Leighton on making music

Leighton Meester “does what feels right” when it comes to making music.

The 28-year-old actress shot to fame on hit teen TV series Gossip Girl, but she has always made and had a passion for singing. Following the October release of her debut LP Heartstrings, she has opened up about her process of funneling her “pain” into music.

"If you didn't have pain then you wouldn't have a record, a movie, or a book, or anything," she told Vice’s music outlet, Noisey. "When I'm writing, I can't think about how it comes out. I just do what feels right."

Leighton has a successful acting career, and in February of this year she married her former The O.C. co-star Adam Brody. She admitted that although the pair share some similar tastes in music, that’s not as important to her as being on the same page in other ways.

“I don't think that you have to have the same taste in a friendship or relationship—you have to have the same values," she told the website.

The brunette beauty added she’s come a long way since playing snobby teenager Blair Waldorf. She wants her music to convey a much more mature message than the one presented by the CW series that made her a household name, but she also hopes she can remain “loyal” to her former fanbase.

“That’s not at all a diss on what I’ve done for the past six years of my life,” she noted. “That show was very important and it’s one of the reasons why I’m able to sit down with you now. No one would know or care. The fact that I’m not doing pop music and it’s not sexualized, talking about drinking or going out and partying—I think that’s less loyal. That’s feeding on the need to appeal and it’s not necessary. I need to do what’s good for me and what I like. My messages aren’t degrading.”