00:00it's so wonderful to have you here it's amazing to be here and it's I feel like because I met you
00:12that's why all of this has happened that time two years ago I think it was two years ago
00:17my first became involved with all the amazing women essence so you're here to perform with
00:25his purple highness you get to call him prince yeah that's his real name I know but you know
00:33it's like calling like I don't know Barack Obama like hey Barack no it is a bit like that and I
00:41still have trouble saying it but you just have to say it if you if you wanted to call him you have
00:48to just say his name it's still very surreal though every time it never gets like it's always very
00:53exciting he's just the best guy he's lovely how did he tell you about this gig like was it like
00:583 a.m. in the morning Leanne come to New Orleans um well it was it well no but it was you know
01:08it's still pretty cool I just I just got invited we email a lot so I got invited on you know just
01:13our chatting email I was like yeah sure you know maybe you know okay I could do that come to New
01:19Orleans so um I'm absolutely thrilled that I made it and that we're gonna do this it's just I can't
01:27believe we're gonna do this and it's so exciting it must be you know to have Prince be a fan of your
01:33music and you know your talent and really sort of uh champion you as the future you know what give
01:39his baton in a way to your you musically I like to think of it that way and I think he's so good at
01:47like seeking out you know perhaps underrated talent or just unusual things you know and I quite like
01:58that he's really into it and he's like really into Esperanza Spaulding and of course Janelle Monáe so I
02:03think he's discovering the kind of different interesting girls and I like to think I'm one of
02:08those I think Prince is a feminist probably he has a lot of you know amazing women walking around all the
02:15time so but they're like you know doing stuff and they're extremely cool and smart so how did
02:21you two meet um we first spoke two years ago and he rang me on the phone I just um it had to be
02:32arranged like what time he would speak to me but I just didn't believe it until it actually happened
02:36um and I was with my boyfriend at the time and we were with friends and then he rang my boyfriend's
02:43phone because I had stupidly forgotten my phone at home um and then we just spoke for like 20 minutes
02:51about music and Joni Mitchell and what am I listening to at the moment and you know what is he listening
02:58to and I just told him I really liked his music you couldn't think of anything deeper than that
03:05no you know off the top of my head I can't really like it was so surreal though so it was a good time
03:12though and then we just managed to stay in touch that whole time so now we're here and I heard that
03:19you're working on a new album which we're very excited about yes yes I'm very excited too um it's
03:25I think it's gonna be a progression from the last record but it's not gonna be like
03:31suddenly a dance record but it will be as meaningful and it's about real things again
03:38because I think there's just too much in reality going on not to write about it so
03:45I'm gonna be exploring new textures but still playing guitar because I love it um and exploring
03:50where my voice can go so yeah I can only imagine where your voice can go well we'll see we'll see
03:57all right well thank you so much we love having you here thank you I love Essence thank you for having me
