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Leona Lewis
Album review

It was a long time coming wasn't it? Almost as if there was some tie-in with the next series of a TV programme, but it was so long ago that we can barely remember what it was.

Anyway, Leona Lewis's album, 'Spirit', has finally arrived and we've had a bit of a listen. So here's our track by track review. And down below you can watch Leona's new video and listen to some of the tracks off the album...


Bleeding Love
You know this one. It's totally amazing and without question the best single ever released by an X Factor contestant - although that's not a bar set especially high. Half ballad and half not, the bass-free production makes for an adventurous yet commercial pop single which more than deserved it's number one chart position.



Whatever It Takes
Hip hop-influenced production mixed with a simple and wonderful gospel ballad. Upping the tempo slightly from 'Bleeding Love', 'Whatever It Takes' is the album's biggest feel-good track. One of best.



Homeless
You can hear a bit of Christina Aguilera creeping in for the first real weepy. Not any of the recent Aguilera nonsense either, proper 'Beautiful' era stuff. An enormous ballad about emptiness, loneliness and other things ending in 'less'.



Better In Time
Plinky plonky piano opens a mid-tempo Mariah Carey emulator - 'Always Be My Baby' to be more specific, and totally wonderful for it. Along with 'Bleeding Love' this is as danceable as the album gets, which is not very, unless you know a disco where they play a slow one at the end of the night.



Yesterday
Still in full on Mariah mode, 'Yesterday' sounds a bit like 'Always Be My Baby' as well, but it doesn't sound like 'Better In Time' - which might sound odd but this sounds like the parts of 'Always Be My Baby' that the previous track didn't. Imagine splitting a song in half and making two songs out of it. We're losing our thread here so let's move on.



Take A Bow
Produced by Ryan Tedder, the man responsible for 'Bleeding Love', 'Take A Bow' ditches the mush for a bit of drama and is destined to be a future single. Why? Well it sounds a bit like Timbaland and is also probably the best song on the album. She should go up a mountain to film the video - yes, it's that good.



I Will Be
Is there a disaster movie being made at the moment? If so, here is its theme tune. Not quite Celine Dion's 'Titanic' theme but better than Faith Hill's 'There You'll Be' from 'Pearl Harbour'. A belter.



Angel
This one isn't so great. A lightweight mid-tempo track but nowhere near as good as the lightweight mid-tempo tracks near the start of the album, although it does have the best ending on the whole album.



Here I Am
This starts really quietly - so you know that by the time it finishes a herd of elephants will have come crashing through the studio with cymbals on their feet and bells pinned to their ears. It sounds a lot like 'Hero' by - surprise surprise - Mariah Carey. A lot like it in fact, they may have laid 'Hero' on the floor and traced around it actually.



I'm You
Mid-album lull. At 14 songs long this one could have happily been culled and no one would have pulled a face.



The Best You Never Had
We don't know who produced this, but if we had a big map of American producers we'd put a pin somewhere near Kandi Burruss - one time member of Xscape and secretly responsible for massive R&B hits over recent years. The most uptempo on the album and a must for a future single. Wonderful.



The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
A perfectly pitched cover version as performed on X Factor last year. A sly wink to what a Leona Lewis album would have sounded like had it been released in March. Lovely, if a little unnecessary.



Footprints In The Sand
This sounds a lot like 'A Moment Like This' and a lot like Christmas. It will be a good one to have on hand in case she wins another competition sometime soon or just gets lucky at the bingo.



A Moment Like This
Like an old friend coming to visit, this is like every other reality TV show winner's ballad ('That's My Goal', 'All This Time') only sung nicer.



Phew! Now you've done your homework, we'll reward you with the 'Bleeding Love' video and some audio treats...



Or you can read about what happened at the recent Leona Lewis showcase.

Leona Lewis 'Spirit' is out on November 12.


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