Eli Is Living Her ‘Stage Girl’ Dreams With Global Tour Dates On Way

The title of the deluxe edition of Eli’s debut studio album says it all: Stage Girl (Not a Dream Anymore). In between releasing her album in October on Mark Ronson’s Zelig Records/ RCA and the follow-up version with eight extra tracks on May 22, the 25-year-old exploding pop star is making her stage dreams come true, from her one-woman show to opening for Sam Smith to her debut headline tour.

“It centers around Eli from Massachusetts, a random small town and my dream is to sing,” Eli tells Pollstar about the concept behind her album, which takes listeners into a glittery, hot pink, poptastic world inspired by reality TV singing competitions of the 2000s and defined by authenticity. “My optimistic view growing up was that if I could sing, If I could be on a stage in front of people, I had the permission to wear whatever I wanted, sing about whatever I wanted and be as weird as I am naturally. And not be uncomfortable or judged in the way I would be in elementary school or at the grocery store.”

She adds, “I feel like in our human life right now there’s a lot of repression and a lot of not allowing ourselves to just be within our nature. Even when you are Queer and you are open and you’re out, there’s still just so much conditioning from such a young age of just not speaking your mind completely or not letting your mannerisms exist … 

“Looking back at my childhood of not letting my nature be as it is and hiding the most special, the most deserving [parts] of being on a stage or being respected or regarded as art and as beauty … hiding those parts for so long and finally connecting back with that and doing it through the maybe kitschy world of shows like ‘American Idol,’ ‘The X Factor’ and all those things that I grew up on that were my example of music … and [imagining] how magical it would have been if when I was watching Kelly Clarkson, I was also watching Eli and watching a trans woman talk about her identity while also singing ‘R-E-S-P-E-C-T.’”

Along with Aretha Franklin, Eli points to Mariah Carey as her “No. 1 inspo” for the ability to stand on stage and move fans to tears with their powerhouse vocals. She adds that growing up, she was also inspired by the era of artists like Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, and Carole King, who could sit down at the piano or perform on the guitar and create “such a present experience, like flow state.” 

As a teen Eli posted covers of her favorite songs on the video app Vine, went on to briefly study recorded music at New York University and then dropped out in 2023 and moved to Los Angeles to focus on the next phase of her singer/songwriter career. Thanks to her infectious personality and catchy pop songs, Eli began building a fanbase via livestreaming on TikTok as @journalofadoll.

Manager John Geraghty, who co-founded management firm rogue, explains that he and Eli had been following each other on the internet for quite a few years and he’d been a fan of “her incredible voice” for a long time – but after coming across her TikToks and songs in early 2025, he was “absolutely mesmerized by her authenticity and her magical aura.” 

“Seeing her reminded me why I got into music and why I love music so much,” Geraghty says. “Every song I heard was just better and better. I started manifesting meeting her and working with her because I think she’s so singular and important.”

In addition to signing on with Geraghty for management last year, 2025 also saw Eli signing with the highly-esteemed Jenna Adler of CAA for representation. This followed her 2023 signing with RCA Records in partnership with Zelig Music. 

Adler – who represents Eli along with a team at CAA that includes Allyna Sanchez and Megan Glendinning – came to work with the pop star following a full circle moment that she says was “kismet.” She was initially introduced to her music by famed producer/Zelig Music founder and musician Mark Ronson and top manager Brandon Creed. She recalls first seeing Eli at a pride show in downtown Los Angeles a few years earlier when Eli was performing as Jeffrey Eli.

“It was in the afternoon at this festival and she had come out in this very pink, almost quinceanera dress and I fell in love right then – I was like, ‘Okay, this is incredible,’” Adler says. Fast forward a few years and Adler’s son, whose friends were roommates with Eli, encouraged Adler to check out her music. 

“My son Jakob came over and said, ‘You have to listen to Eli. You’ll love her.’ And just for context, he never gives me any tips. But for some reason, he was like, ‘Mom, you are going to love her.’ And when I saw her photos, I’m like, ‘I know this girl.’ … We had lost touch – when we reconnected, she told me that she had started from scratch, parted ways with her then-manager and was now back in L.A. … I was completely blown away by how we reconnected and when I heard Stage Girl.”

Stage Girl tells the tale of an artist searching for fame and love, exploring relationships and embracing who she really is, with singles including “Marianne,” “Girl of Your Dreams” and “Like A Girl.” The album is evidence of the power of pop music, positivity, and accepting yourself while throwing on some sparkles and a signature fedora. Eli and her music are especially needed now, at a time in this country when the U.S. administration has turned diversity into a bad word, with the ACLU tracking 616 anti-LGBTQ bills in the U.S. in 2025.  

“You need people and artists on the ground floor really advocating and really speaking to [fans] directly and saying that it’s okay to be you,” Adler says. “It really connects and it really hits when you see these fans so inspired by her and you know she gives them strength and a sense of belonging. She gives them a voice. And for that, I’m ride or die with her.”

Ahead of the release of her debut album, Eli put on two special shows on each coast with “Stage Girl: A One Woman Show,” a musical directed, written, and produced by Eli, booked at Los Angeles’ Bob Baker Marionette Theatre and New York’s The Slipper Room, in September 2025. Eli’s “One Woman Show” then returned to the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre for a run of performances in February. 

