I asked Leona for tickets. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. Oh, all right. There's a line of us down the street. It's a whole mob. Yeah. You're going on tour with an iPhone, a laptop, and a poncho. And a poncho. They should Should I say like food? Food, clothing, I'm Oliver Tvena here on the Young Hollywood sofa with the lovely Leona Lewis. How are you?

I'm good. Thank you.

It's been so long. So good to see you. We're both 21 now.

I know. So good to see you. We're both 21 now. Just. Just.

Um, I was just saying. I heard the I heard the new track last week. So exciting.

Thank you. So exciting. Yeah, I'm excited about it. It's just good to kind of be out there and I've been performing it a lot.

Okay. And then the the the the single that's everywhere right now. It's Thunder.

Thunder, yeah. Bringing back the Thunder. Yeah. Um, it's I wanted to open up the album with that.

Must be great to to be back doing it all. Not that you ever stopped, but you know.

But yeah, it's good to come over here and and share it on a kind of different level and I've been in the UK a lot and I did a tour of Europe and then I kind of got back in the studio and kind of came back to my roots really and had a bit of time to write. So.

And when did you start making this record? When did the new record come out?

Um, it's probably like been two years in the making.

Two years in the making. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Two, three years in the making. And then the right process, obviously, because, you know, you you write a lot of tracks that don't make it on the album, right?

Yeah, yeah.

After two years that must be hard to pick which ones are going to make it and what ones aren't.

Yeah, this one I feel like was the easiest decision. It's a ten-track album, um, which I haven't done before, but I feel like all of the songs are so strong and up to the point of what I wanted to do on the album.

And I am. Yes. Is the title of the album? Yeah. Is that very like personal to say like I am? Is that what you're you're putting out there?

Yeah. I chose it because I feel like if you start a sentence with I am, it's so powerful in creating what you're putting out there and um, I what you can become. So, for me, even though I wrote the album on kind of subjects that were kind of points where I felt low or down, like I wanted to uplift myself. And so, I feel like writing having it titled I am was a very strong affirmation for me. Um, and the album's quite an empowering kind of message throughout it. So, that was why I wanted to call it I am. I also had a song called Fire Under My Feet as well that's out and the video's out for that as well. Exactly. So, um, Fire Under My Feet and Thunder, they're very kind of uplifting and it has a a message of resilience and a message of, you know, just keep going, keep plowing through it and you'll you'll come up you'll come out on top. It's very motivational.

Right, right. Yeah, when I heard it, it was very instantly like, that's Leona. That's it. The the big track that you just know everyone's going to be singing along in the car. Which I was. I was doing it.

Oh, I'd love to hear that.

Yeah. Not going to happen. Oh, you get to work with some amazing producers on this record as well.

Yeah, um, most of the album I recorded with Toby Gad and he's kind of famous for doing If I Were A Boy by Beyoncé and the John Legend song All Of Me. Um, so when I kind of called him up, I was like, oh, let's like get in the studio and I love you did that casually. So when I called him up. Well, I the thing is he's my he's been a friend of mine for a long time, but we kind of never really got anything that worked on any of the other albums. Um, and then I went in and I was in such a different head space, um, that stuff came about so quickly.

This is judging. Make your mind up. Come on, come on. Come on. Say hi. Come on. Come here. There you go. This is much better. She's wandering around. That's much better. There you go. Um,

She's like, I want to know about the album too.

No, I'm a fan. I've known known Leona for years. I met this girl when she was a puppy. But, um, so yeah, I worked with Toby and it came together very naturally and quickly and, um, yeah, he was my partner and collaborator throughout the whole album. And when you say you obviously work with him, is that UK or was that here? Because you've been back and forth.

Um, so I worked mainly, um, in his studio here. Okay. Um, and then we went to the UK and I worked with some UK producers as well.

And when you're when you're writing the music, is there a is there a place like you you think I've got to write a song, I want to go here or do you just is it anywhere? Is there any point that you could just be inspired?

Um, yeah, usually like, I'll wake up in the middle of the night and have like a a melody or a lyric idea in my head.

You need to sleep.

