My Leo Kalyan Top 10 Countdown
Leo Kalyan is an artist who is blazing his own path. Even within this current wave of LGBTQ music he remains a singular artist and talent. Now to be fair I have said this about many LGBTQ acts like Kim Petras, Cub Sport and MNEK, but that just shows how incredible this current wave of LGBTQ music is. We’ve been denied music from people across the LGBTQ spectrum for so long that now that we are finally getting a glut of music from the Queer community it’s been an avalanche of different voices, perspectives and genres. Just like a band such as Primus couldn’t have gained mainstream attention in any other era besides the Alternative Nation years of the early to mid ‘90s, Leo Kalyan makes music that only could have occurred in the mid to late 2010s. The way Leo mixes Eastern and Western musical styles is completely unique to him alone. You can hear a wide range of influences that have never been mixed like this before such as Bollywood, Indiana Raga singing, Chillwave, RnB, Trip-Hop and Pop. Then you add on top of all that Leo’s lyrics, which deal with his perspective as openly Gay Man who lives in the U.K. but who is also half Pakistani and half Indian and you get music that is truly groundbreaking and unlike anything else I have heard in my 22 years as a music fan.
While Leo has yet to release a full length album he has been consistently releasing music since 2015 with a series of singles and EPS. His last EP The Edge was released in late 2018 and was his most artistic and emotional statement yet. Leo has continued to release excellent songs since then in 2019 such as The Road and Trevi Fountain. Compiling a list of Leo’s 10 best songs meant I had to leave out some real gems, but as always I have attached my Spotify playlist below which contains these 10 songs and others that just missed making the list. I tried to have a good mix of his music ranging from 2015 through now. While Leo has a uniform sound and vision he can tackle introspective and political lyrics along with love song bops and make it all sound equally alluring. I look forward to more music from Leo, because I think he is giving us something that is has been severely lacking in music before. I hope Leo’s music inspires others to create music that is as groundbreaking and trailblazing as his own in the future. Leo is once again an example how Queer music right now is where the truly cutting-edge music is being produced in 2019. Queer pop is breaking down barriers in pop music and giving voice to more different people than say Alternative Rock or most mainstream pop are in 2019. In fact, I would argue that Leo is much more Alternative than the bands of all white straight men with guitars who currently fill up the Alternative Rock Chart right now. As per usual I want to say that this list is purely subjective, but I hope it gives you a better sense of who Leo is and the message his music is projecting because he is truly a special artist who deserves a much bigger platform.
10.The Road
Leo Kaylan is not afraid to broach difficult subjects and the Road sees him grapple with the hate and divisiveness that seems to be spreading like a plague across the world right now. Leo wonders if it’s too late to turn back or if we have arrived a crossroads where we still have time to make the right choices. Leo once again delivers a luscious and atmospheric backdrop that’s easy to get lost in, which helps the song go down easy despite it’s heavy subject matter.
9. Fingertips
Initially Leo said he hid his race and sexuality behind his music because he was afraid that he would not find success. When Leo released Fingertips he began to open up a little bit. We still didn’t know his sexual orientation and there is not as much Indian influences as there would be later. Nonetheless Leo says the song was his most honest up till that point and it was a hard one to write as a result since he felt he was no longer hiding behind his music. Soon Leo would open up much more in his music, but this remains an essential stepping stone in his musical evolution and it has one of his most memorable choruses.
8. White Light
The Outside EP is when Leo faces his inner demons and confronts his own internalized shame for being gay on songs like Fucked Up. White Light seems to address Leo’s struggle with being an Indian who is surrounded by white people. The line where he sings “Where Do I Begin? Trapped in the wrong skin” makes this clear. Later on Leo begins to realize just how difficult life will be for him, which he didn’t realize when he was a child:
“All the fables I heard as a child
Betreayed and mislaid, I’m reckless and wild
Stumbling blind still searching proof
Selling the lies, I bought in my youth.”
