Passion and Purism: Singer-Songwriter Leoté Taylor Aims to Refurbish the R&B Space With Organic Artistry

Passion and Purism: Singer-Songwriter Leoté Taylor Aims to Refurbish the R&B Space With Organic Artistry

Persistence, perseverance, and passion are three tenets which have guided the journey of South African R&B singer-songwriter Leoté Taylor, whose path began by putting her best foot forward in the pursuit of making her dreams of becoming a musician come true. Apart from writing songs and putting out new music, Taylor’s struggle has been that of juggling education while growing her nascent desire of making it as a singer-songwriter.

It is said that one can never have their cake and eat it, but Taylor’s case proved otherwise. A graduate of MC Art Academy at the South African State Theatre, Leoté also graduated from Tshwane University of Technology with a Cum Laude in Arts Administration as well as a National Diploma in the performing Arts. And the best part of it all was that she never had to sacrifice the music, if anything, it spurred her on even more.

Taylor described her upbringing and the things which led her to pursue music.

Leoté Taylor | SUPPLIED

“I grew up in a musical home, exposed to quality music. At the age of three, I sang my first song, which was “Greatest Love of All” by Whitney Huston. My mom and dad did pay attention to this, but they didn’t take it seriously. My uncle is a guitar player, and I would sing along everytime he played. But music wasn’t a thing I was encouraged to pursue. If anything, that only came to the fore in high school, when I joined the school choir. As I result, I realised that I had talent which was affirmed by my English teacher.

“It was then that I first expressed my desire to venture into the performing arts and becoming a musician to my parents. They sort of discouraged it because they felt being in the entertainment industry wasn’t exactly a viable career option. So, they suggested I do something stable to fall back on. With that I studied psychology, but a year into it I told them I couldn’t do it anymore and that I wanted to do music. While they told me that they supported that, they also said that I should pursue music on my own,” she said.

And thus what incubated in Taylor’s tender three-year-old heart grew legs and a heart to keep itself alive through vigorous initiative. This came in the shape of ghosting for other musicians, doing backing vocals for other artists in studio, and partaking in collaborations. Without waiting for validation, and perhaps even getting up in spite of its relative absence, the songstress hustled, sharpening her skill by entering singing competitions – some of which she garnered top honours. By the time her glow made everybody look, her singing career had already gotten strong enough.

Leoté Taylor | SUPPLIED

A musical purist at heart, Leoté’s approach to crafting songs is taking the acoustic and old-school route, recording her songs with the help of live instruments. The process was no different for her latest single, “I Choose You”, which she conceived from a one-time social intercourse thanks to eye contact she made with a man whom she took a special liking to. Inspired by love and the incandescent feelings of romantic interest, the songbird detailed the process which brought the song to be.

“For me, when it comes to songwriting, it has to be an organic process and everything has to be prompted by experience. I was at an event and I saw this gent. We locked eyes and there was sort of this connection. So, the reason why I called the song “I Choose You”, is because we have moments where we meet people and they become friends or acquaintances or love interests. And in that moment, I chose that person as my person, and so the song further developed.

“When I left the event that evening, on my way home, the phrase “I choose you” kept on looping in my head. When I got home, I wrote the song, contacted my producer and sent him the melody. The next day, he had something pre-produced for me to listen to, and from there we set up a writing session, where I did the verses, the chorus, and the bridge and things like that over a piano. After that, we recorded a guide track because I don’t do any preprogrammed music and prefer a live band instead. We synced the track to the seven-piece band; they loved the song, and a couple of weeks later we met in studio. After all that I went into the studio solo to see if the lyrics made sense and if everything fits nicely. Did some mixing after that and went back in to do some backing vocals and got someone else to do that same as well, then we pulled everything together,” she said.

Listen to “I Choose You”:

Recording an album is a tapestry of little yet precious moments, which eventually fall into the cracks of the unknown, lost in the lyrics, labour, and life itself. Taylor, aware of this, not only took pains to make songs, but also memories. etching them in the stone of recordings due to come out next year. Before that, the crooner revealed that she had more plans after the release of her latest single.

“I released “Do You Love Me?” on the month of August, and then “I Choose You” last month. I have a body of work that’s going to be coming out in the next two to three months, but before that I’ll be releasing another single. During the album’s recording process, because it was so organic, I quickly realised I was creating something that has not been done in a very long time, which is using a full band to record an 11-track album. So I started documenting the process. By the time everything was finished, we had a full documentary in our hands, so we’ll be releasing that early 2025. I also have a four-city tour coming up in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Pretoria,” she said.

Taylor has dedicated herself to being a sonic artisan who is finicky about instrument selection and the actual process of putting songs together. Describing her niche as being a throwback, the singer highlighted that what made her standout was her filling the void of organic musicianship.

“One of the things we’ve realised in studio was that I have a very throwback sound, and that my process of recording is generally very methodical and thought-out. I believe that music carries energy, and I’m always very intentional about making sure everyone plays each instrument in studio. My style itself pays homage to the way things were done in the past when it comes to how music was recorded in the past. You know? Having the band there, the songwriters, the producers – having actual human beings make music in studio from scratch rather than programming it,” she said.

Leoté Taylor | SUPPLIED

Critical to her growth has been staying true to herself and being a diligent apprentice of the game and its former players.

“It’s important to find out which lane you fit into, and studying the greats who came before you to see what they did which made them legendary. It’s also vital to keep up with the current people in your genre and space. So I always try to stay in tune with what’s happening around me, being in touch with my feelings and being in touch with life and pouring that into the music,” she said.

Looking to the future, Taylor expressed interest in venturing into other genres.

“My first love has always been house music, so I’d like to return to that by doing a lot of collaborations with house DJs. Another sound I’d love to get into some day is soft rock. That heavy and grungy sound, almost like P!nk’s type of thing,” she said.