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| Artist: Leona Lewis
Label: J-Records
List Price: $18.97
Buy New: $6.98
You Save: $11.99 (63%)
New (52) Used (13) from $6.98
Rating:  144 reviews
Sales Rank: 34
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 702554
UPC: 886970255424
EAN: 0886970255424
ASIN: B0012TBGYC
Release Date: April 8, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New - Factory Sealed - Shipped from Florida via USPS First class mail. We ONLY sell what we have in stock. NO back orders here.Import Edition
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| Customer Reviews:
 More Corporate Music - bleah April 17, 2008
Uncle Jerry (Stinson Beach, Ca.)
20 out of 30 found this review helpful
Of course Clive and Cowell are championing her - they paid for her, they signed her, they brought in anyone who has sold anything lately to dream up hooks and sounds and pumped up the drum machines. More whining and emoting and warbling and there is nothing new here. Jewel has a better voice and Avril rocks harder and both of them have more sincere, serious or fun lyrics.
This music is homogenized and streamlined for mass appeal. She'll be a model full time before too long selling perfume, and good for her for the success (seriously - she's working the system). But people you are being manipulated by mega corporations and this is their product and their vision (not hers) for mass appeal music that will sell the most.
No Simon it's not hard to crack the US Charts when you have the entire industry from print to news and television and all the top dogs and entertainment outlets promoting and playing the music over and over and over again. It's a formula my young friends and there are a lot more original artists out there that deserve your hard earned dollars. It's a profit driven industry and big corporate media giants have decided this is the safest way to spend their investment dollars. Explore the unknowns and take a pass on whatever the coordinated media conglomerates are pushing on you.
It's all an effort to extract the most amount of money out of the most amount of people and for one product. It has nothing to do with honesty, originality or well played or well written lyrics, songs and music. It has nothing to do with art and artists and everything to do with mass media conglomeration, advertising, and hype.
Find a local college radio station to hear the real music before big business takes over all the airways - or hit the search button on your satellite radio and explore everything. Make it your own not what someone else tells you is cool. If the music speaks to you and is honest, not gimmicky or aimed at the lowest common denominator go for it enjoy it and see them live in a small club. That's the real grass roots music scene. Always has been always will be. Think for yourself. This is just all marketing based on product testing and past unit sales generated by coordinated hype in an effort to separate you from your money as quickly as possible. There's no integrity here the sounds from this disc are about money.
She's off to a great start April 18, 2008
Olukayode Balogun (Leeds, England)
20 out of 81 found this review helpful
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 ueber 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."
 Way, Way, Way Overrated April 24, 2008
Jessica Winney (Houston, TX USA)
20 out of 36 found this review helpful
My exposure to Leona Lewis so far has been limited to listening to song samples of this album and seeing her live performance on the April 23rd American Idol results show. After being praised to the skies by Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell, Leona sang "Bleeding Love," which was at best mediocre and at worst boring. Shortly thereafter, AI contestants Carly Smithson and Syesha Mercado sang their songs from the previous night. Needless to say, there was no comparison. Both Smithson and Mercado blew Leona Lewis out of the water performance-wise. I would venture to say, then, that Leona Lewis's appeal centers primarily on how she looks. She can sing, but it's nothing that I haven't heard before. It is always interesting to be able to compare singers side by side when they perform together live. You can sound great on your album, but if you can't bring it live, then you can't bring it.
And does anyone else think that Leona Lewis bears an uncanny resemblance to Simon Cowell's girlfriend Terri Seymour, minus a few years? :-)
 Leona has arrived April 8, 2008
Roberta Hotard (New Tampa, Florida (rather be in Houston))
19 out of 23 found this review helpful
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.
The most gifted and talented idol EVER!! April 8, 2008
Joy Elizabeth Teets (Fairfax, VA USA)
17 out of 54 found this review helpful
I was never into any of the American Idols or X Factor winners for the longest time. I just always felt like artists should work hard and make a demo and send it to the record companies and still feel like this for the most part. The exception is this powerful force, Leona.
Not since 1991 when I discovered Mariah Carey has any female artist moved me or blown me away or amazed me or sent shivers down my spine the way Leona does. Leona far surpasses Kelly Clarkson, Beyonce, Jessica Simpson, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, and any other female artist since Mariah Carey.
Leona sings with so much soul and emotion and passion and it breaks my heart greatly to read that people think Kelly Clarkson is still better than Leona. Anyone who really listens to Leona will realize or should realize that Leona is just a powerhouse that Kelly could only dream of becoming. When I was watching both performances by Leona and Kelly of A Moment Like This, I could hear and see the emotion in Leona's performance and Simon, wow. Simon has never acted so excited for any idol like he has with Leona. I never saw Simon so excited like that with Kelly and it's because Leona is the REAL deal!
I find myself on the verge of tears with pretty much every song on here because Leona's voice is just so breathtaking. I also find myself stop breathing during many times throughout the album due to her incredible power. You just cannot call yourself a true vocalist fan and not fall in love with Leona as a singer. She sings in so many different ways and tones and every song is incredible.
The two songs on this album that just really move me the most and completely make me a true fan of Leona are Take A Bow and Footprints In the Sand. It's as if Leona wrote these songs just for me. I feel like this whole album was made just for me but these two especially are my #1 favorites tied.
Take A Bow is just so epic and I love everything about the song lyrically, musically, melodically and vocally. I really love the whole theme of this song and reminds me of Phantom Of The Opera and my favorite actor Charles Dance and my favorite actress Dame Judi Dench. This is what should be Leona's second single and deserves to get #1. I just cannot get enough of this song and cannot recommend it enough. It has #1 written all over it!
Footprints In The Sand is a beautiful Gospel ballad that is based off the Footprints passage written by Mary Stevenson:
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed
he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.
For each scene he noticed two sets of
footprints in the sand: one belonging
To him, and the other to the LORD.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him,
He looked back at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of
his life there was only one set of footprints.
He also noticed that it happened at the very
lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he
questioned the LORD about it:
"LORD, you said that once I decided to follow
you, you'd walk with me all the way.
But I have noticed that during the most
troublesome times in my life,
there is only one set of footprints.
I don't understand why when
I needed you most you would leave me."
The LORD replied:
"My son, my precious child,
I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints,
it was then that I carried you."
Again, the melody, lyrics, music and vocals are just simply breathtaking. Leona won me over with this beautiful ballad.
Bleeding Love is my next favorite after Take A Bow and Footprints In The Sand. It definitely deserved #1 and I just LOVE the way she sings on this song.
I also bought the UK version prior to this version which has another amazing ballad called Homeless. It is so emotional and powerful and recommend listening to that track as soon as possible. They removed that masterpiece from this US release which is a shame but the album is flawless regardless.
Leona's version of First Time Ever I Saw Your Face completely blows the other versions out of the water. I've always loved Celine's version and never thought I'd love another version more until I heard Leona's. Leona sings this with such passion and emotion.
Here I Am is an awesome album closer and just one of the greatest ballads ever. Another masterpiece!
Every song on this album is incredible and full of power and soul and emotion and different styles and it really deserves to be #1. If you love the TRUE singing with power, you will not be disappointed with this album. Leona is everything I love about vocalists and she IS music itself. Don't pass this album up just because you may feel it's just a wanna-be singer. Leona is not just a singer. She is a force to be reckoned with who has the potential to be just as successful as Mariah, Whitney and Celine.
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