Annie Leppert Talks Somewhere Between, Songwriting and Finding Joy in the In Between.
There is something immediately warm about Annie.
She is funny, and thoughtful without ever sounding rehearsed. That same feeling runs through Somewhere Between, her six-track EP out now..
Written across Nashville and New York between 2023 and 2025, the project brings together songs about love, change, friendship, and the strange in-between stages of growing up. Some were written before Annie moved to New York. Others came after. Together, they ended up documenting a period of her life that was shifting almost as quickly as the songs were being written.
Somewhere in the Middle
The title comes from a lyric in “Little by Little”:
“Somewhere between memories and just living, I’m right in the middle.”
For Annie, the line ended up defining the project.
“We’re always somewhere between one stage of life and another. Everything is just a stepping stone to something else.”
At the time, she had moved to New York and was figuring out a new city, new friendships, a new relationship, and what her life as an artist was going to look like.
The title actually came together after the EP itself was finished. Annie was listening back through the songs, trying to figure out what could hold all of them together, when Somewhere Between started to make sense.
It fits because the project never feels like it is trying to arrive at one big conclusion. It is more interested in the middle of things. The part where life is moving, but you have not quite caught up with it yet.
Leaving Room for the Listener
Annie’s songwriting feels personal, but never closed off.
She told Brian that earlier in her writing life, she had a tendency to explain everything too clearly. Lots of details, lots of metaphors, lots of trying to make sure the listener understood exactly what had happened.
Over time, she became more interested in leaving space for someone else to bring their own story into the song.
“If the point is for people to relate, then why am I just giving exactly what’s happening to me?”
She is still specific, just not so specific that the song can only belong to her.
“If I leave room for someone to fill in their own story, then it can be enjoyed like 10 times more.”
That balance shows up throughout the EP. “Little by Little” is clearly tied to moving somewhere new, but it does not have to stay inside Annie’s exact experience. It can become whatever transition the listener is carrying with them.
Six Different Kinds of Love
The six tracks were not originally written as one project, but Annie kept coming back to them.
“Young Love,” “James Bond,” and “Little by Little” were written first. “Holy Struggle,” “Burn It Slow,” and “Same Page” followed later in New York.
She had plenty of other songs she could have chosen.
“These were the six that just kept popping back into my mind.”
Eventually, she realized they all circled different versions of the same thing: love.
“Young Love” is the most direct. “James Bond” and “Holy Struggle” lean into yearning. “Little by Little” is a love letter to a city, her friends, and a particular season of life. “Same Page” is lighter and cheekier.
Then there is “Burn It Slow.”
“There’s No Fluff”
When Brian asked if there was one song on the EP that changed something for her creatively, Annie landed on “Burn It Slow.”
Love songs, she said, can be difficult to write without overcomplicating the feeling.
With this one, she felt like she finally got close to the kind of love song she had always wanted to make.
“There’s no fluff. It’s all just honest and simple.”
There was nothing she needed to invent.
“I didn’t have to make anything up. It was just exactly how I felt.”
That became its own lesson.
“You don’t need to say a lot to convey a really, really strong, beautiful feeling.”
It feels like a small shift, but an important one. Annie is learning to trust the simplest version of what she means instead of dressing it up just because she can.
Letting It Stay Human
That same instinct carried into the studio.
Annie worked with producer Ronnie DeSimone, who she credits with being especially good at knowing when something is already done.
That matters when you are a perfectionist.
While working on “Same Page,” they built harmonies, ad libs, runs, and guitar moments almost in real time, trying ideas until something clicked.
“He would be say, ‘That’s it. Done. Next.’”
The result is a track full of little details Annie says she does not even catch every time she listens.
The larger recording process was just as instinctive. The band recordings were done with everyone in the room together.
“Our hearts are beating at the same time, and we’re looking at each other and figuring it all out. I think it’s a little bit of magic that you don’t get otherwise.”
And if something is not perfectly aligned?
“Whatever. Who cares?”
That looseness matters. The project feels cared for without feeling overly polished.
Creativity Is a Practice
Annie’s songwriting process changes depending on the day.
Sometimes she writes with friends. Sometimes an idea hits immediately. Sometimes she sits down at the piano because she knows she needs to work even when inspiration is not there yet.
“Creativity is practiced. You have to do it to call it in.”
She has also learned not to quit too quickly when something gets difficult.
“When it feels hard is a good time to keep going.”
At the same time, she still trusts the songs that seem to arrive on their own.
“We’re just vessels for it. To not think and to just let it happen is so powerful.”
There is a push and pull there that feels true to the way Annie talks about almost everything: doing the work, but knowing when to get out of the way.
Once the Song Is Out, It Is Not Only Hers
Annie is also more comfortable with vulnerability now than she was when she first started releasing music.
“It’s easier to be vulnerable when you’re like, this isn’t mine anymore. It’s out in the world.”
Once a song is released, she starts to see it as something that can belong to whoever hears themselves in it.
She still gets to tell the stories behind the songs at shows. She still knows exactly where they came from. But she does not need to control what they become for someone else.
Then she says something that feels like the center of the entire project:
“What is music for if not to share our souls with each other?”
Watching the Songs Become Real
The first time Annie performed all six songs together was while opening for Maya Engen at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn.
It gave her the first real sense of what the project might become outside of the studio.
People came up afterward wanting to hear more, and that response still feels exciting to her.
“It’s so exciting that something came out of my brain and someone else was like, ‘I want that.’”
There is no pretending to be too cool about it either. Annie is proud of what she made, and it feels good when someone else connects with it too.
The Next Chapter Lives on Stage
This fall, Annie will bring the project to New York, Indianapolis, and Nashville, including her first hometown headlining show in Indianapolis.
She is especially excited to finally let the songs exist outside of her own head.
“I’m just excited to see it all come to life and have it be out and live on its own instead of just like in my head or on my laptop, or on a piano.”
And even while this chapter is only just arriving, she is already writing what might come next.
“It’s exciting to get to the end of something awesome and feel something else great coming on.”
Finding Joy in the In Between
More than anything, Annie hopes Somewhere Between leaves people feeling a little more connected to whatever stage of life they are in.
“I hope all of them instill like a sense of love for your life, or whatever stage you’re going through.”
Annie describes herself as someone who loves hard.
“I’m not a middle ground girl.”
Which makes it especially fitting that she made a project about the middle.
The uncertainty. The movement. The people and places you love before you know exactly what comes next.
“It all builds to something beautiful.”
When Brian asked Annie to describe the Somewhere Between era in one word, she chose “joy.”
That feels exactly right.
Somewhere Between by Annie Leppert is Out Now.
Photography: Susie McKeon
