LOUISA Johnson has ditched her record label to become an independent artist after years of having “people tell me what to do.”
The former X Factor winner had been signed to Simon Cowell’s label Syco and subsequently another Sony label, Ministry of Sound, but is now going it alone.
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She took a two-year break from music before returning last week with her empowerment anthem Like I Love Me, which she wrote.
In an exclusive interview, Louisa explained: “I’m not with Sony, I’ve released this one independently, but when it comes to releasing other music I’m not sure what position I’m going to be in.
“I’ve really enjoyed in the past year just working out who I am, focusing on the style of music I want to do, the artist I want to be, how I’m going to look – you have to think about everything.
“I’m really proud to stay myself throughout the whole time.
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“Where I’ve been writing music, I’ve just been trying to be myself and not have people tell me what to do.”
The singer, now aged 22, was only 17 when she won the competition in 2015 and struggled with working out who she was when she instantly became a star.
She said: “It was difficult for me. I had a great time doing it all but I was just so young I don’t even know how I did it, it’s crazy.
“I literally had no idea what I was doing in any way, shape or form.
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“This past year and a half I’ve just learned a lot and tried to be as authentic as possible.”
But she has fallen in love with music again after becoming a songwriter herself, having previously had hits including So Good and Tears, which was a collaboration with Clean Bandit.
Speaking about her new track, she said: “It’s the first song that I’ve actually written and released so it has been really scary but at the same time it was needed.
“This is the start of me being true to myself and making music that really means something to me.
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“At first I was so nervous because I had no idea what I was doing.
“It was only about a year ago that I really started to write my songs properly. But now I feel great about it.”
Louisa has released the song as part of a collaboration with USA Pro, which she has launched a range of gym gear with.
She added: “I felt like the gymwear and the message of feeling confident in your body goes really well together.
“I do not feel confident in the gym the majority of the time, so I wanted to get something that I did.
“It just makes you feel a bit better when you’ve got good gymwear.”
