COVER
Leila Dey
Shares Big Sister Advice You Didn’t Know You Needed
By Gabby Sgherri
Publishing date: Jan 06, 2023
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Perfection is a like villain, rising R&B artist Leila Dey assures me, despite our picturesque setting. Sunlight beams through the windows of a studio in Toronto’s West End as she dons a body-hugging AVAVAV green midi dress with cheeky cut-outs and adjusts a fuzzy vintage Prada bucket hat on her head. “I’m still working on [perfectionism] and battling self-sabotaging ideations because I‘m always like ‘is this good enough?’ However, I’m at a point where I’m learning to love the things that aren’t perfect,” she discloses later in the day. “I’ve played demos where to me, it’s not perfect, but [people are like] ‘no, we need this version’. Then I rerecorded it, like 500 times, made it to what I’d consider to be perfect, and they are like ‘I [prefer] the demo’. Sometimes people can’t explain it but they like that edge where it’s not completely perfect. The little things I always try [to] straighten or iron out are the things that make me different and make people gravitate towards my artistry.” Contrastingly, we’re at a photo shoot for our January 2023 cover where Leila is being groomed, glammed, and styled to well…perfection.
She comfortably poses in front of Erin Leydon’s lens, navigating from serious and confident to silly and playful in a matter of seconds. The shutter clicks while Beyoncé’s Renaissance plays in the background. It’s late November 2022 and it’s one of the few days Leila has off while touring as a supporting act for Jessie Reyez’s Yessie North American tour. “I came onto the tour at the Chicago dates, coming halfway through, I was really nervous because it’s my first tour and I didn’t know what to expect,” she reveals of her inaugural experience. She brushes off her performance as decent and continues, “When I came offstage, I saw this little man and woman standing at the back of the stage. They were like ‘wow, you did an amazing job. We love what you’re doing, keep it up.’ And I was like, this is Jessie’s parents. Just that feeling of encouragement, after being so nerve-wrecked, was one of my most memorable moments because those two human beings—they are beautiful.” She mused about the familiarity built with everyone on tour, Jessie graciously offering up chicken wings when she was in need, and the indelible synergy she had with the crowd in Detroit.
AAVAVAV dress, vintage Prada hat, glasses are Leila’s own.
Perfection is a like villain, rising R&B artist Leila Dey assures me, despite our picturesque setting. Sunlight beams through the windows of a studio in Toronto’s West End as she dons a body-hugging AVAVAV green midi dress with cheeky cut-outs and adjusts a fuzzy vintage Prada bucket hat on her head. “I’m still working on [perfectionism] and battling self-sabotaging ideations because I‘m always like ‘is this good enough?’ However, I’m at a point where I’m learning to love the things that aren’t perfect,” she discloses later in the day. “I’ve played demos where to me, it’s not perfect, but [people are like] ‘no, we need this version’. Then I rerecorded it, like 500 times, made it to what I’d consider to be perfect, and they are like ‘I [prefer] the demo’. Sometimes people can’t explain it but they like that edge where it’s not completely perfect. The little things I always try [to] straighten or iron out are the things that make me different and make people gravitate towards my artistry.” Contrastingly, we’re at a photo shoot for our January 2023 cover where Leila is being groomed, glammed, and styled to well…perfection.
She comfortably poses in front of Erin Leydon’s lens, navigating from serious and confident to silly and playful in a matter of seconds. The shutter clicks while Beyoncé’s Renaissance plays in the background. It’s late November 2022 and it’s one of the few days Leila has off while touring as a supporting act for Jessie Reyez’s Yessie North American tour. “I came onto the tour at the Chicago dates, coming halfway through, I was really nervous because it’s my first tour and I didn’t know what to expect,” she reveals of her inaugural experience. She brushes off her performance as decent and continues, “When I came offstage, I saw this little man and woman standing at the back of the stage. They were like ‘wow, you did an amazing job. We love what you’re doing, keep it up.’ And I was like, this is Jessie’s parents. Just that feeling of encouragement, after being so nerve-wrecked, was one of my most memorable moments because those two human beings—they are beautiful.” She mused about the familiarity built with everyone on tour, Jessie graciously offering up chicken wings when she was in need, and the indelible synergy she had with the crowd in Detroit.
AAVAVAV dress, vintage Prada hat, glasses are Leila’s own.
Do we need things to be perfect and what we consider to be perfect, is it really perfect to somebody else?
Do we need things to be perfect and what we consider to be perfect, is it really perfect to somebody else?
Live performance is another aspect of Leila’s craft that favors polished over rough while vivifying songs about the trials and tribulations of life. In short, delivering the imperfect in a perfect way. Leila admits she takes the most stock of her newfound perspective during creation, the pre-requisite for performance, and TikTok’s authenticity-favored algorithm helped her get there. “It challenged my ideations around perfectionism and you know, do we need things to be perfect and what we consider to be perfect, is it really perfect to somebody else?” Leila asks rhetorically.
Those inner thoughts and questions are the genesis of her craft, turning introspective analysis into lyrics and melodies with her soulful honeyed voice. As wordsmiths, artists find the vocabulary and sounds to succinctly capture the feelings and experiences that others struggle to voice for themselves. “I see a lot of my music and projects as like what is the story that I’m trying to convey? As I was [making] the project and writing it, I was going through a very tumultuous relationship at the time so I was like, ‘let’s be honest about where I’m at,’” Leila says, explaining the concept for her 2021 EP Detour. The highs and lows of love are a storied topic amongst creative mediums but Leila’s reflections on the matter are existential-adjacent, allowing for a more expansive concept.
The inspiration behind the title was two-fold, partially because Leila always envisioned listening to the project in a car and detours are an apt metaphor for the unforeseen challenges encountered as a relationship unfolds. “I was also thinking about the things that inspire me, SZA’s album Ctrl is all about the fact that we want so much control as human beings. I know that I like having control over myself, so when I feel like I don’t have [it]—I feel unstable, but when you realize in life that we actually don’t have control, you learn to live and embrace life’s lemons. That’s pretty much what Detour is about, when life hands you shit, you deal with it.” The desire for control and perfectionism go hand in hand, with the pursuit of the latter born out of a need for the former.
Raf Simons top, vintage Dior bodysuit.
Faith is the size of a mustard seed. Allow that to grow in your mind and get rid of all the doubt and stuff that was fed to you or that you fed to yourself.
On set, Leila seems at ease letting styling and glam take the lead but she’ll politely interject if there’s something she doesn’t like. We move on to the second look of the day while the natural light remains abundant. The stylist, Kaelen Haworth, hands Leila a two-piece oversized green suit from The Attico and they proceed to deliberate footwear before settling on Leila’s white Crocs, adorned with rhinestone pins, that she wore to the shoot. Unexpected challenges can be big or small, and the topic of footwear pales in comparison to the emotionally loaded subject matter on Detour, but when faced with any roadblock Leila has a sentiment to keep in mind. “May every deviation bring [you closer] to your truest intentions and bring you home to [exactly] where you need to be,” she says, elaborating on the words of spoken poet Desiree MacKenzie. You may recognize the simplified version from “Detour”, the album’s opening track. Backdropped by the sounds of a car starting, the song signals the beginning of a journey, and Leila’s words act as an affirmation and reminder that when you feel lost, you have to trust the process and the potential of the unknown.
The Attico suit, Crocs Leila’s own.
“If I’d known in the moment how much [Detour] would be a catalyst for a lot of change for me, it would have been easier for me to go through those things,” she says referring to the difficulties and doubts she encountered during the creative process. Comparatively, her first EP, Black Bouquet, was created alongside the producer Zep Fire in 7 to 10 days, and her tendency to self-critique was overridden by the grief of having lost her sister around the same time. “I just needed a way of release, I needed catharsis. I feel like the process in which I created Black Bouquet was really different. I was expecting, going into Detour, that I’d be finished in like a week and I was so mistaken. That’s why the project for me, really speaks [to] growth and maturity.”
No matter where you are in life, what industry you work in or what your relationship status is—deviations from your intended course are as unpredictable as they are unpreventable. For Leila, the road to creating her second EP ended up being different than anticipated but she reached her destination nonetheless. “I wanted everyone to see the growth in me. Here is the maturity in Leila. Here is the stepping up in terms of vocals, background capabilities, mixes, and masters—everything that I’ve always wanted to show growth. But also the idea of, conceptually, we don’t have control.” Fittingly, Leila takes a strong stance in the power suit and looks directly at the camera, emulating the maturity she describes. But as we finish shooting the bright hue, clouds gather and raindrops begin to descend on the window panes—reminding us that mother nature is another thing we simply can’t control.
Dilara Findikoglu corset, Hommegirls trouser
“Being a young artist in the city, [I felt] like I didn’t have any access to mentorship in the Canadian music industry. That was difficult because there were many times [when] I wanted to know, am I on the right track? Are there other things that I should know? Even just business things,” Leila discloses. “I ended up going through the motions and learning through trials and errors and experience. I’ve always loved the idea of being able to pass on whatever it is that I know to a younger generation and cultivate some great artists in the city. So, I started the Dey Dreamers program to provide that mentorship, not just from myself but other artists in the city, for young women of color especially.”
The inception of such a program is another marking of Leila’s continued growth and maturity. It also highlights the importance of community, “if you’re an amazing songwriter, do you know [that]? Has anyone ever expressed that to you? Let’s put you in spaces that cultivate, craft, encourage, and promote the things that you do well. Maybe through that avenue, you will see more success to be able to do whatever you want to do in music.” When you’re pigeonholed in your own perspective, it can be hard to see beyond feelings of fear, perfectionism, doubt, and inadequacy but sometimes all you need is a mentor or Jessie Reyez’s parents to prop you up and make you smell the flowers.
Wolford x Mugler one piece, Prada slides.
On set, Leila doesn’t need much encouragement, she happily suggests tying her hair in space buns to compliment the sweet Taylor Dorry dress and chunky Prada boots combo she’s wearing. Her photographer, Coopz, walks around filming BTS content and her makeup artist of choice, Khera, patiently waits to touch up her T-zone. It’s funny how perfectionism skews the lens through which you view yourself but doesn’t affect your ability to recognize and nurture talent in others. “I would tell my younger self to trust yourself more, trust your talent, [and] trust your skills. People are gonna tell you shit, that you don’t necessarily agree with, but you allow it to get into your head,” Leila says affirmatively. “Faith is the size of a mustard seed. Allow that to grow in your mind and get rid of all the doubt and stuff that was fed to you or that you fed to yourself.” From watching the interactions on set that day to listening to Leila’s tour memories and Dey Dreamers ethos, I realized if perfection is the villain then the community is the hero.
In the spirit of community and the new year, we’ll be highlighting rising artists to watch throughout the month. Leila Dey kicked things off as our January 2023 cover star but there’s more on the way.
Sami Miro Vintage x Levis denim jacket and pants.
Photographer: Erin Leydon
Stylist: Kaelen Haworth
Makeup: Khera Alexander
Fashion Assistant: Marybeth Desantos
