and then I was done the next day. I was having so much fun writing and recording the song. That huge moment played into (the decision to drop out)." 

Once the COVID-19 pandemic sent everyone home in 2020, Stephenson begged her parents to pursue a career in music. But their acceptance wasn't gained until she posted a TikTok in April 2021 featuring her song "Exless," which gained 5.9 million views and 1.5 million likes. 

Fast forward to the present day, Stephenson just released a single in March titled "Sick of It" to promote her third album "All Grown Now" coming out this summer. Even though the single relates more to the pop genre, Stephenson said the album will be more experimental — tying in many genres in each track.

"I think (‘Sick of It’) sets the tone for the album where it's like, 'Kate's going through a shift,'" Stephenson said. "She's not saying she's now this angry diva, but I think this album is a collection of different genres and different feelings. There's a Western, there's a diss track and then there's pretty sad music and pretty happy music. It's not the same as it's been — I'm in a new era."

In exploring the versatility of herself as an artist, Stephenson told The Panther that her process of writing songs can be compared to a scrapbook of her emotions — capturing them in the moment as she is feeling them.

"There's a rawness to unprocessed feelings,” Stephenson said. “While I’m reading (the lyrics), I'm processing it. But it's in the moment, and I like to keep it that way … It's like talking to a therapist during the event versus talking to a therapist after the event."

After accumulating dozens and dozens of songs over the years, Stephenson said her favorite lyrics are from the 2021 song "Miraculous Myrrh-Streaming Icon of the Mother of God." In the track, she sings, "I miss my childhood friendships / I don’t remember the reason they ended / I was young and selfish / Always one to embellish / the truth’s prettier without blemish, tenfold" and accompanies the beginning of the song with a poem she wrote with her friend to discuss the bittersweet challenges of growing up.

"The biggest thing that freaks me out is growing up and getting older," Stephenson said. "I'm very nostalgic all the time. Sometimes I'm like, ‘Am I living in the past too much? Am I living in the future too much?’ That was something that I've been thinking about for so long, but I had never been able to put it into words. I think that with (Miraculous Myrrh), I'm proud of that, because it's like I nailed it right on the head with how I was actually feeling."

Currently Stephenson is on tour with the indie-rock group Summer Salt and is set to perform in Anaheim at the House of Blues April 2. 

Whether it’s playing with a miniature bowling set with the band in Canada or celebrating her 21st birthday on stage in Richmond, Virginia, Stephenson has collected quite the heap of memories touring with the Texas-based musical group. 

"One day, if I have kids, I'll tell them when I turned 21 I was on tour; I don't think that's something that everyone gets to say," Stephenson said. "I was like, 'Wow, like the band that (I was) opening for made everyone sing “Happy Birthday” to me (in front of) a crowd.’ (I took) my first legal shot at a venue that I just played. It was crazy."

When Stephenson was performing in her home-state of Illinois, she was overwhelmed by the amount of love and support from her friends and family members who showed up. She said that this memory alone was one of the shocking moments when she realized she was actually fulfilling her dreams.

"I had this idea that, because I was struggling to believe in myself for a while, that nobody else could (believe in me)," Stephenson said. "I don't know, that's sort of sad, but it's just cool to see that now that I'm believing in myself and doing what I want to do ,and other people are seeing that and responding to it and being like, 'I'm gonna go support her.'"

Since Stephenson has such a large presence on social media, she said she enjoys treating it very much like a spam account with lots of Q&A's and polls on what outfit she should wear on stage — all sprinkled with her quirky and witty personality. Caroline Reynolds, Stephenson's manager and friend since high school, said that her favorite part about Kate is her ability to make anyone feel welcome by simply being herself. 

"She really has some sort of ability to draw people in and (is) relatable and honest with them, regardless of who it is,” Reynolds said. “How she presents herself on social media is how she would talk to you if she was right in front of you.”

As for the future, Stephenson said her dream is to play with a full band behind her on stage and eventually become a headliner for a tour. But until then, she said she is quite content with just her and her guitar, flooding the stage with her acoustic and poetic melodies. 

"I have a lot of fun when I have a band backing it, I get to dance around more and jump around, really get into it," Stephenson said. "I think I just want to keep opening and opening and opening on tours."

While Stephenson could be considered a rising star, even though she said she still "hasn't made it," she hopes people feel a relatable connection through her music. Whether she is singing an ode to her brother or talking about her struggles with adulthood, in the end she said each person is similar to a penny.

"Every penny has different germs on it, different dirt on it, different, at different ages, and they're all just pennies," Stephenson said. "Together they make dollars, they make 10 cents — all together, they make something. And I hope that people who listen to my music know that we're part of the same dollar, but we are each special. I'm a human being who wakes up in the morning and brushes her teeth. And you're a human being who wakes up in the morning and brushes your teeth. And sometimes we'll cry about the same things and sometimes we'll cry about different things."