“When we were searching for venues … she had such a vision,” Adler says. … “We said, let’s just get you a raw space and we can try to build it out. And then I remembered the Bob Baker Marionette, something a little bit left of center. … It worked out. [The one-woman show was] so incredibly original and innovative and something that you’ve never seen before. … She really did it all herself and she nailed it.”  

Adler adds that the show expressed Eli “evolving into an artist and her leaning into her real self. … She’s not only talented and so multifaceted, but she really is going to be with us for a long time. I always said if not in the music space, she’s going to go and be a playwright. If not a playwright, she’s going to be a creative director. Every fiber in her body is creative. She belongs in entertainment.”

With guest appearances from Demi Lovato, Adéla, Zara Larsson and Madison Beer, Eli notes that her one-woman show actually brought to “life the dream that is weaved throughout the album about singing with my favorite stars like the ‘American Idol’ finalists do with their favorite. That was coming true and then it informed making [Stage Girl (Not a Dream Anymore)] songs like ‘F*** the DJ’ and ‘Nobody’s Girl’ because it strengthened the ambition to be a star; to be able to sit at the same table as some of the incredible pop women I look up to. … Now the concept is completed because I’ve gotten off the Stage Girl competition and I’ve had to make my own way in the industry.”

Shortly after the Bob Baker Marionette Theatre shows, Eli joined Sam Smith at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre on Feb. 21 and in March she embarked on her first headline tour, “Eli Is The Next Stage Girl.” The tour included gigs at Washington, D.C.’s The Atlantis, Boston’s The Sinclair, Toronto’s The Garrison, San Diego’s House Of Blues and Seattle’s Barboza. 

“I love the idea of having many different live shows,” Eli says. “The [headline tour] live show was a really straightforward pop show with a band and a screaming crowd  … never experienced [that] before, completely different than the one-woman show because the one-woman show was seated and like I was stressed out because Olivia Rodrigo was in the corner watching (laughs). The tour was 400 people who stream my songs all the time and it was really cool because nobody was really on their phones at my shows … I think it speaks to the queer community wanting to actually just have a place to just have a good night, be joyful, be with their friends, be present and actually enrich their souls in that way.”

Commenting on the idea of joy as resistance, Eli adds: “I just spent 20 years repressing myself like crazy. And music has always been the one number most important thing in my life really. So when I finally just let the floodgates open and let myself be myself – even [with] the change in administration and the fear of new legislation in America and abroad … even though there’s so much fear about the safety of my community and everybody – the joy outweighs the fear.”
 
In promoting her music, Eli has been working closely with the team at RCA Records. Molly Yorkes, Marketing Coordinator at RCA, who calls Eli “a genius,” explains that the pop star is “really in charge and we kind of just help execute everything on a larger scale. She’s so involved in everything down to the details of where an emoji is placed on a billboard. She inspires me every day.”

Following a viral TikTok that Eli edited to appear like she was getting hit by a bus while admiring her billboard in Silver Lake, Yorkes explained that they ran with the bus angle, getting a bus in partnership with Spotify, which was wrapped in glitter with Eli’s face on it, and driving around in New York playing “Glitter” and having a karaoke party with her fans.  

“A lot of the marketing that we’ve done has been really really fan driven – empowering her and then also her super fans that have been the loudest for her on the internet. And making sure they feel taken care of,” Yorkes says. 

Although these are the early days of Eli’s career, she’s already helping inspire and lift up the next generation, from launching the “Are You The Next Stage Girl?” contest, giving fans a chance to open for her on local tour dates, and dedicating the song “Glitter” to a 10-year-old fan who was in the balcony at her first headline show.

Accolades Eli has received so far include Stage Girl earning a spot on Vogue’s Best 45 Albums of 2025 and a nomination for Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist at the 37th GLAAD Media Awards. 

The release of Stage Girl (Not A Dream Anymore) – which earned a 7.2 rating from Pitchfork (aka “Very good record, recommend checking it out”) – is the latest milestone for Eli, including a collaboration with Zara Larsson on the track “Crush (Girls Trip).”

Eli’s upcoming tour plans include supporting the Swedish singer/songwriter at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre Sept. 29-30. 

Looking ahead, Adler says, “We want to just continue spreading the message, whether we’ve got a quote/unquote hit single going up the charts or catching viral moments or whatever it is, we want to just keep her working on the road because she does connect one fan at a time. She transcends … She touches everybody. It’s not just the LGBTQ+ community or the trans community.”
 
Geraghty adds that it’s just the start for Eli: “She’s had so many incredible firsts this year.  But there’s much more ahead. She’ll be in Europe for the first time. She’s going to be opening for some of her favorite artists. And so, it’s really exciting that the journey is really just beginning in that way. … She’s the artist that she needed and she’s the artist that so many others need.”  

As for when fans can expect more shows to be announced, Geraghty reassures readers that “more tour dates are coming very, very soon. She’ll be bringing her tour that was in the U.S. to other parts of the world for the first time. And returning to the cities that have just showered her with love. It’s going to be a very jam-packed second half of theyear. And I think 2027 is going to be the coolest year of all time.”