Singer and songwriter Leah Daniels is making a name for herself in Canada’s country music scene. Her work has her travelling constantly and spending time in cities like Nashville and Toronto, but at the end of the day, she loves being from a small town and is always happy to head home to Uxbridge, ON, a charming town northwest of Toronto that has a great sense of community and is the type of place where people naturally say “hi” to you when you walk down the street. 

We had the opportunity to chat with Daniels about her latest single and her favourite spots in Uxbridge and Oshawa. (She currently splits her time between the two towns—her fiancé is from Oshawa.)

What inspires you when making music?

Life, for sure, inspires me. It’s the people around me, the things I’m experiencing, and relationships. I try to soak in everything that is happening. Things that have happened inspire me or I might hear a phrase that someone has said. 

Who are your music idols? Who inspires you?

I grew up listening to a little bit of everything. My grandpa was really into traditional country, and I am too. 

I grew up in the late 1990s, early 2000s, so I love pop music. Celine Dion was a huge influence for me as a singer. She just has an incredible voice. I was always trying to imitate her singing those high notes. Sarah McLachlan was the first person who I realized writes her own music and plays piano, through that, I was inspired to write my own music and play piano. I also got really into people like Sheryl Crow and Chantal Kreviazuk. I feel so grateful that there were so many strong females being played at that time. I was definitely inspired by all of them. 

What do you love most about what you do?

My favourite part is performing. Being on stage and actually connecting with people through music and feeling the energy. It’s like making people feel something right there in the moment. I love writing and l love recording, but there is nothing like being on stage. 

You have a new single “Together”. Tell us a bit about it?

“Together” is kind of a how-to song for guys to get a girl. It’s quirky and a little bit different from the other music I’ve released, but it’s fun. It’s a song I wrote [with Patricia Conroy and Dave Thompson] and I don’t think I’ve ever written a song so quickly. We wrote it in about an hour. I guess maybe I had a lot to say on the topic. 

In the music industry, I’m surrounded by a lot of guys: my band is guys, and I have three brothers, so I’ve seen a lot of stuff. There is no song for guys on how to get a girl. I feel like girls are always trying harder and changing things about themselves to make guys like them; guys need to step it up too! This is a song where it’s me being like, ”Yo, you’ve been doing this all wrong. Let me just help you out, listen to me.”

It’s just a lot of fun, and I am really proud of it. We did the video for it last month and we totally went with the song’s theme(s), and I laughed so hard on set.