I Play Guirar and Say Your Name Again Leona
2004 was the year that everything changed for Leona Naess. Then xxx, the British singer-songwriter had made a name for herself within New York City's explosive indie rock scene afterwards getting signed to Outpost Records at the historic period of 22, fresh out of New York University. She'd performed at Lilith Fair in 1999; released three albums, starting with 2000's Comatised; and had even shared the stage with her then stepmother, the legendary Diana Ross. But already jaded by the music industry'due south prioritization of numbers over fine art, and reeling from her begetter'south untimely expiry in a mountain climbing accident, Naess dissever with her manager in 2004 and was fix to go out music behind for good. That aforementioned yr, she likewise met her now husband, started a life with him, and, somewhen, had their 2 kids.
On June 3, nearly two decades subsequently her quiet go out, Naess is stepping back into the spotlight with a ix-rail LP largely written during the pandemic. Titled Breed Ten subsequently a family of periodic cicadas that, like Naess, reemerged in 2021 later on 17 years underground, the record is a stunningly personal meditation on loss and vitality, loneliness and growth, selfhood within the framework of motherhood, and, at its very baseline, love.
Today, Naess is releasing the project's opening song, "Phone call Yous past Your Proper name," which was inspired by Italian composer Ennio Morricone and reflects on losing ability over someone you love. To commemorate the single, Boutique.com speaks with Naess over the phone about pregnancy fears, navigating the loss of her female parent through music, and why now is the right time for her sonic rebirth.
Why, afterwards 17 years, did you determine to get back into the studio?
Honestly, I was lucky enough when I was young that every bit soon as I got out of school, I got signed to a big label. I had a huge corporeality of support, and I worked and worked and worked. And then, I saw the side of the business that was really tough, which is you lot're the darling until the numbers come up back and then it'due south similar no ane cares. It's heartbreaking if you lot love music, it's heartbreaking to have that continued to your worth.
By the terminate, I was touring around England in the dead of winter, and I was playing these really dodgy bars, and I was like, "What am I doing? I can't do this anymore. I'yard sick of sitting in urine-stained dressing rooms and opening for people." I put my guitar away and fell in love, got married, and had kids.
Correct before the pandemic, I was in L.A., and I met this producer named Max Cooke, and we did a song, and information technology was like, "Oh, my God, this is then fun." It really simply started there, simply then COVID happened. Luckily, we had gone abroad to Switzerland with the kids and got stuck in Europe, and it happened to be that Max was in Federal republic of germany. We could take trains to each other, and it was peaceful and quiet, and I had the space to create. And so, that'south how information technology happened. Information technology wasn't a decision, something just opened up. I guess I savage dorsum in dear with music.
What was COVID like for you? Y'all were in some other country with your family unit while rediscovering yourself as a musician, but in that location was intense heartbreak and tragedy all effectually.
My mother died during COVID, merely it was from Alzheimer's. She was living in London, and I knew that her time was pretty close to the finish. So I said, "I'm going to take my kids out of school for January, Feb, and March, and we're going to go and live in the mountains."
My father was a mountain climber, and there's a place that he'd take me to in Switzerland that'southward the nearly beautiful identify in the world, so I wanted them to feel the places that my dad used to take me to. We all got COVID there, and by the time that nosotros got better, New York was a mess. We were the luckiest considering my kids were back in school pretty speedily and we were in the countryside.
Were any of the songs on the LP inspired by your mother, and if and then, did she ever get to hear them?
I wrote "If a Song" when I was in London right before COVID when I was visiting my mom. It was very difficult to visit her because she couldn't talk or movement, and she wasn't really at that place anymore. I had this vision of a song going into her ear and starting to wake up all her cells and bring her dorsum. I recollect I got to play it for her, but the demo, simply I definitely saw that she heard it. There was just a change in her aura or something. I think that was the last time I saw her.
Were near of the songs written during 2021?
