Album Update! And Other Jazz...

Hello there!

Sorry I've been a bit of a stranger lately. Finishing up your last semester of college is no easy task, and I've been trying my best to balance everything.

So how have I been spending my time?

Well, I've been recording my full-length album piece by piece, and I must admit, I'm really excited based on what we've done so far. I'm hoping to finish all the major tracking by May, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we can stay on schedule. Without giving too much away, let me just say that this album is going to be VOCALS GALORE. I recorded some scratch back-up vocals for "Mirror, Mirror" just the other day, and I am so freaking happy with how they turned out. I can already see that this album is going to be so much more me.

Other lovely news: I wrote a new song recently that I'm really fond of. It's called "Lily" and it's about a little girl who wants to become a famous singer (hmm I wonder where I got that from). She eventually grows up to meet a guy who forces her to give it all up. Of course he doesn't do this in a completely obvious way - most manipulation is after all, unconscious. I'm not sure where I got the darker half of my story from, but I figure my own determination to avoid this fate has something to do with it.

Here's a pic from the venue where I debuted "Lily" for the first time! Taken at Vaudeville Park in Brooklyn, 2/28/12

One more important thing you should know: I am currently involved in a rock musical written by a colleague and friend of mine, Kelly Izzo.

What?!

Yes, it's true. I'm in a musical. Who woulda thunk?

The musical is called "Alice Unraveled" and it's the story of a girl who gets sexually assaulted and slips into Wonderland to cope with her trauma. My character is Alice's mother/The Red Queen, and I must admit I'm having a blast. The show is going up this Friday, and I think it's really a great chance for me to get up from behind the piano and get more comfortable with working the stage. Click here to check out the event if you'd be interested in seeing me portray an evil queen. Truth be told, I'm having way too much fun with that...

So why am I killing myself trying to balance all these incredibly time-consuming things on top of finishing college?

As a singer-songwriter, the most important thing is to step outside of your comfort zone and live life. Otherwise, I'd have nothing to write about! So that's exactly what I'm doing. Living.

I hope you guys are doing a little of that too. It's a hectic world out there.

Wishing you all some inner peace (and fun too!)

-Leila

Lesson on Writer's Block: Go to Italy

I couldn't be more excited right now. In two hours I'll be leaving for Italy, which means I'm about to partake in two weeks of memorable experiences. Considering that I'm leaving so soon, I should probably finish up the rest of the packing I still have to do, but I couldn't fight the urge to write this little blog post.

I have a very funny feeling that this trip to Italy might be the cure for my writer's block. The thing is, being a songwriter is much more complicated than just being a musician (not to say it's better or worse - it's just different). Classical and jazz musicians need to practice for hours a day to keep up with their instruments, and this kind of dedication sometimes requires a bit of isolation from the outside world. Unfortunately, the ability to write usually competes with this necessary isolation, because staying locked in a room all day doesn't inspire someone to write anything meaningful. A huge part of being a songwriter is living life so that you can write about it, and that's exactly what I'm about to do. I'm taking a step back from the piano, and going out to live life for a little while. The truth is, most inspiration comes from the outside world, not the practice room. So maybe I'll find it in Italy. 

Who knows? Maybe when I come back I won't be able to stop writing.

Ecstatic beyond belief,

Leila

SHOW THIS SUNDAY @ the Bitter End!!

Hey there! Just so you know, you are about to hear from someone who is truly ecstatic. I just finished all my finals, papers, etc. and now I'm can actually work on some music again!! All of these academic things have really been cutting into my songwriting time (and blogging time) these days. On the bright side, I'm going into my senior year of college and ready for a whole summer of writing and performing.

So Sunday (that's right, THIS SUNDAY, May 22nd) at 7pm sharp I will be playing an acoustic set at the Bitter End in NYC!! As you may have read in earlier posts, I think the Bitter End is an awesome venue. It's piano-friendly, which means that I don't have to lug my giant keyboard, and it just has a really cozy vibe overall. Not to mention that it has been frequented by so many incredible musicians, including but not limited to Patti La Belle, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and my girl, Etta James.

Here's a little photo from my last show at the Bitter End!

