Soulful songbird Ledisi unveils a new sound with her latest album, Turn Me Loose. Ledisi sat down with rollingout.com to share her take on artistic evolution, the fans and why she loves Beyoncé. –todd williamsWhy She Wanted To Expand Her Sound
“If you study the greats, great innovators have all made a lot of
changes in their careers and took a lot of risks. It’s really important
for an artist, like Nina Simone said, ‘to reflect the times.’ I wanted
to talk about changes and change in particular because that’s what’s
happening right now. I don’t have any regrets about it. When you get
comfortable, you don’t find out who you are.”
Ledisi Will Always Be Ledisi
“When it comes to media and branding I’ve never had to fight, I’ve
always been myself and I’ve always created my own lane. If I think too
much nothing will come out. That’s why it took six months for me to do
anything with this album. Once I heard a Buddy Miles’ song — ‘Them
Changes’ — I completely let myself go and didn’t think about labeling.
My job is to just create the kind of music that I hear.”
Loving the Fans …
“I’m very interactive with my audience. They mean the world to me. I
lived off of one album, my first album, for four years before I made
another one. I moved up from 150 people to 8,000 people, just because
those people believed in me from the beginning. I’m really appreciative
of their presence.”
… And Wanting Women to Love Themselves
“Women — love yoursel[ves]. When I’m on stage, I have a job to do; [and
that’s] to let women know that it’s OK to be by yourself, its OK to be
with someone, it’s OK to wear your hair nappy, it’s OK to wear it
straight. Love who you are … if you love yourself, others will love you
and it’ll show. Don’t forget that you are beautiful.”
Ledisi Loves Beyoncé
“I really like Beyoncé because she’s always eclectic and she goes with
how she feels. As she grows she doesn’t mind leaping out. She’s a
leader in her own lane and I like people like that.”
Her Favorite Songwriters Are…?
“I love John Lennon and Paul McCartney. I love Stevie Wonder — he’s
like a poet. I love Michael Jackson — and Rod Temperton. Carly Simon is
a wonderful songwriter … and Diane Warren is another great writer.”
