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No 1057 11 June 2015
18
Suitable only for persons
of 18 years and over
Leona Lewis
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.
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“Leona Lewis is gonna
duet with 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!
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.
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Michelle
Visage
Hey Michelle! First things first, how did you find judging G-A-Y Porn Idol last month?
Oh that was so fun! I love Jeremy Joseph and everybody at G-A-Y, it’s like a second home for
me. When I go to London I always go. But it seems that when I’m there, Mary Mac tells me
that people get shy because it’s me. I think the other queens or whoever else comes are ok,
but for me because I’m known to be such a ball busting bitch they get nervous. They all get
really shy. It’s like, I came here to see willies and fannies people, don’t get shy now!
And how was being back in the UK?
Well you know it’s my favourite place on earth, right? I’ve had a love affair with the UK
since I was 13 years old and my parents took me over for the first time. It must be
some kind of other worldly connection, some past life, but I just know that I’m
British somewhere.
So you’ll be coming back to see us soon then?
I’m definitely coming back the first week in November for the
release of my book, The Diva Rules. But as many bookings as I
can get, I go. I just love the people and love the place and
I said that when I did Celebrity Big Brother. I think people
at the beginning thought that I was full of shit because
every American says that when they go in. But truth
be told, I watch almost only British television except
for RuPaul’s Drag Race and maybe a few others.
It’s the sense of humour; it’s the way of life.
I don’t have to explain my really, really dry,
super-sarcasm, everybody there completely
understands it.
Which shows do you watch?
Well obviously all the reality shows: Made
in Chelsea, TOWIE, Big Brother, Geordie
Shore, The Valleys before they cut it off,
which made me very upset. And I love
game shows like Strike It Lucky, just
to see what Michael Barrymore was
wearing. But I think my favourite
British television show of all time
- and I know it goes way back - is
Nighty Night.
With RuPaul’s seventh
season drawing to a
close last week, Chris
Godfrey catches up
with the show’s resident
‘ball-busting bitch’
(her words, not ours),
Michelle Visage.
I love
Jeremy
Joseph and
everybody
at G-A-Y,
it’s like a
second
home for
me.
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