This will be my first show of the summer (well, almost summer) and I'll definitely be playing as many shows in the NYC area as I possibly can. So watch out, NY! You'll be seeing a lot of me.

For other details on my Bitter End show this week you can click here and check out the facebook event. I'm so excited, and I really hope you guys can come out!

Love,
Leila

HUSH, LITTLE BABY - Song Stories

Let me just start off by saying that my recital last week was a blast! Not only were there were tons of people there, but the energy from all of the people that came was just wonderful. So if you were in the audience, I tip my hat to you. It was truly a pleasure performing for you.

Let's talk about one of the songs. The first song that I performed in my set, called "Hush, Little Baby" is a song that I hold very dear to me. Sure, it's on my EP (click here to preview on Itunes) which already makes it pretty important, but it's so much more than that. Since I wrote "Hush Little Baby" I barely ever perform a set without it.

Why is that, you ask?

I guess you could say that "Hush Little Baby" is almost like my anthem. Every singer-songwriter has that one song that stands out a little more than than others, and for me, this one is IT. I think the reason why is that it really captures the conflicted emotion that every single one of us experiences. Have a listen, and try to focus on the words.

                                            

 If you still aren't quite sure what this song is about, join the club. I wasn't even completely sure when I started writing it - all I knew was that I was experiencing a mess of emotion and anxiety that I didn't know how to handle. If you've ever experienced anxiety, you know that there are sometimes so many things swarming around in your head at such a high speed that it's hard to distinguish one thought from another. After a while, your thoughts start to blur together into one complex blob of tension that weighs down your mind, and sets its heavy little butt on your shoulders. This song works the same way. If you can picture it, the piano riff that repeats over and over again is almost like someone constantly poking at you, waiting to see when will break down and smack their hand away. In other words, everyone cracks - it's human nature.

So where does God come into all of this? All you really need to know is that He (or She, or it, or whoever/whatever you think is up there, if anything) represents the hope that all of us want to feel at some point in our lives. I'll stay away from talking about my religious beliefs, but I think we can all agree that everyone just wants something to believe in. That something doesn't have to be religious at all - it just has to be something that gives you hope. Whether you have hope in another person, your plans for the future, or your dog, everyone is a little hopeful about something. That's why it hurts so much when these forces in your life let you down. Knowing that nothing always goes your way is one of the most is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking parts of being alive.

For me, "Hush, Little Baby" represents the inner conversations that go on whenever I am too overwhelmed to take in what is around me. I'm sure you've noticed that the voices in my head are pretty patronizing, and some of your own inner conversations probably have that in common. No one really wants to break down, and we will do everything we can to talk ourselves out of it.

Here's to a hopeful week,
Leila

The Bitter End in NYC: A Piano-Friendly Venue

On Sunday March 20th, I played a gig at the Bitter End, a well-known NYC venue where longing musicians flock with hope that they will be heard. The Bitter End, located in Greenwich Villge, has been a starting venue for many famous musicians, including Billy Joel, Carly Simon, Stevie Wonder, Neil Diamond, Nina Simone, and even my girl, Norah Jones. Needless to say, there's a lot of history there. As a matter of fact, the Bitter End really is an odd window into the history of the entertainment industry, as well as the United States. Just ask Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell how important the Bitter End was to them during the 60s, when they sang their songs of protest against the Vietnam War.

Now let me tell you why I love the Bitter End....

It has a piano. That sounds like a simple and obvious reason, but let me tell you why it's not. 

It is nearly impossible as a singer/songwriter who plays piano to find a venue that actually has a piano, let alone a decent one. If you're lucky, you'll run into a venue like Sidewalk Cafe (the main starting venue of Regina Spektor), which has an old upright piano against the wall of the stage. But who wants to play a show with their back to the audience? I know I don't.

The Bitter End has a cozy cafe atmosphere with dim lighting, cute tables, and a nice bar for all those who like to have a drink while they listen to good music. The walls are a beautiful red brick, and the acoustics are great, but my favorite part is the Yamaha grand piano on the stage. 

