Stream Queen

She has a booming music career—more than 1.4 billion streams on Spotify, the lead single on the Fifty Shades Freed soundtrack— and an acting résumé that already includes Oscar and Golden Globe nominations, but Hailee Steinfeld is just getting started.

- Jennifer Goldstein

Hailee Steinfeld is perched on a sofa that commands one corner of the back patio of The Meritage, a ‘Tuscan inspired’resort in Napa Valley. A cherubic, grape-picking maiden scrutinises her from atop a faux-marble pedestal, next to some Mediterranean-looking plants that may or may not be real. The actress and singer is staying here while she films Bumblebee, the Transformers movie due out December 2018.

In her Re/Done graphic tee and Mother jeans, Steinfeld has the poise and overly polite manners you’d expect from someone who spent her childhood on movie sets surrounded by people three times her age. But the composure disappears with comical speed when I pose the same question her fans have been asking for months: When is she going to release her first album?

Steinfeld taps her Reebok on the ground, and her knee begins to bounce. Her almond-shaped eyes widen and her expression changes to that of a straight-A student faced with a pop quiz. “I’m so over saying the word ‘soon’ because I’ve used it too many damn times. I don’t even know what it means anymore. I want to put new music out, but …” She looks off. In front of us, the resort’s pool sparkles, but if Steinfeld is eyeing her escape route, she’s out of luck: a sign on the gate to the pool reads ‘Adults Only: Age 21 & Older’. At the time we’re talking, Steinfeld is only 20 (she turned 21 in December).