This line hits hard for anyone who has found themselves as the minority or other in the mainstream. As a kid we don’t yet realize the systematic bigotry that is meant to kept those who don’t align with the “mainstream” down. When we do realize that we are not equal to all of our peers it is a difficult and heartbreaking moment that leaves us questioning everything we thought we knew about the world. The song sees Leo getting more layered and more dense with his production, especially with all the tropical birds and nature sounds in the background.
7. No Man’s Land Pt. 1
No Man’s Land continues the themes of White Light in which Leo realizes he is a man without a country. His skin makes him the minority in England where he sings
“We're in a city, of cities
I've lost all sense of what was home
No man's land
is everything I've come to know
The shift in sands
Leave me with not much else to show”
Yet due his sexual orientation Leo can’t return to his home country of Pakistan despite all this which leads to one of my favorite moments in the song
“It's such a beautiful disaster
But I can't go and change my brain (oh oh)
I sit and wonder what I am after (oh oh)
As you mispronounce my name.”
The song ends with a collage of news clips from British citizens and journalists declaring that there are too many immigrants in England and that they need to leave the country right now. It’s a sentiment that seems to be spreading across the world as many citizens feel like isolationism is the best way to return their countries to their former greatness. This has led to horrific political policies, especially in the U.S., and it makes No Man’s Land hit even harder in 2019 since it feels like things have only gotten worse since 2017 when this song was first released.
6. Temptation
While many of Leo’s songs can be pretty heavy, he’s also just as capable of doing a sexy bop. Temptation is as sexy as it is danceable and its groove is hard to resist. This is a perfect song to soundtrack late night hookups while vacationing some place hot and exotic.
5. Together
While Leo isn’t afraid to broach darker topics, he is still a firm believer in the power of love and Together is one of his most uplifting bops. The song describes a love between two individuals (who are obviously men) that lead them on a beautiful journey through nature and with each other. It’s a love that will keep both of them united even in death as Leo sings
“And if the darkness ever comes to call
I'll stay beside you, i'll stay beside you
And into darkness if we slip or fall
Together we pray.”
4. Get Your Love
I’ve placed the 3 big love bops by Leo Kalyan all back to back here on this countdown. Get Your Love is another song where Leo compares the beauty of nature with the beauty of true love. It has one of his best beats and a chorus that will get stuck in your head instantly. Leo makes love sound like a journey through nature as well as a journey through the soul and it’s extremely appealing as a result.
3. Trevi Fountain
Trevi Love is another love song, but one that is different from the last three songs on this list. Trevi Fountain discusses the love between friends (and Queer friends more specifically) and how friendship can be just as powerful and life changing as romance. Leo said the inspiration for this song came from when he visited the Trevi Fountain in Roam with one of his best friends. You can hear the fountain and children running around at the start and the end of the song. Trevi Fountain sees Leo employ his raga style singing to full effect, especially on the chorus and bridge, and it’s one of the most beautiful and moving moments in his entire catalogue.
2. Horizon
Leo’s 2018 EP The Edge features some of his darkest and most emotionally gut punching songs such as Qandeel Baloch and the title track. Yet, as always Leo remains an optimist, which is why the EP ends with one of his greatest declarations of how love can save you with Horizon. It’s a song that lifts you up and makes you a believe that no matter how dark things get, love is always just over the Horizon to save you. The main chorus drives this feeling home by being his catchiest and grandest chorus ever and it is as beautiful as it is life affirming.
1. Focus
Focus is the song that got me into Leo Kalyan and it remains the single best distillation of everything that is great about his unique brand of pop music. Focus is equal parts Sade, Trip-Hop, and Bollywood with Leo employing Indian Raga singing in his vocals throughout the entire song. This song feels like Leo fully meshing his eastern and western musical styles together seamlessly and perfectly. Focus may have many influences, but it feels fresh and new because never before have all these styles been mixed together quit like this and the results are absolutely breathtaking. Focus is not only Leo’s best song but one of the best songs of the decade. Hopefully it’s also one of the most influential songs going forward in terms of inspiring more artists to mix and match western and eastern musical styles together.