I know. Exactly. Choose another time. Pick another time. It's like, it'll come to me and then I'll have to pick up my iPhone and like quickly record it and then like I'll listen to it the next day and I sound like death, but, um, I'm like, Um, but and then I'll like make it into something that is good. Um, so yeah, that's really where I get my inspiration like middle of the night. Yeah, it strikes.

Amazing. So you just know I sleep. Yeah. But it's the it's the price you pay for the craft. Um, now going back obviously to like bleeding love which was the mega hit. Especially in the US everyone. You play it everyone knows it. Years later now in that journey, what's been the biggest lesson that you think you've learned in in the Oh,

Um, well, it's been that song like really just transcended so much actually, because with that song, it kind of went everywhere at once. So, I was able to to tour Asia and Europe and all these different places that I'd never been to before and I learned so much about myself through the whole kind of the whole journey really. Wow. Yeah, it was a real whirlwind. Um, but it was amazing and I got to do a lot of incredible things and collaborate with great artists and that's why I'm here today. So.

Exactly. It's yeah, it's been great. She's she's lovely. She's having a great time. Not sure. And then, you know, since that time, obviously before that record, you were inspired by certain artists. Yeah. Has there been a transition? Has there been artists since then that you think maybe have inspired you for this record or is it still your roots?

Um, definitely people like Stevie and those kind of old soul voices, like Whitney and, um, people like that that always kind of remain with me every day. Um, but like I love Sia. Um, I think she's so amazing and artist now that I love like Bruno Mars and, um, the Alabama Shakes like definitely play little parts in influencing me for sure.

You obviously you mentioned all the places you have to go on the touring on the last one. Yeah. When that happens this time, Yeah. Where are you excited to to go again?

Um, I haven't done um, South America yet. So, that's one place that I would love to tour. Um, I'd love to go to Brazil and Argentina.

No, I've never been. Never been. I'm going to go with you if you're going.

Exactly. You come. Come to Brazil. You came to one of my tours. I've been to

Yeah, I did. I actually took my my whole family. Yeah, they met your lovely Literally the whole family. So sweet. I asked Leona for tickets. She had no idea what she was getting herself into. All right. There's a line of us down the street. It's a whole mob. Yeah. Nothing Nothing. It was. Nothing. Yeah. There you go. There you go. So, I'll be at the one in Brazil. Wicked. Be there. With your whole family. With my whole family. Send myself up tickets. Um, when you're on the road, what three things can't you be without? The first three things that come to mind.

Well, my iPhone, for sure. Cuz I need Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Periscope. Anyway.

You're on all of them. Just everything. How do you juggle that?

I don't know, but I'm on my phone like this. I have to really like I do it on myself, yeah. So, I really have to kind of check out sometimes and be like, okay, just don't be anti-social. Put it down. Um, so yeah, my phone, um, probably my oh, laptop. Gosh, I sound like I'm addicted to

I'm not saying anything. We let the people judge.

But, and I've got this poncho that I take everywhere. It's like a a big like blanket rug thing. And literally it's like my lucky traveling, yeah.

So, at the moment, you're going on tour with an iPhone, a laptop and a poncho.

And a poncho. There's hope. Should I say like food? Food, clothing, glow in the equipment. Yeah, my my my mic.

It's a great show though. It's a great show. Be intrigued to see you do that. Um, and obviously, yeah, when you mentioned everything you just mentioned, Snapchat, Periscope, all these things. It was a bit different then, you know, social media was on its way, but it definitely hadn't come out. So how do you think that's made an impact? Yeah.

Well, for my first record, like, I guess well, first, first, my independent, I did an Indy, um, record and that was like big on Space, uh, MySpace.

Facebook.

I was going to say Facebook. I didn't even get on Facebook. It was exclusive. I feel like I could create Facebook. Um, so yeah, I had MySpace and then when I had my first album out and, um, over here, Facebook was huge, but there was no Twitter or anything like that. So, now it's just a million things that I don't know, that you can connect by, I guess. Yeah. Which is great, but also time consuming.

It's yeah, it's time consuming. There's like ups and downs to that for sure. Right. Check out the album. I am and Thunder's there now. You can just listen to it everywhere. Thunder. Leona Lewis, she's back. Brilliant.