London-based, French singer, songwriter and producer Léa Sen delivers her rich and resplendent debut LP, LEVELS, and dissects the work for Wonderland.
There’s a symbiotic chemistry between the real and the fantasy that sprawls across Léa Sen’s debut album, LEVELS. It’s lucid yet grounded, dream-like yet vivd. It’s a work of meditation from within the mind of a maverick; an artist who reached beyond her means, moving across the English Channel to seek answers to her insatiable creative appetite.
There’s no sole genre to label the work within — it’s an unnecessary box to tick for someone whose vision exceeds definition — as Sen tackles ideals of self-worth and personal enlightenment atop cascades of sonic whirls, bridging together trip hop and R&B within a pop terrain that’s left-field and artistically freeing.
The London-based French talent realises herself musically and personally across the record’s 10 infectious tracks — below, in a Wonderland exclusive track-by-track, Sen delves into each as a singular entity, analysing her process and admitting her emotion.
Listen to the album…
Read the track-by-track…
“lvl 1 – HOME ALONE”
The first song i wrote from scratch with my brother Flo. I wanted to complicate it but he pushed me to keep it simple, just guitar and voice. that became the test for the album. If it works stripped back, it works. It captures a time when I had just moved to London, chasing escape but getting stuck in my own head. Falling for the wrong people, daydreaming to survive, but feeling more lost than ever.
“lvl 2 – ALIENS”
Some of the best people in my life were the hardest to read at first. blunt, distant, not interested in being liked. Over time i realised that kind of honesty is rare. “Aliens” is about those people. The ones who tell you the truth even when it hurts. For me, it’s my brothers. they never sugarcoated anything and didn’t care about being liked. That kind of love is alien. And it changed me.
“lvl 3 – EDGE OF THE MAP”
I’ve always had a restless, curious spirit. Growing up in France, I was writing in English, watching Korean films, singing in Portuguese, even studying Japanese at one point. Everything in me wanted to leave. France never felt big enough for what I was dreaming of. But leaving meant letting go. I left my friends, someone I really liked, my mom, my brothers. This song is that moment before the leap. Wondering if chasing something new always means losing someone you love.
“lvl 4 – WATER SMOKE”
This was about my first boyfriend. I recorded sounds from the bathroom like the shower running and doors closing, trying to recreate that feeling of things happening around me but not knowing what they meant. I never really knew who was in his head and that made everything feel unstable. I kept doubting myself, wondering if i was paranoid, but deep down I think I was right. At one point in the song I started thinking, what if i became that girl for someone else. The one they couldn’t trust. First love can feel like comfort but when it’s full of shadows it stays with you in a strange way.
“lvl 5 – GHOSTWRITER”
It’s about the frustration of wanting to say something and never quite getting it right. either i say too much and confuse people or i say too little and don’t get anywhere. words just don’t always land the way i feel them. I think that’s why i hold on to music so tightly. even language became a barrier. Speaking english every day made it harder to connect with my mom. But being french sometimes made it harder to connect with people in London. I think I just got tired and wished someone else could speak for me.
“lvl 6 – VIDEO GAMES”
In my early twenties I realised a lot of the things I was struggling with had actually started when i was a kid. addictions, behaviours, just ways of being. At the time I didn’t see them for what they were. I just didn’t know how to process emotions or sensations that felt too much. I didn’t really understand how my mind worked at all. and i kept wondering. Did this come from something that happened to me. Or from someone who raised me. And am i ever really gonna be free from that.
“lvl 7 – LAZY DAYS”
I thought moving to London would make me tougher and in some ways it did, but it also brought me back to something softer. I started letting things be, leaning into wishful thinking, trusting people more, loving deeply, even when it felt risky. I wrote this in 2020 after things ended with someone. He said we should stay friends and at first I felt heartbroken, but then I realised that’s all i’d ever really wanted. I started daydreaming about us being friends instead and that felt so pure. Probably the most innocent I’ve been in years.
“lvl 8 – HOW?”
I was on tour when I wrote this one. A lot of the album started that way, just me, my guitar, and a quiet moment between everything. I’d realised I needed to let go of certain people and find fulfilment on my own. It sounded good in theory but being alone felt awful. I didn’t know how to do it without spiralling. The guitar came first, then the drums, which felt like the chaos of solitude, loud, unstructured, but necessary.
“lvl 9 – MORE THAN HAPPY”
I stopped trying to fit into other people’s idea of me. In relationships, in music, everywhere. I realised I like who I am and that’s enough. If someone can’t handle it, that’s on them. i also wanted to write a classic 5/4 song. I’d been listening to Sting and Nick Drake’s “River Man” and loved how rare and iconic that feels in pop.
“lvl 10 – LOBBY BOY”
This wasn’t about doubting the journey. It was more like, ‘Okay, you had a vision, now you’ve got to deal with the setbacks and just keep going.’ I was in a moment where I didn’t know what i actually had control over. What to hold on to, what to let go of. Whether this was all a cycle or if it would ever really end. I kept picturing this lobby boy running the elevator and me just moving through levels. Then I started wondering if maybe I’m the lobby boy after all.
