Fifteen Minutes of Fame Music Entertainment

Originally Published on September 29th, 2025

From Shadows to Light by Lavender Fire

About the Artist

Lavender Fire have been incredibly busy in the last year. Since changing her stage name from Cecilee and releasing her first music as Lavender Fire in July 2024, it is as if the creative floodgates just poured open. With the new name, Lavender Fire was stepping outward with a new identity, which among other things, involved being open about her sexual identity.

Her debut, the self-titled EP, Lavender Fire-EP released on July 23rd, 2024. Roommates EP followed on January 6th of 2025.

Read the FMOF Review of Roommates

Then, on April 14th, Lavender Fire released her third EP in a year, She’s my Ocean.

Read the FMOF Review of She’s my Ocean

Now, tying the three moments together, Lavender Fire is set to release her debut LP, From Shadows to Light. In a recent interview with Canvas Rebel, Lavender Fire opened up about her experience in singing about her identity, the technique she has worked very hard to obtain, having started out as a classical performer to becoming a contemporary singer/songwriter.

“Learning to sing well takes a lot of practice, diligence, and hard work. No one likes to hear this and, frankly, it’s the boring part that reality shows (like American Idol) don’t want to show. But really, to be a decent musician takes a lot of work and time.” ~ Lavender Fire

About the Album

From Shadows to Light (Bandcamp link) is the debut LP of Virginia-based singer/songwriter, Lavender Fire. This 11-song LP runs at 11 minutes and features new releases, as well as newly mixed recordings of the title tracks from each of her previously released EP’s. From Shadows to Light was released independently by Lavender Fire on September 22nd, 2025.

From Shadows to Light is a stripped down, very intimate release by Lavender Fire. Instrumentally, each song contains only vocal and piano performance. I think this has been the most powerful representation of her music as the music relies so heavily on the content of the songwriting; and that is something that she is very passionate about.

Opening with The Arsonist, Lavender Fire wasted no time jumping right into the heavy, as she illustrates a metaphor of taking a match to her past life, everything she had known of life, and walked away from a marriage; a life that was a hiding place for her identity.

From Shadows to Light is powerful in this intimacy. I have the feeling of sitting in a rehearsal studio with Lavender Fire behind a piano, singing each song to me. She’s not performing. She’s telling me, proudly, who she is. She is a person she is still learning about every day.

In addition to streaming on all platforms, From Shadows to Light is available on CD and digital download on Bandcamp.

Lavender Fire also has some performances upcoming where you can hear From Shadows to Light live!

She just performed this weekend at Riffhouse Pub. Here is a list of her upcoming show dates:

October 10th at 7:30PM – Zeiders American Dream Theater – Virginia Beach, VA. This is for the Proteus Music Contest, where Lavender Fire has been selected as a finalist!

October 18th – WXYZ bar and lounge, Songbird Sessions, an all-female singer-songwriter showcase

October 24th – Album Release Show, location TBD

Rise by Stevie Nicole

About the Artist

Not too far from Lavender Fire, located in the D.C. area, is another LGBTQIA recording artist, another powerful female singer/songwriter who is using her voice and her talent to share her incredible experience.

Stevie Nicole is an acoustic/folk musician who writes about her experience with chronic illness, resilience, grief, and the bittersweet observations of not only surviving, but being the one to survive.

One compelling part of Nicole’s journey is how her story is beginning to resonate with an audience. I found her on TikTok performing covers and originals in live recordings and pre-recorded videos. Since finding her music, I’ve watched as her profile continues to gain more and more followers, views, and reactions each day. She posts nearly every day and every day, she performs in front of more and more viewers. She is the embodiment of strength; a nurse and chronic illness survivor, a descendant of the Choctaw tribe, a gymnast, and having recently and tragically lost her partner, she has a number of ways to connect to her audience and she is making those connections.

About the Album

Rise is the debut album of Washington D.C. – based singer/songwriter Stevie Nicole. This intimate, 12-song LP features Nicole on vocals, accompanying herself on both acoustic guitar and piano. Rise was released independently by Stevie Nicole on March 21st, 2025 and runs at around 42 minutes. It is streaming on all major platforms and is available for purchase for digital download at her Website and on Bandcamp.

Right from the start, with Invincible, Nicole sings about going from being on top of the world and thinking nothing can stop her to her life revealing that even the best of things can be a house of cards and come crashing down. In her hindsight she reveals that she is not, in fact, invincible.

With Birthday Wishes, Nicole serenades a lost partner with a weepy, beautiful soprano, accompanied on the piano. She showcases her talent for reference in poetic fashion as she vocally references the classic hit It’s my Party lyrically, then even sneaks in a reference to the Happy Birthday song in her accompaniment at the close of the song.

Nicole closes with the title track, Rise. In possibly her most vulnerable effort, she catalogs all of the pain she has both directly and indirectly felt. She references how she still finds the strength to rise. I also find it particularly endearing to hear that she’s not only signing about finding her own strength to rise, but she is also taking a vow to remind the object of the song that she will serve as a beacon; a reminder to find the strength to rise themselves.

Nicole has an incredibly powerful soprano voice that she delivers with precision. She transitions from full voice to her upper register effortlessly, and even her beautifully melodic performance takes a backseat to the impact of her lyrical songwriting. It is no surprise that people are quickly finding out how compelling her music is. She is, no pun intended, an artist on the rise and one we should all keep an eye on.

Here is where to do that:

TikTok, Spotify, Website, Bandcamp, Instagram