Leona Lewis has had enough. She’s taken her amazing vocal range and song-writing talents away from Simon Cowell’s Syco and hotfooted it over to a new label, Island Records, where she’s released new single “Fire Under My Feet”.
With a corker of a show planned for this Saturday at G-A-Y, James Egan decided to have a serious chat with the original X Factor songbird about her big career shakeup, her views on animal rights and er… her drag doppelganger, Leona Lewisham.
“Fire Under My Feet” is a bit of a stomper! You’re sounding very confident and empowered.
Thank you! I was inspired to write it because I wanted to get myself out of a situation, get myself motivated to do something different and take things into my own hands. To write a song that would motivate myself and be motivational to other people.
It’s definitely the kind of song you could put on your iPod and strut along Old Compton Street to!
[Laughs] Yeah, it’s got that energy. A lot of people have said it feels very earthy and…
Uplifting?
Yeah, exactly!
You were with Simon Cowell’s label Syco for seven years, what prompted the decision to part ways with them last year?
It was quite hard to leave because I’d built a lot of relationships there and change can be scary, but I was really prompted to leave on around my fourth studio album, when they wanted me to do an album that wasn’t me. It was going to be a covers album and I just didn’t want to go down that route. That prompted me to go and find a different label. In the meantime I was already getting the album together. When I found Island [Records] I already had the first part of the album finished. I went in and played it, they really liked it and were really supportive. So I signed to them!
With Island Records now, is it different to working with Syco?
With my other records, a lot of them were writing with a lot of different people. At the time I really enjoyed that, but this time I had a lot of subject matter to draw from and I needed it to be consistent. That’s why I chose to do the record with Toby Gad, who’s probably one of the best producers and songwriters in the world. I thought it was important to work with just one person so the message didn’t get lost.
Simon Cowell tweeted you congratulations on your deal with Island and also credited you with putting X Factor on the map, so I’m assuming you two are still on good terms?
Yeah, we’re all good. Simon, at the beginning, helped me so much. I definitely owe him a lot for that. It’s important to me to keep a good relationship with him, but at the same time I needed to do things for myself.
Tell me about the upcoming album, I Am.
There’s the title track, “I Am” which I did with Toby Gad and Ed White, it’s got beautiful strings and a nod to Massive Attack. I titled the album I Am because I felt like it was a very strong affirmation and I’ve really had to use a lot of those in the past to help get myself into a better place. There’s a song called “Ladders” which I love, about the highs and lows I’ve experienced in the past. About being thankful for those moments because I can take those lows and make them into something positive, using it to inspire my writing. There’s also a song called “You Knew Me When” which was written by Diane Warren, it’s the only song I didn’t write on the album.
It’s worth not writing one to have a Diane Warren song though!
Yeah, it is definitely worth it!
It sounds like it’s going to be a very honest record.
Yeah, it’s very real. It’s just me and people can take what they will from it.
You’re a vegetarian and an animal welfare campaigner. You famously turned down the invitation to open the Harrods sale due to the fact that they stock fur. When did you develop an interest in animal rights?
I remember going to the West End at a really young age and seeing these awful pictures of animals being tested on, with people trying to get you to sign petitions for laboratory testing to end. Seeing those images and being quite young, it was literally burned into my brain. It was awful and very graphic. I was already a vegetarian but after that I really got into animal rights, because to me the thing that needs to change is the law. I love PETA and those organisations, but I feel like the best thing is to change laws and build relationships with people in order to do so. I also think it’s important to educate people, because at the end of the day, it’s about people being actually aware about animal cruelty.
People can’t change if they don’t understand.
Exactly, I don’t bash people for eating meat because I really think it’s just down to mis-education. People are just not aware, so I just try to bring about as much awareness as possible. I feel like the more extreme campaigners have their place too, because those more extreme moves are what people see, red paint thrown on coats and such, but to me that is also a bit… violent and I don’t condone that. I feel like there’s a middle ground we need to find and that would be going and sitting with different politicians and talking to them about changing laws.
On a lighter note, you’ve also received the ultimate accolade from the gay community: a drag queen named herself after you! Have you seen any of Leona Lewisham’s videos?
[SCREAMS] LEONA LEWISHAM!? No! That is so amazing!
“Leona Lewis is gonna duet with Leona Lewisham!”
She’s on YouTube, look her up!
Oh my GOD. That’s amazing, I’m gonna look that up now! Leona Lewis is gonna duet with Leona Lewisham!
You sang the theme to James Cameron’s Avatar. It must be quite surreal singing the theme tune to one of the biggest films of all time.
Yeah, I was contacted by James Cameron- oh my god [laughs] sorry, we’re just looking up Leona Lewisham. We’re still on that! Oh my God… Sorry!
Never mind! Back to “Fire Under my Feet”, you performed it at the Palladium for the first time, how did that feel? How did the audience respond?
Really well, they were all clapping along. I don’t think they knew what to expect at first, so when the beat kicked in they were all like “Oh! Okay, yeah! We can jam along to this!”
Got them up out of their seats?
And tapping their feet!
Finally, what are you most looking forward to about your performance at G-A-Y on the 13th?
You know what, it’s so cool because you can literally do what you want. The kitchen sink and everything else in the kitchen can be thrown in! It’s fun and lighthearted, that’s what I love about it. I just get to have playtime. I’m gonna have dancers and there’s will be water involved! It’s gonna be big.
• Leona Lewis is at G-A-Y @ Heaven (Under the Arches, Villiers Street, Charing Cross, WC2N 6NG) on Saturday 13th June, 11pm-5am. Discount entry wristbands available at G-A-Y Bar.
• Leona’s new single, Fire Under My Feet’ is available on iTunes now.
