New Single > Leona Lewis > Fire Under My Feet

Leona's last foray into the charts was her brilliant, underrated festive album Christmas, With Love which spawned number three future Christmas staple One More Sleep. Her third album Glassheart was a bit of a flop in the UK, not that it was bad, it just wasn't very Leona and the step toward a more electronic heavy sound smothered her already faint personality. So what do you do when Simon Cowell is extinguishing your creativity, a flare no one knew you had? You sack him. Leona moved from Syco to Island, a much better record label and the results are very impressive.

Her new single, the first to be lifted from her upcoming fifth studio effort I Am is called Fire Under My Feet and it is the Leona song we've been waiting for. She wrote it herself with the help of Toby Gad (mastermind behind Beyoncé's If I Were a Boy) and it's so Ella Henderson that Ryan Tedder must be twiddling knobs somewhere in the mix! From the acapella opening to the anthemic chorus and thumping folksy pop beat that carries you to the vocally explosive climax, this song should put Leona back on top.

5 / 5

Some Christmas Joy

From Leona Lewis and myself...

Rated: Leona Lewis - Christmas, With Love

Leona Lewis kind of bombed a bit with her last album Glassheart. It wasn't that anyone wished her any level of failure (I don't think?), it was more that the music just wasn't what we expect from the singer who blew us off our feet with the likes of Bleeding Love and Run. That's not to say there weren't amazing songs on that album (Unlove Me & Trouble). It's never too late to make amends and that's just what she's doing with her newest album Christmas, With Love. 

Preceded by single One More Sleep, the album opens in true festive fashion with typical Christmas jingles and a Motown arrangement pulled together by Kylie & One Direction producer Biffco. It's a song the Supremes would have been proud to call their own and almost hits the bar set by Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas Is You. This is what the world has been hungering after for years, a new & good Xmas pop song in the same stylings as the classic behemoth festive hit. The album contains a total of three original songs, Leona credited in the 'writers' section. Your Hallelujah is a down tempo, piano lead number, opened with some understated vocals from Leona. The third is Mr Right, similar to the lead single in pace but even more incredible in quality. This is certainly an album highlight. 

Then we have the classic Christmas cover versions. Winter Wonderland is predictably great, begging to be blasted on a snowy drive home and Silent Night is a semi acapella beauty with flawless vocals. It's staple Christmas tracks I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday & Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) that really shine through. Not only does this album show Leona's ability to carry a pop classic, it also proves her to be one of the most incredible vocal talents around. Ave Maria is perhaps one of the most beautiful performances you'll hear during December. Leona is unrecognisable as she sings the Schubert masterpiece like an adept classical singer. 

The beauty of Christmas, With Love is that it remains loyal to the iconic originals. It doesn't fiddle with song structures, nor does it do anything over the top. It's pure, shameless Christmas joy presented in 10 tracks by one of the world's strongest vocal performers. If this is an apology album from Leona, promising she's going to get back on the right road with her future 5th album then we are going to hear something very special indeed. This could be the best Christmas album since Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas.

5/5

Rated: Leona Lewis - Lovebird

The third album from Xfactor revelation Leona Lewis, Glassheart, should have been a perfect 5; it wasn't. Then again, nobody's perfect right? Unless you're an artist known as Jessie Ware and you released a glorious debut called Devotion. I digress! Leona is immensely talented and Glassheart is good, but it's just good and not mesmerising which is really the kind of album she needed to release at this point in her career. A strong yet mildly disappointing chart debut of number 4, the album was expected to tear things up. It didn't; it didn't do a lot of what was predicted, actually.

New single 'Lovebird' is a grower, but it is instantly likeable. It's a big pretty ballad about breaking out of your cage and such, with big stunning vocals from Leona and easy-osy contemporary ballad production. The problem I have is not with the song, but with the selection of it as the 2nd single from an album that has hardly set the world alight. With 'shock factor' songs like 'Come Alive' and 'Glassheart', this could be a musically fatal move for the girl who was once unstoppable. 

3/5

Rated: Leona - Triple Teamed

So within 1 week Leona Lewis has come out all guns blazing for the release of her upcoming new album. Not only do we have the video for amazing new single 'Trouble' (which I like way better without immature Gambit) we're also getting a full run through of another new song called 'Stop the Clocks' and 'Glassheart'! Queue the mass ejaculation of Leona mega fans the world over. I'm not one so I will not be doing such a thing.

'Stop the Clocks'
Not as immensely satisfying as 'Trouble' but it's still good. Probs not a single though. 3/5
  Stop The Clocks by heistandaustin

'Glassheart'
I've made my distaste for the dub-step tsunami that's happened across pop. HATE A DUB-STEP BREAKDOWN. However, this song is a step forward for an artist who was in danger of becoming generic in her own balladry. Still, I was so excited about this song before that I feel a bit deflated now. Really not appreciating the doctoring of that Leona Lewis voice box either. 2/5

  Leona Lewis - Glassheart by João Pavão

Click through for the amazing 'Trouble' video; a song way better than it ever had any right to be.

Rated XX-Leona-Pink: Incoming!

The next few months look set to be quite juicy as far as album anticipation goes. We've got a new one from naughty super tart P!nk, the new XX album which is destined to be mesmerising and the sickeningly overdue album by the one Xfactor winner who actually blows doors open with her voice (true story), good ol' Leona Lewis. Let's have a look:


The XX - Coexist
They didn't get really big till post Mercury Prize shenanigans, but this band is pretty special either way. Ethereal synths hovered and hopped about on XX, a pop album like no other in our time. Now having heard a track called 'Chained', which stays true to the sound of their debut, and another gorgeous song called 'Angels' on which Romy's voice is so delicious I want to fucking eat it, I am fully primed for action. Bring it!
Released 10 September

Leona Lewis - Glassheart

This album has royally pissed me and thousands of others off. It's coming out/it's not coming out/it's coming out again/it's not/is/not/is... and so forth. Thankfully the farce is over and there's only another month or so to wait till we have the finished product in our hands. I expect great things (whether my expectations meet reality remains to be seen) from this, particularly after the pleasant 'Collide' and the new single 'Trouble', which is pretty bloody epic. Let's just keep every inch of ourselves crossed that this isn't the same pop-cock up that Echo was.

Released 15 October (how coincidental that the Xfactor live shows will be in full swing... cheeky!)

P!nk - The Truth About Love

It's been a wee while since P!nk graced us with her silly exclamation mark name. I've missed her. New single 'Blow Me (One Last Kiss)' is a brilliant and incredibly infectious popper with some standard P!nk sounding production and the usual charismatic vocals. I wasn't a big fan of Funhouse so let's hope the new one brings us back the immensity of I'm Not Dead.

Released 17 September

Rated Trouble - Leona Lewis

Leona Lewis didn't set the charts ablaze with her first Glassheart release 'Collide'. Aside from the legal controversy surrounding the song's copyright and the speculation as to the potential quality of her next album, the song itself was pleasant but far from breathtaking. Thankfully the second single from the album, 'Trouble', is a much more Leona sounding affair. Pounding beats, intense production and Leona's incredible vocals all swish together to form a pop song worthy of number 1. When I heard the song was written by Emeli Sande I knew instantly things were about to get seriously good.

5/5