LÉON (album)

## Singles

1. "Baby Don't Talk"
Released: 25 September 2018
2. "Falling"
Released: 9 November 2018
3. "You And I"
Released: 1 February 2019
4. "Come Home To Me"
Released: 1 March 2019

***LÉON*** is the debut album of Swedish pop singer LÉON. It was released on 1 March 2019 under LÉON Recordings and BMG, marking her first major independent release under her own label.

The album was preceded by singles "Baby Don't Talk," "Falling," and "You And I." The fourth and final single, "Come Home To Me," was released alongside the full project.

## Background

Work on *LÉON* began at the end of 2017, with the composition of "You And I." LÉON confirmed that the rest of the album was written throughout 2018. It was mostly written in Stockholm, Sweden, with some recording sessions taking place in London and Los Angeles. The project featured brand-new collaborators for LÉON, including music trio Captain Cuts and music duo Electric, both who produced the majority of the album. Other collaborators include Charlie McClean, Violet Skies, Sean Douglas, Aron Bergerwall, Linus Wiklund, and longtime friend Martin Stilling.

In 2018 when she began promoting the album, LÉON left Columbia Records to start her own independent label, LÉON Recordings. Her debut album marked the first major release as an independent artist as well as a departure in sound from her previous work. LÉON has said that her being able to release music independently has made her feel more creative: "I’m the happiest when I know that I can release a song tomorrow, if I wanted to. So I think it’s done a lot for me mentally."

LÉON described making the album as "a lot of work" and "intense" because of how involved she chose to be throughout the process. She reflected on her time creating: "I don’t know if my approach has changed drastically in these four years when it comes to making the music. It’s more that my view on the industry and how I want to work has changed." LÉON jokingly said she went "manic" making the album but had a great time experimenting with new sounds. Multiple versions of songs were created, using so many different inspirations that LÉON admits it was hard to keep everything uniform. Eventually, her manager told her to move on.

The album focuses more on the production side, with some songs being grander than LÉON's previous works. LÉON describes the record as being more "upbeat," with an intention to have danceability for her live shows. To her, it is more electronic-focused, but she pulled from many areas: "I wanted to do a folk song, then I wanted to do a proper electronic-y song than one that was proper Motown-y. I wanted to try everything." About the feel of the album, she said: "I really honed in on a sound—it’s something I’ve had in my head forever, but didn’t bring to life until now."

The entire album is very auto-biographical, with most of it being about one person. Some songs, like "Come Home To Me," "Hope Is A Heartache," and "Pink," have specific backstories. About the content of each song, LÉON remarked: "I know who every song is about. There are some songs [where] you go back to the memory. Some are about situations I’ve found myself in many, many times with different people. We’ve all been there but everything’s very personal."

According to LÉON, most of the album reminds her of "teenage movies" from the '70s or '80s; specifically, scenes of teenagers "jumping into a pool at night and making out under the water," "dancing around their rooms," and "driving around in the taxi after being out in the club."

LÉON has described the album as being "bright" and "colorful," with each song being represented by a different color.

## Singles

"Baby Don't Talk" was released as the lead single on 25 September 2015, nearly a year since *Surround Me*. Shortly after, the official music was released.

"Falling" was originally released on 9 November 2018 as the second official single. A year later, in July 2019, it was re-released as a single in the United Kingdom following sudden popularity. Its official music video was released in August 2019.

"You And I" was released on 1 February 2019 as the third official single alongside its official music video. It peaked at No. 68 on the official Swedish singles chart, LÉON's highest peak to date.

"Come Home To Me" was released as the fourth and final single on 1 March 2019 alongside the rest of the album.

## Commercial performance

*LÉON* peaked at No. 58 on the Swedish albums chart, LÉON's only entry to date.

## Track listing

### Official music videos

LÉON - Baby Don't Talk (Official Music Video)"Baby Don't Talk" (2018)LÉON - You And I (Official Video)"You And I" (2019)LÉON - Falling (Official Video)"Falling" (2019)
### Official audios

LÉON - Lost Time (Audio)1. "Lost Time"LÉON - Falling (Audio)2. "Falling"LÉON - Hope Is A Heartache (Audio)3. "Hope Is A Heartache"LÉON - Come Home To Me (Audio)4. "Come Home To Me"LÉON - Baby Don’t Talk (Official Audio)5. "Baby Don't Talk"LÉON - Better In The Dark (Audio)6. "Better In The Dark"LÉON - Cruel To Care (Audio)7. "Cruel To Care"LÉON - Pink (Audio)8. "Pink"LÉON - What You Said (Audio)9. "What You Said"LÉON - You And I (Official Video)10. "You And I"

## See also

* You And I Tour
* Here For Now Tour (Louis The Child)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lundberg, Simon. “Prata inte över Léons huvud.” *GAFFA*, 5 Apr. 2019, gaffa.se/artiklar/2019/april/prata-inte-over-leons-huvud.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Mercuri, Monica. “LÉON Talks Debut Album And Starting Her Own Record Label With BMG.” *Forbes*, 5 Mar. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/monicamercuri/2019/03/05/leon-talks-debut-album-and-starting-her-own-record-label-with-bmg/amp.
3. ↑ Bjella, Braden. “Interview | Léon.” *Schön! Magazine*, 19 Apr. 2019, schonmagazine.com/interview-leon.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Phillips, Aimee. “LÉON.” *EUPHORIA.*, 18 Sept. 2020, www.euphoriazine.com/blog/2019/10/interviews-leon-interview.
5. ↑ “ALBUM: LÉON - ‘LÉON.’” *Scandipop*, 7 Mar. 2019, scandipop.co.uk/album-leon-leon.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Nied, Mike. “LÉON Talks Colorful Debut Album, ‘Want You Back,’ and More: Interview.” *Idolator*, 5 Mar. 2019, www.idolator.com/7714495/leon-interview-album-touring.
7. ↑ “LÉON - Baby Don’t Talk (Official Music Video).” *YouTube*, uploaded by LÉON, 3 Oct. 2018, youtu.be/\_40kaMTH5Dc.
8. ↑ “LÉON - Falling (Official Video).” *YouTube*, uploaded by LÉON, 13 Aug. 2019, youtu.be/5eRJE4j9Cjk.
9. ↑ “LÉON - You And I (Official Video).” *YouTube*, uploaded by LÉON, 1 Feb. 2019, youtu.be/jrlMaRdM4wI.
10. ↑ “LÉON - You And I (Song).” *Swedishcharts.Com*, Swedish Charts, swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=L%E9on&titel=You+And+I&cat=s. Accessed 11 Aug. 2022.
11. ↑ “LÉON - Come Home To Me (Audio).” *YouTube*, uploaded by LÉON, 28 Feb. 2019, youtu.be/aoJHwkZ0mSA.
12. ↑ “Léon - Léon (Album).” *Swedish Charts*, swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=L%E9on&titel=L%E9on&cat=a. Accessed 11 Aug. 2022.