Let me tell you, I am usually forced to play in venues that don't have pianos, since these types of venues are usually the most common. If I only played shows at venues that had pianos, I would pretty much be limited to the same two or three spaces. Most venues in the NYC area in general are geared towards people who play guitar. Man, am I jealous of guitar-players whenever I see them strolling around with their guitars on their backs. If I could bring my piano with me everywhere, I totally would. 

The funny thing is, that is pretty much what I have to do whenever I play a show. I brace myself to lug my giant 88-key Yamaha stage piano (that's a fancy-schmancy name for my keyboard) to the venue. Usually I'll recruit a couple of friends to help me with this, and forget about feminism long enough to let one of my guy friends wheel the keyboard so that I can just hold the stand and the bench. It's way too much for one person to carry on their own. That being said, you cannot even imagine how refreshing it was for me to simply show up to my gig, and have a piano ready for me to play. This little convenient thing put me in the most positive mindset to perform. I'm glad to report that it went really well, and I had a blast the entire time. And the audience was awesome!

So thank you, Bitter End. This is why I love you. You look great, you sound great, and you're piano-friendly. 

Love always,

Leila

The Next Alicia Keys?

So when you're a girl who happens to play piano and sing at the same time, there are a few questions that people often ask.

"Is it hard to concentrate on playing and singing at the same time?"

"How old were you when you started playing piano?"

All reasonable questions. Here's the one I have the greatest love/hate relationship with:

"Are you the next Alicia Keys?"

Let me get one thing straight. There were many people who sang and played piano long before Alicia Keys came around. Did everyone forget Aretha Franklin, Carole King, Billy Joel, Elton John, and at least 100 other people?

Don't get me wrong, I adore Alicia, and actually went to see her live during her "Diary" tour at Radio City She is a fantastic woman - she's beautiful, talented, and compassionate, (Click here to read Alicia's Blog and you'll know exactly what I'm talking about). There's no doubt that she's been a huge influence in my music, and that she's one of the best talents in the mainstream music industry right now. Aside from being a classically-trained pianist, Alicia Keys has an undeniable raw talent and keen sense of style that sets her apart from a lot of other artists. The reason why I am grateful to her, however, is that she made playing piano look like the coolest thing someone can do. When Alicia Keys hit the charts, everyone admired her for her talent. If a beautiful girl from Harlem could be a classically-trained pianist and still be hip at the same time, then who could say that all pianists are stuffy nerds with wire-framed glasses? I'm not sure how old I was at the time when Alicia Keys hit it big, but I do remember that all of sudden I was proud to say that I played piano. And I wished I had practiced a little more Beethoven...

Sometimes the biggest challenge for me as an artist is trying to be distinguishable from other artists in my genre, while still trying to associate myself with these artists so that people have a clue as to what I sound like. Chances are, if you like Alicia Keys I'm probably girl. Even though my style is not as blatantly R&B, there are a lot of musical qualities that we share. I could say the same for Norah Jones. I've been listening to so much Norah Jones over the past three years, that I'd be lying if I tried to tell you that she didn't impact my music. So maybe that's it: maybe my sound is a happy medium between the classic/urban R&B sound of Alicia Keys and the more mellow, soft jazz/pop quality of Norah Jones. I am perfectly fine with this description. But you know what? Maybe it doesn't matter so much.

I am not the next Alicia Keys. Or the next Norah Jones. And although being known by any one of these titles would probably make me feel flattered, I would still have to say that neither one is accurate. I am the next me - the only me, and my music consists of three things: my thoughts, my voice, and my experiences. And from the bottom of my heart, I thank all of you for listening.

Yours truly,
Leila

Monday: Song Stories

 Although it's past midnight and technically Tuesday, it's pretty much still Monday to me. I've been up since seven in the morning, which probably seems like a treat to some of you sleep-deprived workers/students out there. Getting to sleep until 7AM used to be a dream come true, yet now I found myself groaning every time my alarm clock sings to me, whether or it's 7 in the morning or 12 o'clock noon.

