The World-Building Magic Behind Iona Bielby’s Stargazer

Picture yourself as an artist at your next interview: You slip off your shoes and lie down in a homemade fort, with hand-cut stars above you. The questions are about believing in magic and your songwriting, and here, those topics naturally go together. In this cozy setting designed to let you be human, you open up completely and share your honest thoughts. If this sounds like a whimsical dream, you’re not wrong. This is Stargazer, the interview show Iona Bielby created to offer deep connection in a noisy media world. 

On Stargazer, Holly Humberstone remembered the unique feeling of her childhood home as nature slowly took it back. Genevieve Stokes talked about opening for Role Model and how freeing it felt to do something that once scared her. AU/RA admitted she loves to hide behind a metaphor. And Lizzy McAlpine wondered whether her fans love her for her true self, or for the version of her that is sad. 

While the full interviews live on YouTube, these moments can reach a wide audience when clipped and shared on TikTok. For some viewers, it may be their first introduction to an artist they may come to love.

From press room to pillow fort 

Most of us are familiar with the typical artist interview: just two chairs and some questions about a new album. But now that artists can reach fans directly through social media, livestreams, and podcasts, interviewers have had to get more creative. And they definitely have!

On Chicken Shop Date, YouTube star Amelia Dimoldenberg brings celebrities to fast-food places for ‘dates.’ The casual setting and her deadpan questions catch even the most experienced stars off guard. On Therapuss, Jake Shane acts as the therapist and invites celebrities to share their stories in conversations that mix comedy with honest confessions.

Each show has its own way of getting stars to open up. So, how does Iona make it happen?

She has a theory she’s believed in since she was a teenager, as she told Lazy Women: people are more honest when they’re lying down at a sleepover. As the creator, host, writer, and editor of Stargazer (she wears all the hats!), Iona built her whole show around this idea. And she could be onto something. When was the last time you truly opened up while sitting upright at a desk? Probably never.

It turns out a pillow fort is more magical than any press room, and Iona knew it all along!

‍Your favourite artist’s favourite interview

Are you ready to crawl inside? Get comfy, because we’re about to look back at all three seasons, each with a special guest.

1. Season three kicked off with Finn Wolfhard. He took the Stargazer oath and, during a quick-fire round of “Sometimes the Stars May Fall,” where you have to answer fast or risk a star attack, he chose music over acting.

2. Moving to season two, Sarah Kinsley shares that other people’s art can stay with her for years. She also admits that writing about her own feelings can be embarrassing at first, so she prefers to do it alone. (As someone who’s been to poetry-writing classes and left with a blank page herself, I feel very seen!)

3. In season one, Erin LeCount, who was once described by Iona as “the Imogen Heap of our generation,” says music is her best friend. She also finds comfort in believing that something divine is guiding and protecting her choices.

Iona asks the kinds of vulnerable questions that most music journalists tend to avoid. When artists answer honestly, you find yourself caring about them even before you hear their music.

That’s why the fort is such a great place to discover new music. Iona acts a bit like an A&R scout, trusting her own taste and shining a light on underrated artists. She brings them to your attention before they get popular. So the next time you play their songs for friends and someone asks who it is, you can say you’ve been a fan since the fort. (We don’t gatekeep artists here, and we won’t keep this show a secret either!)

What is a Stargazer? 

Iona puts it beautifully. She says a Stargazer is “someone who possesses acute creative qualities. Emotionally curious, culturally attuned, and always searching for something bigger.” Her guests are some of the world’s most fascinating stargazers, but so are the viewers. This makes Stargazer more than just a show. It becomes a community of curious people, both in front of and behind the camera.

What does she hope we take away from this? As she told Lazy Women, “I always want people to feel creatively rebellious. And deeper than that, I want people to feel like they’re allowed to take up space and be weird.”

Interviewing as a world-building art form vs content 

Iona sees Stargazer as much more than just content. To her, it’s a world she builds with every season, each guest, and every handmade detail.

Here’s the latest twist: the show now ends with its own outro, starring a bunny plushie named Danny DeVito. In every episode, the guest pulls off Danny’s head to find hidden lyrics inside. In the outro, Danny holds his head in his hands, looking like he’s plotting revenge. (As a girl who can’t watch a horror movie, it scares me a little more than it should!)

Artists have been building worlds around their music for years, turning albums into eras for fans to experience. Stargazer follows this tradition.

• Signature style: Charli XCX made lime green a big part of brat’s identity. Stargazer stands out with its fort, fairy lights, and paper stars.
• Rituals: Taylor Swift made surprise songs a special treat for her fans. Iona brings her own twist by having guests open the ‘Secret box of stars Secret box’ and pick questions from a glass of slime.
• Community: Fan groups often get their own names, like Swifties or Livies. Here, we call them Stargazers.

When a world is built with care, people always want to return. Stargazer is playful, a little unpredictable, and nothing like a regular press setup, just as Iona intended. 

As she told The Learner Platform: “I’m sure everyone can tell by now; I have no interest in being media-trained. I just wanted to create something that felt really human and not palatable. Something a little more dangerous; I always say there’s a bite to my interviews, if you really pay attention.”

The music industry is starting to take notice! In May 2026, Iona was chosen as one of the first three recipients of the AWAL x Lemontank Creator Fund, picked from over 130 applicants, when Stargazer already had more than 40,000 followers. For a show that began as a self-funded passion project, this milestone is well deserved. Iona thinks will change the industry one day. And I agree, it could happen very soon!

Every guest is someone new to add to your playlist, so tap into your own A&R side. Stargazer lives on Spotify too alongside Iona’s hyper-specific playlists, so go and see who you discover. I promise you’ll be early! 

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