Shayna Leigh is a Floridian living in New York City, chasing her musical dreams. Over the summer one big dream came true when her debut album Drive dropped on S-Curve Records/Universal Music Group label.

Drive is poppy with “an organic touch” as Shayna Leigh would say, but genre aside, her songs tell stories anyone could relate to on any given day.

Enstars spoke with the talented and charismatic singer/songwriter all about Drive, performing live and more.

Enstars: How would you describe your sound?
 Shayna Leigh: It’s pop music with a very sort of comfort food element in a way. It’s pop music with an organic touch.

How was working with Peter Zizzo and Michael Mangini on your debut album?
They were my co-writers on Drive and they’re both amazing! Peter has an Emmy. Mike has some Grammys. They’re just really, really, really accomplished and incredible humans and musicians so writing songs with them was comforting [in a sense]. A lot of these songs came from my journal, which is very cool. This was the first time that ever happened to me. They were all for writing songs based on what I had already been writing about. It helped make the album more personal. I feel like the stories told through my songs are really universal.

What inspired your current single “Typhoon”?
“Typhoon” is interesting cause I was very against the idea of writing a love song. I was super against it. Like this song is literally just about love. My mindset was basically that music could be about way more than if a boy likes a girl or if a girl likes a boy. Love can take so many forms. You can love your dog. I love my friends and family and I think love is definitely a primary thing. I think the reason why there are so many songs about it is because it is the thing that makes the world go round. Love as an emotion is so much greater than strictly romance.

Can you talk about making the music video for “Typhoon”?
The music video’s director, Virginia Crawford, is one of my closest friends from childhood so she has directed pretty much all of my music videos. I trust her. With all the songs she has directed music videos for she has sent me back treatments before filming that have been right on about what the songs are about to me. So I’d get treatments and they were exactly how the songs visually look to me in my mind. They’re perfect depictions so I knew working with her was a match made in heaven. “Typhoon” was actually shot really quickly. She was shooting her feature film and I was probably traveling. In any case, we had really quick turnaround. I knew that the song was a love story that I wanted more for. It needed to be about more so that was my input into it. I get to be involved as much as I want with her. We go back and forth about the story and I say what I like and don’t like. Ultimately, I trust her completely. Her visual aesthetic and sense of storytelling is really incredible.

What’s your favorite song to perform off the album?
“Drive” is always kind of my favorite because it was the first song that I wrote, well co-wrote, in my life that I felt like I got to the core of what I wanted say as an artist. It cemented the beginning of my journey. It was also sort of an emotional time since I was struggling to be this artist since I was having trouble getting out what I wanted to say or the way I wanted to say it. To finally come upon that with “Drive” was really special. So “Drive” has been really healing in that way. It’s also the song I’ve performed the most so there’s this freedom I feel with it. It’s a song I’ve played a lot so there’s a comfort. I’ve also been really excited about playing “Typhoon” and “Goodbye July” is really fun also.

Will you be touring in support of Drive throughout the rest of the year?
I would love to tour, but I don’t have any plans made yet. It’s on an opportunity-by-opportunity basis right now. I would love to even open for someone. I love playing shows! If I could play a show every single day for the rest of my life I’d be a happy, happy person. There’s something amazing about playing for an audience. It’s great connecting, yet scary. That has to be a big part about what you love about it since anything could happen once you take the stage. It’s the unknown and I love it.

You’ve mentioned you wouldn’t mind opening for someone else. Ideally, who would that be?
I think a good fit for me would be Rachel Platten. I adore her and I love her songs. I would really love to play with anyone though. I think the best lessons I’ve learned through this journey so far is being an opening act since you have to get on the stage and warm up the audience for the main act. You have to win over people who really aren’t there to see you too most of the time. That’s a true task. I’ve never had a bad experience, but you know the audience is ultimately waiting for you to end your set so to turn those people into fans is an exciting challenge. You learn how to handle it.

What do you hope people take away from listening to your album?
Honestly I hope it makes them feel something. Music has been so big in my life and I have songs that I always listen to and if I can be that for someone else that’s gotta be the goal. The goal has to be to provide someone listening to my songs with some sense of comfort or happiness. I just want my music to be included in other people’s lives. That would be the coolest thing for me.

Tags: Shayna Leigh Music Interviews drive Typhon