Spirit

Leona Lewis has been away for a year working on her debut album and to sum it up: it was definitely worth the wait! There is a fantastic variety of songs on Spirit, with a nice mixture of styles merged together. Here is a track by track breakdown:

1. Bleeding Love - Amazing comeback single! Seems like the whole of the UK is loving this one. It's had so much success and deserves it! Fantastic song, very catchy, great production and vocals from Leona! 10/10

2. Whatever It Takes - One of my favourites on the album. I love the soul/gospel sound and it's also really catchy. Definitely a possible single, nice feel-good song. 9.5/10

3. Homeless - Very emotional song, Leona's vocals are just perfect and the song is great. I love the subtle sound effects of rain at the beginning and end. The music really helps with the emotion of the song. 9/10

4. Better In Time - One of the stand-out tracks! Very catchy melody and chorus, love the use of piano and strings. My only criticism would be a longer final chorus with a bit more oomph and don't fade out at the end some amazing vocals. 9.5/10

5. Yesterday - Another one of my favourites. Takes a few listens to fully appreciate it I think. I find myself listening to this song a lot, great vocals once again and I like the old-school beat. 9.5/10

6. Take A Bow - Another of the stand-out tracks and DEFINITELY has to be a single. This will be a smash-hit I just know. Ryan Tedder produced this and Bleeding Love. He is an absolute genius, simple as. 10/10

7. I Will Be - A song you wouldn't expect on a Leona album! Definitely Avril-esque. Nice to see her delve into the pop-rock genre a bit. I'd like to see a few similar songs on her next album. 8/10

8. Angel - I started off disliking this song and thinking it was really average but I've grown to really like it now. Still annoys me that lazy Stargate rehashed that same beat yet again but it's a good song! 8/10

9. Here I Am - This is a beautiful song, beautiful music and lyrics, it just really needed a bigger climax at the end I think. It starts to and then ends so quickly. And with a massive ballad like this, I'd have expected a bit more from Leona's vocals. 6.5/10

10. I'm You - Not a stand-out track and people probably expected more from Ne-Yo as he produced it but I actually really like it. Funky music and beats, perhaps needs to be a bit faster. I like it more with every listen though. 7.5/10

11. The Best You Never Had - Love the music in this one and it's refreshing after all the mid-tempos to have something a bit more uptempo. Catchy chorus and melody throughout. It makes me smile, very clever lyrics. I also like this one more and more with every listen. 8.5/10

12. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - One word: angelic. It takes a lot to move me, I'm not one to cry at films usually and all that but the vocals on this are just flawless. So exquisitically sung, love it. 9/10

13. Footprints In The Sand - Fell in love with this song the first time I heard it and still do! The lyrics are beautiful and Leona's singing once again lifts the song to another level. 9/10

14. A Moment Like This - Heard this about a million times but I still love it! I'm so glad they changed it quite a lot from Kelly's to make it more original. Glad it's not gonna be on overseas editions of the album but it's still nice to listen to every once in a while. 7/10

Overall: AMAZING album! Once I get my copy, it's going in my car and staying there probably indefinitely lol. Leona is without doubt the best reality show winner ever IMO, and Spirit is easily the best first album from one. Can't wait to see Leona develop as an artist and be around for years to come.

I think Leona has a lovely voice and bought this CD with no hesitation, but find that not only do too many of the songs sound similar, her voice by the end of it begins to grate. Two or three tracks are worth listening to. She has been let down by the songs that have been written for her.

I agree with most of the other reviewers. Leona has a fabulous voice, but the songs on this album are very average and she deserves much better material. However, she made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck with the first line of "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" - I stopped what I was doing and sat down in front of my speakers to listen to it properly, and she made me weep; she sang it with such emotion. I loved the original by Roberta Flack and I really hate it when other artists try to cover classic songs (usually badly) - but I have to say, I adore Leona's version of this - for me personally, it was worth buying the album just for that one track.