Pop & Miscellaneous

Leona Lewis - Best Kept Secret (2009)

2010-04-09T13:49:33Z

Leona Lewis - Best Kept Secret (2009)


01. L.O.V.E. U
02. Dip Down (Feat. Loot)
03. Ready To Get Down
04. Private Party (Feat. Robert Allen)
05. Joy
06. Bad Boy (Feat. K2 Family)
07. I Can’t Say Hello
08. I’m So Into You
09. I Wanna Be That Girl
10. Silly Girl
11. Private Party (Cella Dwella Remix)

Issued in early 2009, BEST KEPT SECRET reveals what British R&B/pop singer Leona Lewis was working on before she won THE X-FACTOR reality show and rocketed to international stardom with her full-length debut, SPIRIT. Recorded in ’06, the collection--essentially a series of demo tracks--features Lewis’s expressive voice (see the uplifting “Joy”), but is somewhat hindered by uninspired songwriting and slick, keyboard-heavy arrangements, as on the synthetically funky “Dip Down” and “Ready to Get Down.” While this SECRET isn’t likely to get beyond Lewis’s most diehard fans, for her devoted followers, the album is an intriguing document of her formative work. ---Eric Schneider, AllMusic Review

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Leona Lewis - Echo (2009)

2010-04-09T14:13:08Z

Leona Lewis - Echo (2009)


1. Happy 
2. I Got You 
3. Cant Breathe 
4. Brave 
5. Outta My Head 
6. My Hands 
7. Love Letter 
8. Broken 
9. Naked 
10. Stop Crying Your Heart Out 
11. Don Let Me Down 
12. Alive 
13. Lost Then Found (Featuring OneRepublic)

One begins listening to this second album from the 2006 X Factor winner hoping its title isn’t prophetic – nobody needs an echo of Lewis’s soporific, saccharine debut, Spirit.

While her 2007 album remains the fastest-selling debut release from a British artist – it outsold the Spice Girls’ greatest hits compilation by two to one – Spirit offered little beyond the anticipated. An assortment of big-lunged ballads, replete with lyrics about overcoming adversity, it ticked all necessary boxes and met audience expectations disappointingly perfectly.

More is expected of this 13-track set, which hasn’t quite hit the ground running as its lead single, Happy, failed to set charts alight internationally (though it's sure to perform better domestically). Recorded stateside over the course of nine months, Echo is undeniably a bolder affair than its predecessor, but still falls into the same trap of an over reliance on Lewis’s voice – not half as strong as her supporters might think – in favour of developed arrangements musically muscular enough to render attentions rapt.

When she reaches for the highs, Lewis comes off as a discount Mariah Carey – Can’t Breathe is an unbearable exercise in vocal histrionics that will have all but the most fiercely loyal of devotees reaching for a bucket. Its staccato tics might briefly recall the addictive “‘ella, ‘ella, ‘ella” motif of Rihanna’s Umbrella, but it lacks any of the Barbadian singer’s sassiness and compositional edge. Better are the Arabic overtones of Brave, but it’s still more straight-to-DVD Disney than DreamWorks blockbuster in scope.

The employment of an assortment of co-writers, including Justin Timberlake and OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder, hasn’t resulted in an album of pronounced diversity. With only a couple of exceptions, Echo sticks to safe songs that complement their singer’s ballad-heavy catalogue. Outta My Head is a sidestep into cheesy Eurodance beats that almost comes off – it’s a touch too cheap-sounding, too tinny of production – and the Timberlake duet Don’t Let Me Down shuffles to subtle percussion evocative of the American singer’s Cry Me a River and What Goes Around…, albeit without any comparable soulfulness.

Echo’s problem is that its central protagonist simply doesn’t stamp her authority on proceedings – yes, that’s her dominating the mix, but there’s no character in her performances, no life in her voice beyond that prompted by out-of-shot puppeteers. Its songs are fine for what they are, and clear improvements on what came before. But for a multi-million selling artist, Lewis still lacks an album worthy of her international profile. ---Mike Driver, BBC Review

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Leona Lewis - Something More (2010)

2010-04-09T15:27:46Z

Leona Lewis - Something More (2010)


