Spirit

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Editorial reviews

Album Description
UK singer and songwriter Leona Lewis will release her debut album, Spirit, in America on April 8, 2008. For the first time, Clive Davis and Simon Cowell teamed up to sign Lewis to J Records/SyCo Music (Cowell's joint venture with Sony BMG), and are both actively involved in the recording process for Spirit. Lewis, a 22-year-old London native and winner of the hit TV show the X Factor, a British talent show, has broken all-time sales records there with Spirit entering the album chart at Number One and becoming Britain's fastest-selling debut ever. Spirit has scanned more than two million copies worldwide since its release in November. In addition, Spirit's lead-off single "Bleeding Love" -- co-written and produced by OneRepublic frontman Ryan "Alias" Tedder -- was the U.K.'s best-selling single of 2007, claiming the Number One spot for seven weeks. Ushering in 2008, Leona received four prestigious Brit Award nominations, the UK equivalent of the Grammy Awards. Leona is currently in the studio recording two brand new tracks for the U.S. release of Spirit - "Forgive Me" by singer/songwriter superstar Akon and "Misses Glass" from the cutting edge producer/writers Madd Scientist and Rock City. Spirit is a mix of fresh pop and R&B, filled with "songs with a contemporary edge," as Lewis puts it, ranging from soulful up-tempo numbers ("I'm You," "The Best You Never Had," and "Whatever It Takes," which Lewis co-wrote) to ballads ("Better in Time," "I Will Be," and "The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face" -- a song that Roberta Flack made famous). Tracks were written and produced by an array of top-notch hit-makers, including Tedder, singer/songwriters Akon and Ne-Yo, songwriters Josh Alexander and Billy Steinberg, and songwriter/producers Dallas Austin, Stargate, J.R. Rotem, and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald -- all of whom have worked with some of the biggest names in pop. In addition to gracing the covers of UK fashion publications like Harper's Bazaar, US media are touting Leona as the artist to watch in 2008: People Magazine labels her "the UK's hottest star in an "Introducing" piece," Vogue presents her in their "People Are Talking About - The Vogue 25 Cultural Highlights of 2008" and Entertainment Weekly declares her one of "8 To Watch in 2008."

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Customer reviews

review by: Shoe crazy date: 2008-08-19 rating:
Simon Cowell knows talent.
What a great voice. Simon knows how to pick them. Sultry voiced with a good range. Good music.

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review by: EricaasahanRules date: 2008-08-18 rating:
She sounds like an angel!
Erica Asahan wrote:

Wow! Her voice is amazing! Track # 3 is my favorite! I was only able to see her on YOUTUBE perfoming All by Myself and even then I was blown away by her range! The girl is simply amazing!

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review by: date: 2008-08-14 rating:
Spirit by Leona Lewis
This CD is good, but I didn't think it was as good as I was expecting.

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review by: amarrayw date: 2008-08-14 rating:
The album grew on me. I'll give it 3 and 3/4 stars
Previously, I gave this album three stars. The original review which I'll keep below will explain my initial views. But the album grew on me. I warmed up to it, mainly because of Leona's vocal talents. The production on some songs suffer from "done this heard that". For example "Angel", I mean if I hear another "Stargate" (ex. "Irreplaceable", "Tattoo") song I'll scream. The better songs (though none can compare to "Bleeding Love") are "Better in Time", "Whatever it Takes", "Yesterday", "Forgive Me" (which sounds very close to "The Sweet Escape"),"Homeless" (which in a crazy move was left off the U.S. album), and "Misses Glass".
Original Review:
I love "Bleeding Love". It's emotional, catchy, and has that timeless thing to it where you'll hear it ten years from now and kids (the next generation of iTunes buyers) will say "That was a good song". But the other songs leave a lot to be desired. Mainly because they are so "vanilla". I like Clive Davis and Simon Cowell and they have eye for good talent, but they seem stuck on the "copy, paste" method of constructing an album. You got a "Mariah" track here, a "Christina" track there, and like some others worded, I was looking for a "Leona" other than "Bleeding Love". Note to executive producer of Leona's sophomore album (I'm hoping this reaches you): Now that Leona is officially established in terms of vocal stardom, please focus on establishing Leona as an "artist". Give her elbow room and help her create an album with real cohesion and a theme. And detach her from those covers of the past and push her towards a future in music that will make people think of her as an "artist" more than just a "singer".


review by: date: 2008-08-12 rating:
Nice Album, Undeserving of Her Talent
Let me start off by saying this. Leona Lewis is an incredible singer. The only singer out now that can challenge her vocally, is Christina Aguilera, who's been in the business for almost 10 years now. Simon Cowell was right to invest so much time promoting her, as well as Clive Davis. That in itself, should give you the idea of how much talent she has. Clive Davis has worked with, not only Alicia Keys, but the legendary Whitney Houston. We all know how hard it is to please Simon, as seen on American Idol. He is consistantly a tough critic, and for him to call Leona the best out of all the talent shows, and the best singer in the world, on Oprah, means something. Talent will take you places, but only with the right direction. This, is where the trouble comes in. We all know Leona can sing. No, she can SANG! But, the album was a bit of a letdown. Having heard Leona's pipes on "The X-Factor," at such a young age, I expected mega hits on this album. While there were some good tracks, there was nothing that compared to Leona's live rendition of Whitney Houston's classic "I Have Nothing" on the X-Factor, which I was only able to see on Youtube, being American.

To make it worse, the American release of this album, is to me, inferior to the British release. The emotional power ballad "Homeless" was replaced by two sappy filler pop songs "Forgive Me," and "Misses Glass." The choices for the albums songs wer foolish, and didint utilize her strengths and weaknesses. None of the songs fully utilized her high range. Not one of the songs included her singing an F#6 or above, which she proved she can do, on her rendition of Minnie Riperton's "Loving You." None of the songs utilized her fantastic ability to sustain belted notes, and only one of them included her ability to belt in her higher register (G#5 on "Take A Bow")

Overall, the song choices were weak, and the album was undeserving of this girl's tremendous talent. There WERE a few songs that I thought did belong. "Yesterday," though looped to a sappy, tween-like beat, showed how much power she could use in her voice, and included a stunning high falsetto note that would make Mariah proud. Her cover oof Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was a masterpiece, even better than the legendary diva, Celine Dion's rendition of it, in my opinion, which is a huge acomplishment. The song "Footprints In The Sand" was absolutely beautiful as well, ands could be a #1 Hit, if they release it as a single. "Better In Time" isnt paerticularly my cup of tea, but I very well see the appeal. "I Will Be" was also a strong song, nowhere near her best, but I do think it had a place on her album, showing her versatility. "Forgive Me," "Misses Glass," and "I'm You" were filler at best. Even her US album cover isnt as good as her UK one...

My suggestions for a better Spirit, fusing her UK and US albums, and adding other things, would have been :

1:Bleeding Love
2:Better In Time
3:I Will Be
4:Homeless
5:Forgive Me(Filler Track)
6:The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
7:I Have Nothing(I would have had her record a cover of this, the way she sang it on the X-Factor)
8:Angel(Though not vocally strong, I think the song is nice enough in itself to do pretty well)
9:Yesterday
10:Take A Bow
11:Footprints In The Sand
12:Loving You(I would have had her record another cover of this)

Im pretty sure the above album would have done 10 times better. Still, Spirit is a VERY good album. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face," "Yesterday," "Take A Bow," "Footprints In The Sand," And maybe "I Will Be" are good songs that havent been released, that are worth a listen. Definately worth the purchase.

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