Leona Lewis
Leona Lewis has done alright for herself considering that just two years ago she was stuck behind a desk working as a receptionist as now she's releasing the second version of her debut album, Spirit.
Forget Mariah, Whitney and Celine… Leona is the biggest voice around at the minute, and her first edition of Spirit sold a whopping four million copies worldwide. However she has now decided to release the album again (much to the annoyance of people who now have to fork out another £12 for just four more songs and a DVD… so is it really worth it?
Well the album opens with the massive hit, Bleeding Love which has sold 2.9 million copies since it’s release, so I guess even if I hated it it wouldn’t make of a difference…. Good job I think it’s one of the best songs an X Factor finalist has ever released then!
Whatever It Takes and Yesterdayhave a great R n B sound and exhibits this woman’s very versatile voice perfectly. It’s incredible to find someone who can sing a R n B sound one minute and then a breathtaking power ballad the next but still sound unbelievable on both and I’m starting to wonder why it took a talent competition to unveil this incredible singer!
However, as we can always expect from someone emerging from The X Factor, the album has it’s fair share of covers, as a massive Kelly Clarkson fan, I think she does a great version of the American Idol’s winner’s song, A Moment Like This, as well as The First Time Ever I saw Your Face which I remember from Celine Dion, which is another of my favourite artists.
In fact, if I could singe like anyone, I would probably say Celine, but that said, this is an incredible version of the 1957 folk song written by Ewan MacColl. I don’t think anyone could ever do a bad cover of this song really; well, except maybe the drum and bass version.
Then there we have the massively hyped up cover of Snow Patrol’s Run, which is hard for me to discuss as I am a massive ran of the original and find this version a little bit too slow, but before you burn me at the stake for my opinion, if I had never heard the original, I would say the final minute and half are the absolute highlight of the album, her voice, the choir and the band sound spectacular.
On top of this, she even includes the rock kids on the album after roping Avril Lavigne in to donate her 2006 recording of I Will Be which Leona effortlessly makes her own and erases all memory of the Canadian punk popster in the process.
When I see Take A Bow making an appearance I wonder if both she and Rihanna have both recorded the same song by mistake, but oh how wrong I am! When you hear this track, Rihanna is blown right out of the water and there is only one Take A Bow you want in your life!
Overall, songs such as The Best You Never Had, Whatever it Takes, and Misses Glass show that she isn’t just a great voice, but also has attitude and sass to boot.
So are the extra tracks, Forgive Me, Misses Glass and Run really worth the extra money? Well if you are a die heard Leona fan then I would say yes, but other than that, Forgive Me is just her latest single so you can go out and buy that… and Run is destined to make it onto various compilation CD’s next year, so I’d hold out for that and get a lot of other great songs at the same time.
Rating: 4/5
Skip To: The finals Three tracks; Forgive Me, Misses Glass and Run.. you might as well get your money’s worth.
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison