With effortless style equally reverent of dreamy sixties Laurel Canyon and modern day Europe, Swedish songstress LÉON projects the kind of understated confidence a non-chatty Quentin Tarantino character might have. She's delicate, but dominant. She's reserved, but charismatic. She's instinctual, yet calculated. She's sensitive, but sarcastically funny. She's also completely in control of her own destiny – but she doesn't need to tell you. Rather, you just kind of know she's in charge. Once she steps up to a microphone, you get that from the robust powerhouse soul and retro spirit.

Both of which shine through her 2019 self-titled full-length debut, LÉON. That extends to the release itself. Stepping up her game all around, LÉON took the reins and she's in control this time, releasing it via her own LÉON Recordings in partnership with BMG. "Over the past few years, I've learned how to go with my gut and steer the wheel myself," she admits. "If it doesn't feel right to me, I don't pursue it. In the end, I stand behind the music I make, and I'm in control." Since emerging in 2015, she earned that wisdom and freedom by a prolific series of releases and countless performances.

A trio of EPs – Treasure [2015], For You [2017], and Surround Me [2017] – announced her arrival as an international presence as she amassed over 250 million cumulative streams, made her North American late-night television debut on The Late Late Show with James Corden, and earned widespread critical acclaim with Vogue dubbing her "Sweden's next big thing." 2017 saw her launch the LÉON Recordings imprint, partner with BMG, and enlist the talents of production duo Electric Los Angeles to produce the bulk of the album. The vocalist acted as an arranger in the studio, directing elements of the instrumentation and even performing keys and analog synths.

"I knew exactly what I wanted," she goes on. "I hear certain instruments in my head and bring in those influences. In the past, one song was pop-electronic, while another was soul. This time, I really honed in on a sound by working alongside just a handful of people – it's something I've had in my head forever, but didn't bring to life until now. This cycle is very colorful. It's different and bright." She introduces this colorful sound via the first single "Baby Don't Talk" produced by Captain Cuts. Underscored by guitar, finger-snaps, and upbeat energy, the direct lyrics immediately impact – "I like it when you don't say nothing – baby, don't talk."

"In the studio, I was talking shit about how sometimes when you're in a relationship for a while, you don't want the person to talk and kill the vibe," she explains. "It's like, ‘Let's just have a good time.'" This body of work brings her full circle. For the first time, she gets to call all of the shots. It's liberating and illuminates her work at its purest. That's why it'll connect. "I want people to listen and relate," she leaves off. "If my music could be somebody's soundtrack, that'd be amazing."