Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges
Leon Bridges is an American gospel and soul singer and songwriter from Fort Worth, Texas. He is best known for his song "Coming Home", which received regular airplay and was also a Top 10 Most Viral Track on Spotify. Bridges's debut album, which is also titled Coming Home, was released on June 23, 2015 on Columbia Records...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionGospel Singer
Date of Birth13 July 1989
CityAtlanta, GA
CountryUnited States of America
When I first got into the music scene, I was inspired by different songwriters. I like to dress from the '50s and '60s. I like to paint a picture of that era through my music and clothes. I am inspired by a whole a lot of things, from doo-wop to gospel and soul music.
I believe that gospel is more than just a sound, it's a way of life. I don't really have any shame to talk about spirituality in my music. A lot of your favorite soul songs started out in gospel.
Gospel music played a huge part of my life. I was too scared to audition for the choir, but through my own music, I was also able to find spirituality for myself.
I don't like a lot of attention. That's kind of who I am at heart. So I see everything, the people circulating around me and a lot of people know me - it kind of feels like a heavy weight sometimes.
I don't live in this soul music bubble. I love Young Thug, Drake, Kendrick Lamar. I even heard that Kendrick was a fan of my music. Hopefully there's a door open for us to do music together. He's one of my favorite artists. I love Jazmine Sullivan, Lianne la Havas, Usher, Ginuwine. It goes further than classic soul.
I just want people to see my growth as an artist, and singer.
Sometimes I start with lyrics - rarely - but sometimes I might have an idea for some lyrics that I wanna say. I write them down and figure out how to use that in a melody to write a song.
If I went crazy and tried to make pop music, my band wouldn't record it! I love them too much to do that.
I'm not writing just classic-sounding songs, but songs that come from experience.
I don't think I'd be able to flat-out write a pop song and make it satisfying to me. I'm ready to make a consistent sound in whatever way I can.
I never really thought about my music being universal. When I set out to write, it is just a feeling that feels good to me. I never thought about being able to reach everybody.
For me, style is something that I've always loved. It's more than just, "Oh I make this type of music, so I should dress this type of way." But it's very important. On the other hand, if I was on stage in a hoodie and some baggy jeans, it wouldn't give off the same feeling. People appreciate the music, but people want to see the whole visual thing.
I think it's good to have a balance. Everything I write about, it's not something I necessarily might have went through, there's songs where I might have an idea, sometimes it might be a melody or something that I like, I make up a story to go with that melody. But I do think it's most important to have honest songs.
Love is the biggest thing. I feel that if we all were truly loving to each other, I think life would be better. Even to like, a stranger. They could be going through something crazy in their day and just to show love towards that person...