New music is here from Leah Turner! The Latin-American singer embraces her roots in her new EP, Lost in Translation, co-writing all six songs on the project.
“I named it Lost in Translation because I think that we spend a lot of time looking at the outside,” Turner reflects to Everything Nash. “I think that if you allow hearts to speak and vibes to be felt, and chemistry to connect, nothing can get lost in translation, if you listen to your intuition and don’t just sit and take things at face value. I’m bringing my Latina roots into country music. I’ve wanted to do it for a really long time. Music has had such an incredible love affair with the Hispanic culture, the Latino and Mexicano culture, that it’s a very easy marriage for me. Not only is it because it’s who I am, but it’s also already been present in the genre that I love so much.”
Turner teamed up with hit writers like Jesse Frasure and Kylie Sackley to pen the songs on Lost in Translation, feeling empowered to write all of the tracks herself, instead of looking for outside songs.
“Everything that I write, I’ve experienced, or has been a part of my life. So whenever it’s out into the world, it’s really my heart being put out there. It’s really something that I have felt, and I hope that that becomes a soundtrack to somebody’s life.”
Included on Lost in Translation is Turner’s current single, “Vaquera and the Cowboy.” The song was inspired by watching Turner’s parents live out their own love story, with her father a successful rodeo star, while her mother was a jewelry artist and ballerina from Mexico. Their marriage has endured and flourished, in spite of their vast differences.
“I’ve had the privilege of having a front seat to love that stands the test of time,” boasts the singer.. “I’ve had the privilege of seeing a love that there’s never a give up. My mom and dad got married in a time where you didn’t marry outside of your race. That right there is just that — when you let hearts speak, and you fight for what you love, you see that there’s no give up, and you see love happen. So this is their story. This is their love story. If you feel that love is never going to come and find you or take you by the hand, watch the vaquera and the cowboy, because they’re doing something right,”
Turner, who was encouraged to pursue music full-time after a chance encounter with Kenny Loggins, has already had a Top 40 single (with “Take the Keys”), and had success as a songwriter for other artists as well. For a rising star, it’s a lot for Turner to take in, which only inspires her to work harder than ever.
“It’s wild,” Turner concedes. “I always pinch myself and count my blessings. I’m just so grateful for people caring, the fans caring, people caring, and giving us a platform to be able to write. I mean, I had a Top 40 single. Not a lot of people accomplish that. I have been on the road with the artists that I’ve been with. I have written with some of the artists and the actors that I’ve written with and for, and it has been really just a blessing. Every day, I’m just like, ‘This is nuts. This is crazy. And thank you. Thank you, God, Jesus, universe, whatever you want to call it.’ I’m very grateful. And then, to now be able to bring my whole other side of me into music is even more wild, that I’m reinventing and being accepted.”
Find Lost in Translation at LeahTurner.com.