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| |  | CDs | Home » » Spirit | | | | | | | Product Promotions: | | | | | 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." | | | Features: | |
• LEWIS LEONA SPIRIT (U.S. VERSION)
| | | Product Details: | | | Audio CD Release Date:
| April 08, 2008 | | Studio:
| J-Records | | Number Of Discs:
| 1 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 236 reviews |
| | | Track Listing: | | | 1. | Bleeding Love | | 2. | Better In Time | | 3. | I Will Be | | 4. | I'm You | | 5. | Forgive Me | | 6. | Misses Glass | | 7. | Angel | | 8. | The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face | | 9. | Yesterday | | 10. | Whatever It Takes | | 11. | Take A Bow | | 12. | Footprints In The Sand (UK bonus cut) | | 13. | Here I Am (UK bonus cut) | |
| | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 236 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 33 found the following review helpful:
Good, but "over-balladed"May 08, 2008
By Amanda Richards
This is a strong debut album from X-Factor winner Leona Lewis, the only potential problems being a surfeit of ballads, and a large dose of overexposure. The British born singer/songwriter is of Guyanese/Welsh parentage, and was no stranger to performing before catching the eye of Simon Cowell, who moved heaven, earth and Clive Davis to ensure that this album had all the backing it needed.
Even before the album was released, she already had a hit single with her version of the Kelly Clarkson song "A Moment Like This", which can be found as a bonus on the UK version of the album. Please note that the track listing for the UK Version is different to the US and Canadian releases. The songs "Forgive Me" (produced by Akon) and "Misses Glass" on this version take the place of "Homeless" (a slow R&B ballad) and "The Best You Never Had" (a slightly faster ballad).
Songs of interest are "Bleeding Love", the first single from the album; "Better in Time", the second single (pop/R&B) which reminds me of Alicia Keys "No One"; "I Will Be", a cover of the Avril Lavigne song; "Yesterday", a pop/R&B track where she sounds like Mariah Carey; "Take A Bow", a radio-friendly R&B track; and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", a cover of the Roberta Flack hit written by Ewan MacColl. Lewis also co-wrote the songs "Whatever It Takes", a mid-tempo R&B track, and "Here I Am", a pop ballad.
Special mention should be made of the powerful and emotional ballad "Footprints in the Sand" inspired by the famous poem by Mary Stevenson, which ends:
The Lord replied
"The times when you have seen only one set of footprints in the sand,
Is when I carried you."
Undoubtedly talented, strikingly photogenic, and with a lovely voice, it seems a bit early for all the comparisons to Mariah Carey and early Whitney Houston, but I do believe that we'll be hearing a lot more from Leona Lewis.
Amanda Richards, May 8, 2008
29 of 32 found the following review helpful:
 Leona has arrivedApr 08, 2008
By Roberta Hotard
"Mrs. H"
Leona Lewis has arrived, her cd Spirit has made it to the US for all to hear. She has a voice ,between Mariah and Toni Braxton all in one. What a gem to own. Tracks: Bleeding Love, Better In time, I Will Be, I'm You, Forgive Me, Misses Glass, Angel, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Yesterday, Whatever It Takes, Take A Bow, UK bonus : Footprints In The Sand and Here I am .
Im dedicating the songs Bleeding Love, I Will Be to my husband, To my special friend for life the songs Better In Time, Yesterday. To my lord and savior above Footprints In the Sand for guiding me through the good and bad times, thank you for always being there for me. Thanks Leona for the magic and sincere faith in your music. You are a star already for the world.
41 of 49 found the following review helpful:
 She's got the pipes with elegant tone.Apr 08, 2008
By Pedder
Leona Lewis has become the first British female solo artist to top single and album US pop chart in 21 years.
The 22-year-old singer from Hackney has landed the Billboard Hot 100 chart Number One with her ballad "Bleeding Love".
The Americans have gone mad for this Mariah Carey-inspired ballad fest. All she needs to do is smile sweetly while she rakes in the dollars.
The last British female solo artist to do the same was Kim Wilde in 1987, with her cover of the Supremes' "You Keep Me Hangin' On".
It's also the first time in 27 years that a British female artist has debuted at Number One in the US Top 100 Single Chart.
That feat was last achieved in 1981 by Sheena Easton with "Morning Train "(Nine To Five).
The last British woman to top the US album chart was Sade with "Promise" in 1986.
Leona Lewis is the quiet girl with a big voice who conquered the 2006 British "X Factor" ( equivalent of Amerivcan Idol), singing her way to glory with a spectacular set of lungs and endearing herself to the voting public with her sweet personality.
She stormed to number one British chart last Christmas with the winning X Factor single handed to her by the show's producers.
Lewis sings her heart out through stories of loves lost and conquered, with allusions to already established octave-vaulting female divas - Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson and Christina Aguilera - audible in every warble.
She has the technical chops to pull off the imitation.
Tills ringing in their ears, Simon Cowell and Clive Davis have duly stuffed her debut album with songs which sound like offcuts from those other divas' repertoires - rent-a-gospel-choir here, the pretence of some tough R&B attitude there; "inspirational" lyrics and key changes preferred.
The result is an album of almost clockwork perfection - containing enough hits to keep her on the radio till next Christmas ("Better in Time" and "Whatever it Takes" are both as classy as the majestic "Bleeding Love"). But in the end they were able to craft only a bland, glossy pop album, strong on mid-tempo balladry and spiralling vocal gyrations, but short on hooks, innovation and personality.
"Bleeding Love" is the highlight of the album, a superb single that could almost be a sequel to Houston's 1987 classic "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".
