Interview: Leon Bridges on Writing ‘So Long’ for Concussion

At the start of 2015, Leon Bridges was looking forward to going on tour with his new album, Coming Home. By the end of the year, Bridges would feature in the Oscar conversation as a potential contender in the Best Original Song Category. So Long is featured in the brand new Will Smith film, Concussion. I sat down to have a brief conversation with Leon Bridges to talk about the songwriting process and learn more about his influences.

Awards Daily: Did Peter Landesman approach you and say, I want you to write a song for my movie? What happened?

Leon Bridges: Peter reached out to my manager about me doing a song for his film. We watched the film, and I didn’t have direction about where he wanted the song, but after watching it, he said he wanted something for the end credits. I felt something a bit Country, Soul and Gospel vibes were perfect for the end credits of the film.

AD: What was the inspiration during the songwriting process?

LB: I was inspired by Dr Benet, a man who is an outsider who tries to bring truth to the surface and gets set down because of it. I was inspired by his persistence. The song comes from a personal place. There are some people in my home town saying how I don’t deserve to be where I’m at because I haven’t been working as long as these other musicians, setting me down because every thing happened so fast.

The song is saying that I love where I’m from, but maybe I need to leave because I’m not feeling welcome.

AD: That’s interesting hearing that.

LB: It’s a natural thing that happens in a home town when people are successful, some people are jealous.

AD: For those who aren’t familiar with your sound, what would we expect when we put the album Coming Home on?

LB: I don’t like labeling it Retro Soul, but I’m inspired by a lot of soul artists of the past. The record is still very new in its delivery and songwriting. The record has a lot of different sounds that I can’t really put it under one thing. There’s a lot of inspiration from Doo-Wop, Soul, Country, Blues, and Rock ‘n’ Roll. It’s all wrapped up in one.
It’s a very subtle kind of record.

AD: Circling back to Peter, he has nothing but good things to say about you. How does that make you feel when you hear those words?

LB: It’s really humbling to see and hear that. I never really expected any of this, so it’s humbling to see influential people like what I’m doing.

AD: What was Peter’s reaction when he heard the song for the first time?

LB: Peter came down to Fort Worth, we played him the song and immediately he said, “This is it. This is perfect.” That’s all he said, there were no notes or anything.

AD: What would I find on your Spotify play list?

LB: There’s a lot of different ones. I have my RnB, Hip-hop playlists. You’d find Ne-Yo, also some Fats Domino and Otis Reading.

AD: Were you a child performer?

LB: No , not at all. I was a very shy kid. It goes back to what’s happening now. I grew up very shy. I didn’t get into music until I was in my 20’s.

AD: Now here you are, with your song being a potential Oscar contender.

LB: It’s insane.

AD: It’s opened you up to a whole new audience. What’s the response been like?

LB: It’s been very positive. People hear the record which was made at a time when I was growing. I had never played in front of a big crowd before. There weren’t any expectations and I’ve grown a lot on the road.

AD: What’s next for you?

LB: I’ll be touring around America and Europe. I’ll be writing and preparing for the next album.