Leona Lewis' Album A Letdown

Posted at 02:53, 2007-Nov-29 in Fresh Faces

Leona Lewis became a well known voice and face as a contestant on The X-Factor’s third season. Bringing extraordinary talent to the stage, she was likend to divas such as Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and Celine Dion. Pleasing both the judges, including the very critical Simon Cowell, and the UK audience, she quickly became a favorite. With her talent overpowering her lack of self-confidence, this now 22 year old female brought an honest personality to TV along with her musicianship.

After recording an album when she was only 15years old that went nowehre, she almost gave up on her dream of singing until her long time boyfriend encouraged her to audition for The X-Factor. As most amateurs on the past seasons, she belted out jazz standards and contemporary pop songs, but Lewis’s tone and style made her superior to others. As the winner of the season, she had become the show’s promise to be a true star. Other producers and music professionals told Cowell, who has also become her mentor, that he had better make the right album for the girl’s gift.

Her debut album, Spirit, was released in November 2007 and has beat out others on the charts such as the Spice Girls, Celine Dion and One Republic. Spirit proved to be the biggest first week sales of 2007 to date in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Her first single, “Bleeding Love,” has stayed on the top of the charts since it was released. After Perez Hilton had promoted her so much that he even posted her music video on his website, I also, was an immediate fan of “Bleeding Love.” With Simon Cowell and Clive Davis coming together to produce her album, I was anxious to hear the album in its entirety.

After listening to it two or three times, I decided that I am still a fan of Lewis’ voice but not her album. It may be because its sound is more of a traditional pop sound that Europe eats up. Unfortunately, Leona is belting out songs that Whitney and Mariah should’ve belted out earlier in the 90’s - not today.

I realized that it is only her upbeat songs that can keep me interested in listening. “Take a Bow,” a heavily synth-riffed power anthem is reminiscent of Christina Aguilera’s “Fighter” with her lyrics “You should know that your performance has made me stronger now.” Another song with strong beats, “I’m You,” is a bit more mid-tempo groove with its Mary J. Blige vibe that has grown on me. “The Best You Never Had,” another mid-tempo feel good musical monologue, could be a Natasha Bedingfield hit, if she had snatched it up beforehand. When I listened to “Whatever It Takes,” I could have sworn it was another Ne-yo song, but hey, I like him, so this is another good R&B track.

However, just because the song has a decent beat or rhythm, doesn’t mean the song has credibility. “Angel,” with its lyrics, “When we make love/it’s overwhelming/I just touch the heavens” is evidence of this complete failure. Take out the fast beats and it’s the rest of the album – a waste of CD space with unnecessary bad pop ballads. With the exception of “Homeless,” a could have been hit from the 90’s similar to Mariah soulfulness, and the cover of “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” the rest of album is filled with songs such as “Better in Time,” which I believed to be another bad Avril-esque teen pop song, (but I realized that Avril was actually a co-writer for “I Will Be”), “Footprints in the Sand,” “Yesterday,” and “Here I Am,” which all should have been songs for sappy Spice Girls, N’Sync or Backstreet Boys tunes. Sure, they are pretty but the songs seem to go nowhere and that’s a shame since Lewis’ voice is capable to bring you to a better place. Many albums today focus on love, but this love album whines a bit too much.

“Bleeding Love” is still on one of my itunes playlists for current favorites, but it’s a little disappointing that the first single of any album is the best song on there; especially when it’s co-written by Jesse McCartney.

Music directors for her album have told the public that any of the songs could be hit singles, but they are not spoiled as they think they are. Yes, Leona Lewis can bring them fame and fortune as well, but they have to be extra careful when they pick her singles after her album is released in the US (March 18, 2008). We Americans don’t necessarily eat up the syrupy ballads as well as Europeans can. People are saying that Lewis is one of the stars the US should watch out for during the year of 2008. Let's hope they're right. If they are smart, her five hit singles should be: “Bleeding Love,” “Take a Bow,” “Homeless,” “I’m You,” and “The Best You Never Had.”

If you want to see the true talent Ms. Lewis has to offer, youtube her performance of “Summertime” and “All By Myself” in your spare time.

- sl