Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 12/11/07
Label: Sony BMG

Easily the most significant thing about the Leona Lewis debut album is how long it's taken to appear. That it comes best part of a year since she won "X-Factor" and scored her first Number One with winning single "A Moment Like This" certainly suggests that rather than quickly cashing in on her TV talent show success, Simon Cowell is looking to distance her as much as possible from the programme and its c-list of former winners. Equally, the time and talent lavished on the album confirm that one and all are aware that for once, they really may have found a winner.

Even before Lewis picked up the somewhat dubious title of winner of "X-Factor" 2006, it was clear that there was something more about her. Rumours abounded that Frank Butcher look-alike and discoverer of Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys, Clive Davis, had been on the phone wanting to sign her - which along with Cowell he did for a $9.7 million, five-album deal - and that America was already calling her the next big thing.

So it's little wonder that the embarrassingly by-the-numbers "A Moment Like This" has been tacked, begrudgingly, on the end of "Spirit" as a UK-only bonus track; no doubt for fear that it might tarnish the gleaming US sheen of the rest of the album. And next to the tracks by production heavyweights Dallas 'TLC' Austin and J.R 'Destiny's Child' Rotem it really would have done.

Certainly, it's not an album for those with an acute dislike of ballads - having as it does every variety, from soft to loud to intimate, epic, weeping and triumphant - but with its refined beats, immaculate arrangements and intelligent melodies, "Spirit" confirms both Lewis's international ambitions and the likelihood that she'll pull them off. The next Mariah Carey, high-pitched squealing and all, is what she's going for, and what for the most part she gets.

First single proper, "Bleeding Love", is far and away the most sophisticated and catchy song here, with the slickly clicking "Whatever It Takes" and "Take A Bow" the only others offering anything close to edginess. Undoubtedly there's a lack of Mariah sass and sexiness to balance out all the balladry. But truly you can't have everything. Better an album overloaded with stylish, intelligent ballads than an album overloaded with songs such as "A Moment Like This".

Ultimately, while winning "X Factor" and having UK Number Ones is nice, for a girl with lots of mid-tempo love to give and broken hearts to mend, America's the real prize. So should Mariah and co be worried? Most definitely.

    by Dan Gennoe