Leon Bridges Is Done Looking Back

On his new album, the Texas singer embraces a contemporary sound in search of a more diverse audience

- Bijan Stephen

• LEON BRIDGES IS TIRED of being compared to Sam Cooke. ‘I wanna shine,’ he says. ‘Of course the inspiration’s there, but you know, my music, my writing is nothing like Sam Cooke.’ He points out that while those songs on his hit first album, Coming Home, sounded like they might have been from the ’60s, their structures and compositions weren’t something you’d hear in that decade. You’ve heard ‘Coming Home,’ of course. The title track from Bridges’ debut was everywhere in 2014 and 2015; you couldn’t step out in public without hearing his earnest crooning about his tender, loving girl. When he sings, ‘You’re the only one that I want,’ it’s hard not to believe him.

By his own admission, Bridges was a ‘baby’ when Coming Home dropped in 2015. He was in his early twenties when he recorded it, down in his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. ‘I was very sheltered,’ he says. ‘I wasn’t in a relationship, any relationships at the time. I didn’t really, um… go out and drink and all that kind of shit.’ In the three years since, Bridges has toured the world, been nominated for two Grammys, attended President Barack Obama’s last birthday celebration at the White House – ‘surreal,’ Bridges calls it, before launching into a surprisingly excellent impression of our former president – and returned with another album, Good Thing.