Now that her indie folk band The Ransom Collective is taking an extended hiatus, Leah Halili has been embarking on her own journey of self-discovery as a solo artist with her debut single, “Fourth of July.”
As a performer, live shows had always been Leah’s life. As the band’s bassist and occasional vocalist, she performed for big and small audiences all over the country and even outside the Philippines. Prior to the pandemic and on her own as a solo performer, Leah, who is currently based in California, had also always looked forward to playing at parties after a long work week as a teacher. As Covid-19 forced many people to stay safe at home, Leah took the opportunity to spend her idle time (and she had a lot of those) writing more music inside her room.
“Doing live shows for me was a weekly thing I looked forward to,” she recalled during an interview with SoundStrip for the Breaktime Musings segment of The Broader Look podcast, “So the pandemic changed the way I creatively express myself because from doing live shows nagging online shows or trying to write in my room, trying to write my own music. But it actually made me more inspired to write music and to find different ways to show my music online,”
For Leah, writing songs has become a way for her to balance herself.
“It’s a balancing act. Everyday I go to school, I wake up at like five. And my work as a teacher is very tiring but at the end of the day I just want to sing and write music kasi it’s my way of expressing myself. I guess my life just feels more balanced if I do music,” she said.
Having been with the band since their college years, Leah stated that The Ransom Collective as a whole wanted to take a break and “do their own thing.” For Leah, the experience has been “exciting and scary” yet at the same time she is proud of what her bandmates have achieved.
“Right now, I’m very proud of my bandmates who are doing their own thing kasi they’re all writing their own songs and solo music. I’m so proud as a band member to see that,”
From a creative standpoint, Leah describes her work as a solo artist as “more personal”, which was how “Fourth of July” came about. A bright and minimalist guitar driven ballad, “Fourth of July” is a song about an instant connection in a long distance relationship. According to her, the song came about during her latest re-watch of the Reese Witherspoon comedy film, Legally Blonde that caused her to have the line “you look like the Fourth of July” stuck in her head.
“I kept on saying that line and I was thinking; ‘what if the Fourth of July was a feeling?’ because what happens on the Fourth of July here in the States is that there’s a lot of fireworks and everyone is excited. And you fall in love when there’s fireworks, so I wanted to write about that feeling and call it ‘Fourth of July’ and release it on the Fourth of July also,” she said.
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Other than writing about a feeling, Leah also shared that she wanted to write about ‘finding hope in seeing the person you love again.’
“When you meet someone there’s like a spark and there’s an instant connection, and that’s how the song was made. It was like explosions tapos kilig or like meeting someone for the first time and being like; ‘wow this person’s gonna be someone in my life’,”
“Fourth of July” is now available on all major streaming platforms.