Most of them were written in '21, but "The Beginning" is a weird one, because I wrote the poetry for it 10 years agone when I was pregnant, and I wrote the chorus last year. The chorus is almost the answer to what I was worried nearly when I was significant: Yes, your life does go on after you give birth, and really it is meliorate, and you can still have new experiences. You can decide to go, "Ugh, everything is washed. All the fun stuff is over." Or you can make up one's mind to keep making art and keep coming together new people.
Along with maternity, what else do you explore on the album?
With this record, I generally tried to make each song about its ain thing. Then there's a song near my husband, there'southward a song about my mother, there's a song nigh an former love, there'south a song well-nigh each of my kids. They all have their ain universe. Information technology is about being a mother, merely it'southward besides just most beingness alive.
I really wanted to make a record that people that were 20 would chronicle to as well. I'one thousand besides at that phase where my kids are starting to move away from me in that they don't want me to say anything in front of their friends because I'm embarrassing. And they're concerned with my outfits. It's weird because in the beginning, I felt similar I was rejecting maternity, and at present they're at the stage where they're similar, "Aye, nosotros don't really demand you lot right now." And so it's about that also.
How was the experience of putting this LP together unlike from your experience when you commencement entered the industry?
It'south funny considering when I started, I was e'er signed to some big label, and too many people had opinions. And I was immature and as well insecure, and I thought everybody knew more than than I did. I was a woman in the business, too—the corporeality of times that I had inappropriate things said to me … it didn't fifty-fifty faze me. It was just part of it all if you were a woman.
With this album, I did it completely on my own in the sense that I pulled in a lot of favors. I beloved the fact that everybody involved is somebody I love. A lot of my collaborators are women, and it'southward and so inspiring because I'm seeing all these friends of mine who are climbing into their late 40s and have kids only they've never looked more cute to me and they've never been more productive. My sister Tracee [Ellis Ross] hit her stride later in life, and I only love that. I retrieve it'south really important that we are told this—as a kid, my mother used to tell me that by 40, you're invisible.
Your new single is called "Call You lot by Your Proper name." What's it about, and how did yous conceptualize the video?
My friend Laura Bailey is not a filmmaker, but she'south an incredible lensman. Nosotros had previously done a collaboration where she used a song of mine for a Chanel campaign featuring a dancer from the Imperial Ballet named Francesca Hayward, and when I saw information technology, I was like, "Oh, my God, I want her in every video. She'south so cute." So I sent the song to Laura, who directed the video, and we fabricated it happen.
The song is actually just about losing power over somebody you honey and trying to come up to peace with information technology. I recollect y'all assume that you will always have this power over someone you love, and when you don't and when they kickoff making decisions that you don't understand, it's difficult. But you take to surrender and try to exist as loving and open and understanding as possible.
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Do y'all hope to make more music?
Oh, yep. The purpose of this tape—I was not into the idea of putting myself out there again. It'southward hard. The criticism, the reviews—I too was like, "Oh, God, I don't look like a twenty-yr-quondam anymore." So I was similar, "I'1000 going to be like Sia, merely without putting out my own records. I'm going to write fucking huge pop songs for people, and I'm going to make a lot of money, and I'm going to stay home with my kids."
The only person that was still with me was my business manager. He'due south incredible. He works with Billie Eilish and all these large producers and writers. I went to him and said, "Can you please get me in touch with them?" He was like, "Leona, I can't send them a record that's fifteen years old. You have to have recent music that you can show, and then you tin get in the room to write."
At present, I'chiliad like, "It was and so fun making music." So, yes, I take and so many songs, and I'thou going to try and write another record. Honestly, this record has already exceeded what I had hoped it would do, which is make me happy. I also felt similar my kids were really proud of me. At that place was a time where I was similar, "My kids just think I don't do anything; they simply think I'm their mom and I don't have a life or a past or a future." At present, they're so happy that their mom does something absurd. That'due south better than anything—your kids not thinking y'all're a super dork.
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Source: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/art-books-music/a39764183/leona-naess-is-returning-to-music-on-her-own-terms/
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