Mississippi-bred, LA-based Brett McLaughlin, aka Leland, is the songwriter behind many favorite pop gems of the past few years, including most of the standouts on Troye Sivan’s debut Blue Neighbourhood (including the hit “Youth”) plus “My My My!” and “The Good Side,” from Sivan’s forthcoming sophomore album. Leland also penned a majority of Daya’s stunning debut Sit Still, Look Pretty, including “Hide Away” as well as Martin Garrix and Troye Sivan’s “There for You,” Sabrina Carpenter’s “Why” and Selena Gomez and Gucci Mane’s “Fetish,” to name a few. In 2017, Leland released “Mattress,” an “anthem about unrequited queer love set against soaring electro pop production” (Out Magazine) which solidified him as a budding pop artist in his own right. Amassing over 6 million streams on Spotify and featured on over 40 New Music Friday Spotify Playlists. Mattress led Leland to signing with Universal Germany, joining a roster of artists like Sigrid, Lana Del Rey and Dua Lipa.
After finally getting comfortable with himself, Leland released a singled titled i “Mattress.” It wasn’t until he felt his relationship with his family came into a good place, where they fully accepted who he is, that allowed him to be comfortable writing the kinds of songs he wanted to write—to sing about boys and not have to hide anything; to be fully transparent and authentic. For Leland, “Mattress” was also a critical moment in terms of carving out his own artistic persona: “[It] was one of the first songs where it was obvious to me that I couldn’t give it away,” he says. “It came so easily because it was real to me. I’m glad I held on to it.”
