When does imitation go from flattery to a case of identity theft? Nashville-based pop singer-songwriter Leah Mason is answering that question with her new single “Klepto.”
A follow up to “YOUR BOYFRIEND SUCKS,” this edgy pop anthem calls out a friend who took a little more than “inspiration” from Mason. “She would subtly ask me about where my clothes were from, and the next week she’d show up in the same thing I had been wearing,” Mason says.
However, this “friend” earned the title of Klepto when, “she eventually started messing around with the people in my life, like talking to guys she knew I liked and inviting my friends to hang out without me. It was like she wanted my life.”
From heartbreak to love and everything-in-between, Mason is capturing “that life” with honesty, relatability, and bite.
On the latest episode of ECHO podcast, we sat down with the storyteller to chat about the single, her transition from country to pop, and recording her upcoming album in Sweden.
Excerpt from the latest podcast:
What inspired you to pivot from country to pop?
Honestly, I had been having sort of an intuitional feeling. I didn’t know if it was fully me, but I knew I still loved the songs I was making. So I was like, well, I do like it, so I’m just gonna keep going down this path. And randomly, I had a session with this Swedish producer at Warner Nashville, and they had a pop camp going on and people came from all over the world to do this camp.
I was in this session with this insane pop producer. We had four sessions together and I was like, I can make music like this? It was something I hadn’t ever even experienced or knew was available to me to even make that type of music, you know? It was a whole new world. I had never felt like that when I was making music. It was so fun and every part of me felt fulfilled.
What inspired your new pop single “Klepto”?
It started slow. It’s always like taking a shirt and not ever giving it back or saying certain phrases that I only say. And then I’m like, that was weird. But whatever, you know, maybe they’re just like, I’m rubbing off a little or something. And then it starts to get really weird. And then, it’s like everything about your life starts to feel like it’s being copied or taken and I was like, this is so weird.
I had never had that happen before. It made me mad. And I know they say imitation is the highest form of flattery, or whatever, but it made me feel so weird because these are the things that are unique about me and they were being taken. It’s water under the bridge now, but it was fun to write in the moment when I was mad.
What was the production process like for that song?
It was so fun. It was actually one of the first few songs I wrote when I was [in Sweden]. I was like, I know I want it to feel anthemic because I feel like so many people have gone through this. I would lean into my friends and be like, is this weird? And it’d be like, Oh my God, I had a roommate just like that, or I had a friend just like that. And I was like, okay, so I’m not the only one. Actually, pretty much everyone I talked to has had a friend or roommate or something like that. So I definitely knew I wanted it to be anthemic and I think we got out there for sure.
Featured Photo Credit: Preemo