Leighton Meester, best known as Blair Waldorf on Gossip Girl, has no plans to return to pop music—and she’s refreshingly honest about why. The actress recently opened up about her brief music career, sharing that she walked away from it due to insecurities about her vocal talent.
Why Leighton Meester Left Pop Music Behind
In a candid interview with Bustle, Meester, 39, revealed she didn’t feel confident as a singer during her short-lived venture into pop in the late 2000s.
“I just didn’t feel like I sang that well in those songs,” Meester explained. “That’s why I stopped doing that style of songwriting. I didn’t feel really good when I would sing it. That was something I figured out in my 20s.”
Her music journey began in 2009 with her feature on Cobra Starship’s chart-topping Good Girls Go Bad. She followed up with two solo singles, Somebody to Love and Your Love’s a Drug, and later starred in the 2010 film Country Strong, playing a pageant queen with a promising country music future.
A Brief but Memorable Music Career
Meester returned to music in 2014 with Heartstrings, her self-written debut album featuring nine original tracks. While fans loved the introspective vibe, Meester remained uncertain about her place in the music world.
A recent resurgence in interest—sparked by Flavor Flav giving her music a viral shoutout—wasn’t enough to sway her back. Meester is focused on motherhood and her growing list of acting credits.
“There is that feeling of: there could be a future there,” she told Bustle, referring to her current creative projects and family life with actor Adam Brody.
Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester Embraces the “Leightonaissance”
While her music career is officially in the rearview mirror, Meester’s acting resurgence—cheekily dubbed the “Leightonaissance”—is gaining momentum. She’s returning to TV in Apple TV+’s The Buccaneers and Netflix’s hit comedy Nobody Wants This, where she joins her husband Adam Brody.
In Nobody Wants This, Meester plays Abby, a former middle school nemesis turned Instagram mommy influencer who butts heads with lead character Joanne (played by Kristen Bell). Fans are excited for the onscreen clash between two fan-favorite icons: Veronica Mars and Blair Waldorf.
Creator Erin Foster praised Meester’s unexpected comedic chops.
“She had everyone laughing at the table read. She completely nailed the tone—funny, absurd, and somehow still grounded,” Foster shared.
New additions to the cast include Miles Fowler, who plays Lenny, a teammate of Brody’s character Noah, caught in an awkward love triangle involving Morgan (Justine Lupe) and Noah’s brother Sasha (Timothy Simons).
From Gossip Girl to Grown-Up Roles
From Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf to pop singer and now a rising comedy actress, Leighton Meester continues to grow her career on her own terms. Though she’s closed the door on music, her new projects prove there’s still so much more to come.
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