Shooting to stardom on The Voice, Leah McFall is one of the most unique talents to come out of the UK, and pop sensation will.i.am decided that he would help her on her way to the top of the charts.
Now she's gearing up for the release of her debut single and album, and we got the chance to chat to her about what she's been up to in the past 12 months, working with Will and much more in an exclusive interview.
How has life been since The Voice?
It's been crazy, I've barely had any chance to nip home! I've been in L.A. pretty much, a lot of the time, just a few days after the show Will flew us out to L.A. and we recorded so much until it was like 'You know what? Maybe we should release a single!' We're ready to release it now so it's very exciting, I've just been very blessed, I'm very thankful for it all.
When did you realise you had a voice?
I started singing when I was around six or seven in church, and I was singing anyway and one of my first phrases would've been 'Mummy put Micky Jackson on!' (laughs)
I was never really a 'doll' type of girl I would just want to put on wee shows for my family and my cousins came round and we'd use to put on wee shows and make my poor parents sit down and watch every single one of them!
Then I started doing competitions when I was 14, then I was gigging around Belfast before I moved to Birmingham to then move to London to pursue it!
How does it feel to be gearing up to release your single 'Home'?
Obviously you get a wee bit of nerves you know? Because it kinda feels like you've been working on this wee project all year and it's become your baby, you know? And you're getting ready to invite the world in.
But I'm just so excited if I'm honest with you. I'm very, very proud of this song and even more so of the entire album and I personally cannot wait to share it.
It's quite an eclectic album as well in terms of there's something for everybody. There's tracks that are a bit like a modern-day 'Loving You', then you've got those kind of pop, upbeat tracks then we've got real kind of soul-jivey tracks.
I love it so much. It's all fused in with these pop RnB beats that Will really encased around my voice, which was lovely - to give it that kind of freedom like proper soul tracks would do, it was really fun.
So yeah, I'm just really, really excited now. Excited to see what people say and if people enjoy it and then get to performing as well, that will be really fun.
I love that side of it. There's nothing quite like having an audience in front of you laughing at your wee jokes even when they can tell you're nervous! (laughs) Or they'll be looking at you because they can't understand your accent! (laughs)
You collaborate with will.i.am on the single, was that an easy decision to make?
Oh yeah definitely, the entire album is ours. He's executive on the whole album and he brought in other writers and produced all the tracks. It's just fitting really to have my mentor still to be on the first track and mark the fact he's been so involved in my career for the past year and really help bring a lot of it to life, you know? So there was nobody else I'd want on the feature on my first single, bar him.
How is Will as a mentor? He does seem very passionate.
Oh yeah definitely. We were just in the studio making it and there was a wee space and I was like 'is this your wee bit?' and he was like 'er, yeah!' (laughs)
How was the experience of making the music video for 'Home'?
That was amazing. From then I was released back to my label to work with the team there, and I was surrounded by brilliant people, really talented people and I worked with a director called Alicia, and I worked with her on it.
Will always says 'create your own world, and then invite people in', and for me that would really mean that the visual side of it would need to be cohesive with the rest of it.
So we sat down with Alicia and were chatting very clearly about how the colour scheme and stuff really needs to progress into the rest of the project, so you'll see the same kind of iridescent and colourful colours like on the website and the social media and stuff like that.
Then for the video we had that in it as well, but there was also 'Leah, what do you want for props?' and I was like 'Er, a big swing!' because why wouldn't I want to be swinging on a big swing on my first video!? (laughs) But do you know it's just having these wee ideas and then you arrive in the studio and it's realised for you there, it becomes a wee reality, working with people who are far better than you is a good thing! (laughs)
How did you find the response to the single and video?
I couldn't believe it. The response on YouTube in terms of the views and the wee likes and stuff like that is so encouraging and completely blew my mind to be honest, and I'm completely getting wee Tweets and Instagrams from people that have seen it on TV, and there's pictures of them sitting in their living room on a wee sofa and I'm on their TV, it's so lovely! It's just really nice. Then they always hashtag 'Just at home watching Leah singing her new single', you know what I mean? It's just been great, a great wee buzz about it.
The press picked it up instantly and said it was a great wee feel-good summer track, so that was really encouraging.
I feel like it was a really good start, a good release, I'm feeling really positive and excited by it, then there's more to come!
Did you have to cut a lot of tracks from the debut record?
That is the hardest thing you know, because there are a couple of songs that you really like that just don't fit this album, and don't fit the project, but there was actually quite a few tracks that stood out from the start and were just definites, and one of them was the title track 'Weird To Wonderful'. That track's talking a bit about being a wee bit out there, and there's a hope that someday someone will see those as things to be treasured and why they love you, you know? I just really, really loved it.
Then obviously because I've been quite select about having a team around me that have embraced this weirdness in my voice and the different personalities and have made it better.
Should we expect some tour dates from you?
Nothing that I can actually chat about yet but it will be coming, definitely! There's definitely live performances being set up right now, exciting stuff, just can't say! (laughs)
I release everything on my Instagram and Twitter so keep a wee eye on that. I'm always the first one to be like 'Argh!', I'm not very good at keeping a secret! (laughs)
Do you have a definitive aim for your career?
I don't really. I wanna take it as far as it can go. I would be quite hardworking when it comes to something I'm passionate about, but the reason I don't wanna put a goal on it is because I don't ever wanna feel like I fell short, or not be content with what I've reached now, because obviously this is amazing and I'm so thankful for the things I've been able to do this year. I just wanna take it as far as I can go and enjoy it, because at the minute I'm getting to meet new people every day, perform in front of different audiences and meet the people that have supported me way back whenever I released my first EP. They still wait outside for me at radio. The whole experience is insane, really really good!
Leah's debut single 'Home' featuring will.i.am is out now.