Leighton Meester

Although Leighton Meester first gained recognition through her performances on screen, particularly as the scheming yet central character Blaire Waldorf on Gossip Girl, she began exploring music while the series was still in its second season. Motivated by an early and abiding interest in song, she joined Universal Records in 2009 and soon made her first recorded appearance, lending vocals to Cobra Starship’s “Good Girls Go Bad.” That track became the band’s most successful release, reaching the Top Ten during the summer and casting Meester as an emerging figure in pop. She spent the remainder of 2009 developing material intended for a full-length debut, yet the project ultimately stalled; in its place, two digital singles emerged—“Somebody to Love,” a collaboration with Robin Thicke, and “Your Love’s a Drug.” Over time she moved away from the dance-driven sound that had marked her late-2000s work. An early indication of this change came with her appearance in the 2010 film Country Strong, in which she portrayed a country singer. She then aligned herself with the modern folk-rock outfit Check in the Dark, joining the group for a short tour and laying down several demos. The results of this new direction surfaced with the release of her 2014 debut album, Heartstrings.