Leighton Meester might be the queen bee on “Gossip Girl,” but she’s just getting her start when it comes to the music industry. The actress/singer, who will release her debut album later this year on Universal, took some time out from shooting Cobra Starship’s “Good Girls” music video to talk about the positive reviews she’s getting for the leaked song “Birthday.”

“I was working with really cool people on it. … It’s a really fun, great song,” she said. “I am very happy with the reactions, and I love it, but there’s a lot of other stuff that I’m really happy with that is not being leaked at the moment but will come out later on this year that I’m really stoked about.”

Those songs are ones the TV star has been working on for quite some time. “I’ve been in L.A. for about a month now just working pretty steadily in the studio, and then last year, I was doing the same thing around this time,” she said. “And before that, I was in my apartment, so it’s a really professional big deal for me making real music.”

Meester says some of her influences are Madonna, Whitney Houston and Cyndi Lauper, who she’s looked up to for a long time. “When I was 3, [I would sing into the] hair brush — and when I was 20 [too],” the 23-year-old laughed. “It’s a dream come true. This is crazy and awesome.”

Meester doesn’t feel any pressure to choose between acting and singing. “I don’t know if I can really choose a favorite of what I want to do more or what I love more, ’cause I feel like I always felt I can do both,” she said. “I feel like it goes hand in hand. Singing really is acting. In a lot of ways, it’s much more personal. I love music, and being able to work on that is amazing.”

Source: MTV