Leighton Meester. The name is familiar but why is it on the charts?! It seems fame and fortune on the small screen wasn’t enough for the sexy Gossip Girl.
No, Leighton wanted to take her popularity to the next level; and like many before her, decided to launch a pop career. But, being a regular pop star just won’t do. Leighton’s got her sights set on something much higher.
She says, “I was recently watching a lot of Bette Davis movies, like All About Eve. She's so fabulous, over-the-top and amazing. I relate to her a lot." But, while that may be stretching it a bit too much, Miss Meester certainly does have the vocal prowess that has the potential to make it in the music biz.
In her new single with Robin Thicke titled ‘Somebody To Love’, she belts out a great pop chorus over some Euro-inspired electro sounds. The track is likely to become a club favourite. Artistdirect.com catches up with the young actress and singer and gets her to talk about her music, her style and what the future holds for a pop star.
According to Leighton, making the track ‘Somebody To Love’ was great but also involved a little bit of stress. Why? Because people said it sounded like Madonna’s ‘Vogue’. Leighton reveals, “Yeah! I was freaking out because somebody told me that it reminded them of ‘Vogue’ a little bit. It's a very sexy record. To me, it honestly sounds like Kylie Minogue meets Gwen Stefani and some other totally different thing. It's very poppy but Euro-sounding.”
Euro sounds… but isn’t Leighton American? She claims that it was a conscious effort to get the Euro synths into the track. “I'm very influenced by that sound. I love music that's moody. It's not a super hard-hitting song. It's more of a laidback, vibed-out track. That's very sexy to me.”
And it seems that there are many tracks in store for us. Leighton says, “I come up with melodies all day—every minute. I wake up in the middle of the night with ideas and have to record them. I come up with different stuff all the time. I just have a lot of fun in the studio. There's always a good vibe. I tweak my ideas a lot, but I love the process. I usually just write after a melody, and everything else comes naturally.”
And while she loves the lyrics to be meaningful, she keeps it simple. Leighton says, “I love making lyrically driven songs, but my songs are generally very simple. There's usually a certain vibe while I'm recording. I have a drink, run in and out of the booth and freestyle a bunch of stuff. ‘Somebody to Love’ came about while I was in a Brooklyn studio.”
So just what is the track about? Leighton’s struggle to get some…uh. “I heard this track and, afterwards, I was sitting in the garden thinking. It's so funny because I always get love confused with sex, so the song is really about my struggle to get some. My mom always told me, ‘It's not about who loves you; it's about whom you love.’ Of course, she probably says that because she's my mom and she thinks everyone is going to love me. It's a crazy life. It's hard to find somebody who understands you and gets you.”
Apparently, there is more to the track than meets the eye! “I think it's somewhat about my sexuality. I draw from a lot of experiences. I love traveling, and I'm working all the time. That's definitely what a good part of the song is about. I don't really have a lot of time for love. I meet a lot of people and none of them do it for me.”
On the track Leighton’s collaborates with musical genius Robin Thicke, who contacted Leighton because he wanted to “vibe out” on the track. Leighton says, “Collaborating with Robin was the best part of the song. He ended up hearing the song, and he wanted to vibe out on it. He got into the studio and sang a little bit. Then I was like, ‘It's so good. I want you to sing an entire verse’. So he ended up singing a whole verse, and it ended up amazing. He's so soulful. I've been a fan of his for a very long time so I'm very lucky.”
And she says she’s even luckier because this is the most personal thing she has ever been able to do. Leighton says, “It's completely different. People don't get to see that side of you so much, and I can never convey it properly in interviews. When you make music for the sake of making music, it's easy to have fun doing it. I think it'll translate really well to people because I really believe in it and I love it. I believe in it very much, and it's the kind of music that I like to listen to.”
