Born in a tiny fisherman’s town, Spanish songwriter Leire (Leire Gotxi Angel) seems to carry the sea salt with her as she emerges onto the music scene with new single ‘Waterfall’. London based, her raspy yet emotive vocals busking in Leicester Square brought her all the way to sharing the stage with Tom Walker, Rag’n’Bone Man, Gang of Youths, Jake Bugg and Travis for The Worlds Big Sleep Out. A childhood of country music in the car led her to bring Taylor Swift’s melody lines and storytelling into her songwriting. Followed and mixed up with Lewis Capaldi’s emotive pop influence and Charlotte Lawrence’s mellowness and electronic pinch. She signed to Agapein Producciones SL at the age of 19 and released an album behind the stage name LeAnn Wilde.
Leire had dreamed of being an artist, ever since she was a child. “Every time I saw someone playing live, I used to wish I could be them. At the time I believed it was something impossible to achieve, because there was no one around me with the same dream, but I decided to chase it anyway. When I grew older, I started to acknowledge how everything worked, and I started writing my own songs, first in Basque and later in English. When I first started writing songs in English, I didn’t even know how to speak it well, but there was something about finding the way to say things in English that hooked me. It might have been the fact that no one could really understand my lyrics and that was my safe place.”
“During my teenage years I kept writing songs and trying to get somewhere, but I was in the Basque Country and to be completely honest and as much as I love my hometown, it wasn’t the right place for my music. That, along with some disappointing and discouraging experiences I had with people from the industry, made me want to leave the country and move to London. In London, I felt a bit lost for a while until I started busking. I became a full-time busker, performing mainly in Central London. Busking gave me everything I was missing to be an artist. It makes you emotionally strong, confident, it teaches you how to manage a crowd and it gives you the most beautiful moments.
In April 2020, she debuted as Leire with ‘What We’ve Got’, a song that describes the pandemic situation and relationships in this period of time, bringing up the positive side of it. In July, she presented her second single ‘Box Of Chesterfield’, a song about anxiety. In the very beginning of the new year she’ll release her 3rd single ‘Waterfall’ a song about equality and diversity. Leire’s first EP, named ‘Me, You, This World’, was released later in the year, and showcases her putting together songs that “tell the truth about society”.
I had this project in mind, I wanted to write songs that talk about social issues. We’re so used to listening to love songs and break up songs and I’m a huge fan. But I had this moment in my life where I wanted to focus on writing songs that could make the difference, songs that I could be proud of when I’m old. And so during the last 2 years I’ve been writing about different topics that I was feeling strongly about. Superficiality, social media, sexual assault, anxiety, drug addiction, inequality… I wrote lots of different songs. Then I chose 4 that I felt confident with. ‘What We’ve Got’ is about the pandemic, ‘Box Of Chesterfield’ is about anxiety and addiction. ‘Waterfall’ is about inequality and ‘In Ten Years Time’ about climate change.
