After 20 years of writing and producing songs for the likes of Selena Gomez, BLACKPINK and Justin Bieber, Leah Haywood makes her return as an artist on her new album, Pressure On My Heart. Though it's her first project since 2001, Haywood — who now uses her surname as her stage name — insists that her creative process hasn't changed. She says that "99 percent" of her songs have been a fully realized idea, complete with a specific production treatment.
"Quite often on the edge of sleep — I might wake up at 3 in the morning and do a voice note," the Australian artist details. "Because I am a producer, when I hear the song in my head, I hear the production. The two are absolutely married, for sure."
In this episode of Behind the Board, go inside the process that unfolds after Haywood gets a late-night song idea. As she explains, not everything she hears in her head will translate into something she can recreate in a recording. "I have to start producing what I hear, and quite often, that will be the determining factor of, 'Is this really working?'" Haywood says.
"My style of production is messy," she adds, explaining why she typically chooses to do studio sessions alone. "Probably, a lot of these ideas that I do for myself might not have been accepted in a room full of people. But the thing is, they couldn't hear what I'm hearing in my head."
Going it alone allows Haywood to pursue her ideas without outside input, and tune in entirely to the song idea. "I might be hearing this crazy backing vocal arrangement. And I sing just one vocal and it doesn't sound that exciting," she offers as an example. "But once you get that whole freakin' backing vocal arrangement in, the whole thing flips on its head."
Learn more about Haywood's creative process and her journey in the music industry in the video above, and keep checking back to GRAMMY.com for more episodes of Behind the Board.