01. Leona Lewis - You Don't Care
02. Leona Lewis - You Bring Me Down
03. Leona Lewis - Whole Lotta Love [Unreleased Track]
04. Leona Lewis - Stone Hearts & Hand Grenades [Unreleased Track]
05. Leona Lewis - Stay
06. Leona Lewis - Scene Of The Crime Almost [Unreleased Track]
07. Leona Lewis - Save Myself
08. Leona Lewis - Perfection
09. Leona Lewis - Naked (Rock Mix)
10. Leona Lewis - Naked
11. Leona Lewis - My Hands
12. Leona Lewis - Love Letter
13. Leona Lewis - Let Somebody Love You
14. Leona Lewis - Let It Rain
15. Leona Lewis - Intervention [Unreleased Track]
16. Leona Lewis - I Will Be
17. Leona Lewis - Didn't Wanna Hurt You
18. Leona Lewis - How Everything You Are
19. Leona Lewis - Hero
20. Leona Lewis - Drive
21. Leona Lewis - Crying Is Beautiful [Unreleased Track]
22. Leona Lewis - Can't Breathe
23. Leona Lewis - Can You Handle It
24. Leona Lewis - Broken
25. Leona Lewis - Breaking Into Pieces
26. Leona Lewis – Alive

A striking young woman with a strong vocal resemblance to the young Whitney Houston, Leona Lewis won the third series of The X Factor in a landslide, and transcended her reality-show origins to register sales in the tens of millions over her career.

Born and raised in the Islington section of north London, Lewis won a talent show at the age of 13 and devoted herself to music thereafter, eventually graduating from the prestigious BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology. While working as a receptionist and pizza waitress and writing her own material, Lewis auditioned for The X Factor in the summer of 2006 and won the third series' competition in December of that year. Lewis' debut single, a soulful cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" (Clarkson's own debut American Idol showcase single), was the number one single in the U.K. at the turn of the year, including the coveted "Christmas number one."

Along with her TV-driven U.K. success, Lewis signed an American recording deal with Clive Davis' J Records in February 2007. By the end of the year, she had launched her debut album, Spirit, in England, and watched it go to the top of the charts (along with the single "Bleeding Love"). The American release followed in 2008 with similar success; it reached the top of the Billboard 200 and received a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Album. Echo, Lewis' follow-up, was issued in 2009, featuring collaborations with Ryan Tedder, Xenomania, and Timbaland. Also in 2009, Lewis released the single "I See You (Theme from Avatar)." Written by James Horner and Simon Franglen, the song was featured on the soundtrack to the hit James Cameron film Avatar. The following year, Lewis promoted Echo with the Labyrinth tour. Inspired by the 1986 fantasy film of the same name, the tour was showcased on the DVD/CD The Labyrinth Tour: Live from the O2 in 2010. In 2011, Lewis began recording her third studio album, Glassheart, showcasing writing and production by a bevy of names including Ryan Tedder, Fraser T. Smith, Dallas Austin, and others. The album had a long gestation period, during which it slowly became more electronic dance-oriented. It finally appeared in Europe in October 2012.

Glassheart didn't perform well on the charts -- it only went silver in the U.K. and never appeared in the U.S. -- and she split with her management, Modest!, in February 2013. At the end of the year, she released Christmas, With Love, a seasonal record in the style of A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. In 2014, it was announced that she was parting ways with Sony Records and signing with Universal's Island subsidiary. On September 11, 2015 she released her first album for the label, I Am, which debuted at 12 in the U.K. but generated no major hits; its first single, "Fire Under My Feet," peaked at 51. In the summer of 2016, Lewis starred as Grizabella in a Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats, during which time she announced her split from Island and released the charity single "(We All Are) Looking for Home." --- Stewart Mason, allmusic.com

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Leona Lewis – Christmas With Love (2013)

2013-12-03T17:07:58Z

Leona Lewis – Christmas With Love (2013)


01. One More Sleep
02. Winter Wonderland
03. White Christmas
04. Your Hallelujah
05. Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
06. Mr. Right
07. O Holy Night
08. I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
09. Ave Maria
10. Silent Night

When Leona Lewis won The X Factor in 2006, it was evident that she had the voice of a virtuoso and the charisma of a Post-It note.

Seven years and 28 million album sales on, little has changed. Lewis has undergone various half-hearted reinventions over the years, from the bellicose, Whitney-esque balladeer of 2007 debut Spirit to the R&B/soul of 2009's Echo to the electro-pop of 2012's Glassheart, while still showing little signs of anything resembling a personality.

This same essential banality undercuts this Christmas album, a career move so wearingly predictable that it is no surprise to learn that it was Simon Cowell's idea. Leona has gushed that its inspiration was Phil Spector's legendary Yuletide record, but this exercise in precision karaoke pales in comparison.

It has never been in doubt that Leona can sing, but does the world really need more melodramatic, melismatic renderings of Winter Wonderland, White Christmas and Silent Night? They are exactly as you expect: Leona never misses a note, and she never stirs the soul. Hackney's antiseptic diva strikes again.

Original songs One More Sleep and Your Hallelujah out-Celine Celine, but the most enjoyable outing is a joyous romp through Wizzard's 1973 roustabout, I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day. It works because it is that thing that Leona Lewis so rarely is: fun. --- Ian Gittins, virginmedia.com

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