Almost exactly two weeks ago, I wrote a song called "Monday." Yes, this song was actually written on a Monday, and it is actually about Mondays (how mysterious). That day, I sat down at the piano with the intention of writing a song, though I didn't know what it would be about. I wasn't directly inspired by anything, and I was completely distracted by the entire mess that had been my day so far. Then I realized that all my distractions and lack of inspiration had just inspired my song topic.

Let's think of everything that Monday means to most people: work, getting up early, stress, the start of a new week, the end of the weekend (i.e. back to reality), and let's face it: leaving the people you love to go do whatever you have to do to pay the bills. Whether that means going to your job or classes, it all pretty much ends up being about the same thing in the end: money. If you're lucky, you love what you do and actually enjoy going to work every day. Regardless, for a lot of us (even musicians, believe it or not) there is a bit more to life than work, and it is these simple life pleasures outside of our careers that keep us going. There is a reason why we look forward to Friday, and it isn't just that the simple fact that the work week is over. For some of us, it is that there is someone we're waiting to see who we've been missing all week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xkBq-4OQ84

Introduction: Inspiration, Ideas, and Experiences

I think the question of the day is, why would someone who writes songs also need to have a blog? Considering that I'm always working on a song of some kind, you'd think that I wouldn't need to express myself any further.

Let's think about this. In life, do we ever really get to say everything that we want to say? Usually not. There's always just a little more to say than what has already been said. What I'm starting to understand more than ever is that a song is only a 3-minute representation of the actual life events that surround it. So from an outside point of view, I'm forced to leave out a lot of details. This seems unfortunate in a lot of ways, but I'll tell you why it's not. It is often these unsaid details that make a song beautiful. Just because you didn't hear me mention what I ate for breakfast that day, or that annoying thing my ex used to do, doesn't mean that I didn't express these things in some way. Context is everything, and this makes writing very subliminal. So does performance. If you wonder why I pound my fingers down on the keyboard during that chorus, or why I always look like I'm dreaming when I sing that verse, it's because of the context. You might not know why I'm singing the words that I'm singing, but I do. And if you asked me to, I could look back and describe to you in detail all of the 7 million things that were going on in my life at the time when I wrote that song. 

I suppose now would be the time to introduce myself. My name is Leila, and Eric Clapton spelled my name wrong. I guess he's awesome for writing a song with my name in it to begin with - I mean, L-A-Y-L-A would be the most obvious spelling. But hey, I like to think my way is better.

Like Sir Eric, I write music. I think it's safe to assume that you've realized this by now, but there's no harm in stating the obvious. I've been writing music since I was eleven. Technically I used to make up songs in the shower when I was in elementary school, but I suppose those don't count since I never actually wrote them down. All of those little songs were about ridiculous things like Elmer's glue and Crayola crayons - I guess as a child I would either be considered weird or cute, depending on your standards. 

Despite all the songwriting speeches I've been giving you, I really started out as a singer. Singing was probably my first love, and I still love it more than anything. A lot of singer/songwriters don't put a lot of stock in the "singing" part of their title, but this is one of the most important parts of my music. I take the singing part just as seriously as the writing part, because as I briefly mentioned before, performance has a lot to do with the way a song is perceived. That being said, I write my songs to suit my voice. This could  be a slight problem if I ever have to write for another artist, but I'm not sure I would ever want to do that.  If context is everything, I probably couldn't handle giving my song to another singer that didn't live through the specific experiences that I did while I was writing the song. This may seem amateur, but I suppose there's a little bit of childish pride in all of us. At this point in my life, I'm just not ready to let go.

The piano was my second love. Don't get me wrong - I didn't treat it very well, and I neglected it pretty often in many ways. I rarely ever practiced in the traditional sense of practicing, and this is probably why I don't sight-read or do any of those things that crazy pianists do. As soon as I figured out that I could use the piano to accompany my singing, I began to write songs. And that was pretty much it for me. Of course I was still playing piano all the time, but let's just say that scales and Bach inventions unfortunately took a backseat after that.

For now, that's all you really need to know about me. I'll try not to pour my heart out too quickly, and I'll try even harder not to give away all the background of every song I write. My only hope is that you can reflect on your own experiences as you listen. 

With love from a humble singer/songwriter,

Leila