Today, up-and-coming Winnipeg singer, songwriter, and artist Leith Ross (They/Them Pronouns) drops their new single “Orlando” alongside the official music video that they directed.
On “Orlando,” Leith paints a vivid picture of unrequited love. Vestiges of what could’ve been burn out under the glow of soft and sparse guitar. It all builds towards an admission, “I just think I was in love. I think I was in love.” The music video focuses on an idyllic bike ride underlined by unspoken emotion befitting of the song’s subdued intensity.
Leith says, “‘Orlando’ is about the slow and subtle realization that somebody doesn’t love you back in the way you wish they would. When a relationship feels like you are trying to hold on to a heavy object, but it’s slippery. It’s a sad, confusing feeling, but writing this song helped. I hope it can do the same for anyone else who can relate. It’s so hard to like people!! Sucks sometimes!!”
“Orlando” follows Leith’s previous viral release “We’ll Never Have Sex”—listen HERE and watch the video HERE. The song has amassed nearly 28 million Spotify streams, and the video has received over 1 million YouTube views. In support of their new music, Leith performed sold-out headline shows across North America earlier this fall, as well as supported Lord Huron in Canada and Andy Shauf and Helena Deland in Europe on various tours this year. Not to mention, they were the recipient of the inaugural John Prine Songwriter Fellowship at this year’s Newport Folk Festival.
Hailing from outside of Ottawa, Ontario, Leith Ross embraced music at a young age, channeling emotional confessions through softly strummed chords. Recorded live, they made their debut with the independent Motherwell EP in 2020. Beyond prominent editorial playlisting, it incited widespread critical applause across US and Canada. Leith maintained this momentum in 2021 with the I’d Have To Think About It, and the title track has notably amassed nearly 10 million Spotify streams to date. With a rising profile on TikTok and among tastemakers, Leith signed to Republic Records in 2022.
Leith Ross is a songwriter, singer, and artist born and raised in a small town outside of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They’ve been a sensitive and overly artistic person since birth, and when they started writing songs around the age of 12, it quickly became Leith’s favourite way to be sensitive and overly artistic. Still is. Since then, they’ve recorded and released two projects, and have a new one underway. Inspired by the likes of Lucinda Williams, Dolly Parton, Disney movie soundtracks, High School Musical, and their dad’s horrible parodies of all of the above, their songs attempt to explore themes of gut-wrenching and cheesy love, silliness, and extreme existentialism. Their favourite stuff. Leith’s recent single, “We’ll Never Have Sex,” is soaked in that ‘favourite stuff’ and ready to be listened to wherever you can find it.
