Every now and again, these reality shows manage to bring forth someone with truly exceptional talent. Leona Lewis is one of them. Lewis launched her debut album late 2007, almost a year after winning the popular reality television series The X Factor. The light and delicate album is appropriately named “Spirit”, and Simon Cowell has commented that the album is as good as early Mariah Carey or Whitney Houston.
Lewis herself described the album's style as "classic songs with a contemporary edge," containing R&B and "fresh pop" styles, ballads and "soulful up-tempo numbers". It has an American style, with some electronic 1980s sounds. However, the songs are not beat-driven or following the latest trends, but are songs that can be performed acoustically.
The first song on the album is “Bleeding Love”. The song is the album's first single, but Lewis's official second single following "A Moment like This". It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 October 2007, and sold over 66,000 copies on its first day. Digital Spy (a British media and entertainment website) gave the song four stars out of five in their review, saying it is "easily the best single to be released by an X Factor star." They went on to say the album is as "a brilliantly smart pop record, managing to offer the lovelorn balladry that Lewis' X Factor fans are no doubt craving, while also suggesting a hint of street cred in the form of some beefy, vaguely modish beats."
Taking a more reserved approach on her debut album than most, it is hard to find places where the songs are “just too much”: She chooses to showcase her talent in comfortable and easy-to-listen-to compositions. But make no mistake: The album definitely doesn’t lack energy! Commenting on the albums lyrics, Lewis said: "[They] reflect things that I'm really passionate about. I have to be able to put myself in the song for it to ring true to me. If it doesn't ring true to me, it's not going to be believable to anyone else."
Many may ask why it took so long for the December 2006 X Factor winner to release an album. On this, Leona commented: “I know some people are asking, 'Where has she gone?' But I wanted everyone who has supported and worked with me to have an album they're proud of, one that is credible and one with songs that people can connect to. I'm working hard to make sure that I'm around for a long time to come. It's going to surprise people.
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