.."Spirit pays quivering lip service to ideas of beauty and talent and 'specialness', but is ultimately too manufactured even to be great manufactured pop. If Lewis is looking for the greatest love of all - public adoration - she will have to do better than this".Times.
Hard to love, hard to hate - but the whole world will buy it.
It's a testament, this, to Simon Cowell's business nous that he resisted a rushed covers album and instead enlisted powerful US music mogul Clive Davis to attract a bevy of America's most successful songwriters to pen a tune for the attractive British young lady.
Leona's success is assured and her talent plain to see, but her musical credibility is still hanging in the balance. Hopefully her second and third albums, which will surely follow, will not be an imitation of former success stories but an example of 21st century pop finery.
You Keep Me Hangin' on
The Very Best of Kim Wilde
Sheena Easton - Greatest Hits
The Ultimate Petula Clark
Promise
Whitney
19 of 23 found the following review helpful:
She's off to a great startApr 18, 2008
By Olukayode Balogun
I'm really happy to see that this CD has finally been released in the US. This is an exciting time for Leona Lewis. She hit the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 recently - the first UK female artiste to do it in over 20 years and only the fourth to do it ever. She relinquished the spot to Mariah Carey's "Touch My Body" last week but to my surprise, I just heard on the news - BBC News 24, no less - that she's taken it back and that this album is #1 on the Billboard Top 200 as well, making her the first UK artiste to debut at the top US album spot ever! I expected her to do well in the US with this product but I honestly never dreamed she'd do THIS well!
I originally reviewed the album back in December last year, when it was released on Amazon on (no longer available) UK import. I definitely feel the review merits a repost here. This is the original (slightly edited) review as it appeared in December 2007:
"The 2006 "X Factor" winner's debut album is barely out of the blocks and it's already a record breaker. ("X Factor" is the UK version of "American Idol"). It sold over 375,000 copies in its first week, beating the record previously set by the Arctic Monkeys by about 12,000. That might not sound much in an American context but in this country, that's huge potatoes. You go, honey.
Her follow-up single "Bleeding Heart" has also now stood at the top of the UK singles charts for an impressive five weeks. The lead single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This" was released last year when she won "X Factor" and that was at the top of the charts for what seemed like ages as well. Simon Cowell and Clive Davis definitely seem to know what they're doing.
Judging by the number of absolute belters on offer here, she's clearly got her eyes on Mariah's fan base (I would've said Mariah and Whitney but I guess we all know why I didn't) and I say good luck to her. I don't usually go for albums put out by talent show winners ("American Idol" 'loser' Chris Daughtry's was the first I ever bought and this is only my second) but I've always thought Leona was a special talent right from the first moment I saw her on the show. Every performance she gave was diamond, in my opinion. Vocally, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston are in a class of their own but it's not totally ridiculous to compare Leona to them, as she demonstrated when she performed some of their hits on the show.
Thankfully, the album isn't the usual collection of dreadful covers. The Clarkson song is (of course) on this UK version of the album but isn't likely to appear on the US version when it finally gets released. Only one other sneaks in and while I would've loved it to be "Summertime" - the version she delivered on "X Factor" still gives me shivers anytime I watch it on YouTube - she's gone for the Roberta Flack classic "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and to give her the credit she's due, she owns the song. Treading the line carefully between r&b and pop, the album is a bit samey in places but if breathless diva is your thing, this one is definitely for you.
There are only four real stand out numbers here (with "Take A Bow" likely to be the track labelled 'best on album') but with people like Walter Afanasieff Dallas Austin, Jam & Lewis, Soulshock & Carlin, Salaam Remi and Ne-Yo involved, Spirit is going to be huge, especially in that lucrative yet elusive American market the album is so obviously aimed at. The sooner it gets a proper (and reasonably priced) release there, the better. Leona is young, she's pretty and she oozes a natural sweetness and charm. As Simon Cowell might say, "I think people will like her."
But most importantly, she has a voice to kill for. As long as she doesn't end up becoming another self-important diva and as long as she eventually ditches the über producers and gets to be herself, this is one lady who is going to go far. She's definitely one to look out for; definitely one worth checking out."
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
It'$ Aiming at the Money, But Still Worth BuyingFeb 28, 2009
By Kunpeng Wang
I don't know why a lot of CDs of British artists are always released later in the United States, but obviously this deluxe edition of Leona Lewis' Spirit is released late for a reason.
For the DVD, the US version contains one more music video "Run" and a live performance of "I Will Be" that are not included in the international version, for the release of the international version is earlier than that of the "Run" video. Nevertheless, "The Making of the Video Forgive Me" is not available in the US version, but as this is a music product, I guess more music videos are better.
For the CD, they used the original revised US track list for the standard part, but they changed "Better in Time" and "Footprints in the Sand" into single mixes. Both of the single mixes are quite different from the album versions. For example, in "Better in Time", the piano intro was extended, and the main melody only came in for the chorus, while in the album version, the main melody came in as soon as Lewis started to sing. The difference of the versions of "Footprints in the Sand" is even more evident. Among the four bonus tracks, three of them are unique compared with the international version. "Myself", which is a duet between Lewis and Novel, is exclusive in this US release; "Run", which is an album version in the international release, is also a single mix in the US release; "Bleeding Love (Remix)", which is originally an iTune bonus track for the first US edition, is finally available as a shorter version on physical CDs.
Deluxe Editions of CDs are always about making money, but this CD has six different tracks compared with the original US release, besides it came with a DVD. In addition, as I'm a buyer from China, who's now studying in the US, my copy of the first edition is the international version, which means it does not even have "Misses Glass" and the single "Forgive Me". Therefore, if you like Leona Lewis, buying this new edition is not so bad a choice.
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