Fleur East on new single Count The Ways as Strictly Come Dancing Live Tour comes to Leeds and Sheffield

Fleur East may be known to most for her dancing now, but she says: “Music is my first love, and it always has been.” She was a was a runner up in the Strictly Come Dancing TV contest when the latest season finished in December, and will appear with fellow stars during the show’s tour dates at Leeds First Direct Arena tonight and tomorrow before it heads to Sheffield Utilita Arena on Tuesday.
By The Newsroom
Published 26th Jan 2023, 11:30 BST

And the tour coincides with the release of her new single, Count The Ways, brought out on her own label Platinum East and distributed by INgrooves. Fleur, who is from London, wrote the song, which is produced by Matt Prime. “I’m really excited to be releasing new music,” she says. “The last body of work I released was my album Fearless, which was my first independent album since leaving Syco in 2020.

"It was shortly after my dad passed away and just at the time that the pandemic came into our lives, and everyone went into lockdown, so I had to cancel my tour, I had to cancel all my promo, I had to cancel everything. It was such a shame that it was released at that time, and it was really difficult. Since then, and since losing my dad, I'm just finding my stride again and getting back into music.

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“I started writing this year and I just felt so inspired and everything just came back to me.

Fleur East.Fleur East.
Fleur East.

"It's been a while since I've done my own live show and I absolutely love performing. After being on Strictly every weekend, the buzz of performing came back. I absolutely love it, and I can't wait for people to hear this new music. It's coming from a different place, it's a lot more mature - it comes from a real place.”

She adds: “Count The Ways is all about putting a spin on listing the things that you love about a person and it flips that narrative - it's listing the ways that somebody lost you. It's quite a playful take on ending a relationship and talking to that person that hurt you from a position where you don't have any pain left, from a position of power.

"It's quite tongue in cheek, but also from real, real emotion. I love it because it's a lot more mature and is very musical.”

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The singer-songwriter, rapper and radio presenter – who has achieved more than 200 million streams globally – came second on The XFactor as a solo artist in 2014 and went on to make it to the final four in ITV’s I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!’ in 2018.

She says: “Although I do presenting, fitness, and lots of other different things, music is my number one love and I always feel quite vulnerable sharing my music with everybody because it's really a deep part of me. So I always feel a bit exposed when I share music with everybody, but I just feel like I'm in a place now where I'm ready for everyone to hear it.”

Countryfile presenter Hamza Yassin and his professional partner Jowita Przystał won the last Strictly, while Fleur was one of three pairs of runner-up contestants with her dance partner Vito Coppola.

Book Strictly tour tickets at strictlycomedancinglive.com

Related topics:MusicLeedsHamza Yassin