Anna Leah
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Anna Leah’s been on both my radar & my radio for a while now. Between her big gig supporting American artist Sombr in Dublin, and her next EP release, I thought this was the perfect time to ask her to sit down and chat to Fiche about what life’s like at the moment.
We end up having our chat in the midst of one of those occasional mini heatwaves. Anna’s sitting outside soaking up the sun at her Dublin home, not too far away from where she recently had her biggest gig to date. American artist Sombr, who’s been living rent free in charts worldwide with his songs “undressed” and “back to friends”, took his tour to Dublin’s Academy Main Room in May. On the hunt for a support act, Anna Leah was chosen from a selection of Irish artists for the Academy. To no suprise, after listening to Anna’s songs, they knew she had to be the one. “When I got the message about Sombr I had to read it a few times. I was like ‘Sombr? Who has the number 1 song right now?’. Immediately I was like, ‘Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I’ll do it!’”
When I ask about upcoming music she’s been teasing on social media lately, Anna confirms she has a single ready to go. She reveals that the song is ready, but she’s still creating the world that will surround it. “I still have to do the photos for it and design the cover art. I find that part really fun cause then I can imagine the world that the song is in.”
Working with a different producer this time around, she explains that this EP will have “a little bit of a different sound, it’ll be a nice transition into a new era of Anna Leah”. She gives us a glimpse into the contrast between her debut EP ‘Gold Star Baby’ and this current project, “the last EP, the songs were really about nostalgia and childhood memories. However, this one is a bit more about right now, and love, and how scary that can be. It’s a completely different storyline altogether. I kind of like to have a cohesive storytelling or a general vibe that I run with, which is very different this time round. It’s more grown up as well, which I like”.
“I like to work in my bedroom, that’s where I usually write all my songs. But I was working with these two guys, Mark McKenna and Alex O’Keeffe, down in Wexford. So I said I’d try writing some stuff while I was down there. Then we just ended up writing most of EP together, which I had never done before.”
Anna reflects on how she was worried that she would have to sacrifice her own songwriting working with someone else. “I prefer to write by myself so I have control over my songwriting. But then I ended up being like oh this is ok, I still get to do all the writing and they’re helping me come up with different melodies”.
Chatting about Ireland’s creative industries and the cliché of moving abroad as an Irish creative, Anna Leah describes the thought as “almost scary”. “I’m always wondering like, should I be moving? I see all my peers going to London and New York and you just think, should I be doing that?”
“HOME IS DUBLIN, SO GETTING TO DO A FEW GIGS SO CLOSE TO HOME IS REALLY SPECIAL”
However, she’s confident that it’s not her time to move just yet. “I’ve realised that if I don’t feel like I need to go and I have something good here, I shouldn’t just be going for sake of it”.
Anna Leah has certainly built a fan base for herself here in Ireland, so why would she look elsewhere? “It’s such a big thing nowadays to build your brand and I think I have a bit of a foothold here and I don’t want to ruin that. You want people to come to your gigs and that’s easier to do when you have roots down here. I’m lucky that I’m still living at home and I don’t have to worry about crazy rent in somewhere like London. I think for now, for me, it’s working and I’m okay”.
Following the EP release, Anna will attempt to switch her focus to live shows, but she won’t stop working on new stuff completely. “I never really stop writing anyway so I’m sure I’ll still be working on something. I’m always so aware of the fact I’m not writing, even if I just stop for a few weeks. It’s like a form of therapy. So whilst I want to do a few more shows, it won’t stop me from working on more music”.
With saying that, she describes how her writing habits change. “If I haven’t written in a while I’ll just sit down, and just really try to write down anything I can until something good comes along. You do have to write a few bad songs until a good one comes along. I kind of pretend it’s like journaling because I really don’t want to make it a chore.” But she doesn’t always plan it out strategically. “It’s so weird. Some days I’ll just sit down and a song will just come out of nowhere. With those ones, I normally have a good feeling. If the song just comes out of me naturally then it’s going to be good”.
Anna Leah has very bright future, but she doesn’t have to look too far ahead for her next big step. “I am so excited, I’m absolutely buzzing”. That was the response I was expecting when I brought up her biggest headline show to date, which she’ll play in Dublin’s Academy.
“I wasn’t sure when my next headline would be. But after the Sombr gig my management and I were like yeah let’s just do this”. And so it was confirmed. “I’ve never played Academy 2 before so it’ll be a step up, in terms of numbers and the size of the room. It’s a little bit scary but I just keep telling myself it’s fine, like, it’s exciting”.
You can see Anna’s biggest show to date in Dublin’s Academy 2 on October 23rd. Tickets are available on ticketmaster.ie and you can keep up to date with all her new releases on Instagram @annaleah___