Leona Lewis – Echo
by Tysa Banks
If you have been living under a rock for the past two years, then you probably haven’t heard of the woman I am about to talk about. There is no other way you could have missed hearing the sultry, powerful, and angelic voice of Leona Lewis (Myspace, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter). Imagine Celine Dion’s incomparable powerful ballad voice mixed with Toni Braxton’s soulful and sexy voice. Her first album, Spirit, instantly landed Leona on the international music map with her emotionally explosive “Bleeding Love” song and other powerful ballads.
Her follow-up album, Best Kept Secret, showed her fun side while also reminding us how intense and rich her voice is. Finally, her newest album, Echo, is just that. It is an echo of the most radiant voice you could ever hear, and proves why Leona is known worldwide. It’s difficult to come up with new ways to compliment this developing diva since so much positive feedback has been given already. This third album of hers puts her into a very distinguished category of royalty in a sense. It already feels as though Leona is a pro and been in the music industry for years by the sound of her voice. In reality, she has only been known since 2006. Her first album wasn’t until 2007 but she had one in 2008 and in 2009. That is such an accomplishment; to put out an album a year and have them all include hit songs on each of them. Just this simple fact alone is impressive, but wait until you hear her in this new album. Your mind will be blown away with her ability to draw you into each and every one of her songs.
From the moment the words, Someone once told me that you have to choose (from the first track, “Happy”) are sung you are already glowing. It melts into your heart so easily that you can’t help but smile from the inside out. The words to the song are so intense that they also can get to you emotionally…all of them can if you let them. Leona has this way of bringing you into her songs very delicately then halfway through she explodes into this wonderful outburst of beauty that leaves you breathless. The only negative thing I can say about her music is the fact that her lyrics can be a bit repetitive sometimes but I guess that can be overlooked, considering how addictive her voice is. She could sing the phone book, and I wouldn’t mind.
In her second track, “I Got You”, you really feel like she does have you. The chorus is so catchy that you feel like a dancer, light on your feet while your partner gently picks you up and rocks you to the rhythm of the words. The next few songs on the album are simple yet unforgettable sweet lullabies and then the song, “Alive” begins. You can sense the torture in her voice as she belts out the words to this song. Her voice makes her alive, indeed, thus making the words that much more plausible. I am in love with her ability to make you want to fight with her to stay alive. By the time you’ve heard this song, you are beginning to realize there is more meaning to her songs than what lies on the surface. This is apparent in the song, Don’t Let Me Down: “I got my heart in my hand and you can bet I’m holding it close” is such an eloquent way of admitting she has her guard up, hoping this person won’t let her down. She knows it’s a possibility with the lyrics: “If I need a hero I got my mirror and I go on with the show.” In other words, she knows she can always depend on herself if others let her down. So maybe it’s not Shakespeare, but it is still beautiful.
In the next song she speeds up the tempo in “Fly Here Now”. The airplane noises in the background make it feel that much more realistic. She doesn’t stay upbeat for long because in her next song, “Broken”, she sings her heart out. This is, perhaps, her most powerful song of the album and towards the end she lets it all out…all her pain, misery, torture. Leona fans and even new listeners will be more than satisfied with Echo.
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Best Bept Secret was a collection of old demo tracks, rushed out by a different label to capitalise on Leona’s success.
Leona has only two studio albums: Spirit and Echo.
Jan H,
Thank you for clarifying that. I knew it wasn’t a studio album(I own it and recognize a lot of the songs from the nineties) but it is still an album and it came out second, which is why I included it in with my review. I did research to find out where the album came from but apparently my research didn’t pan out because I didn’t find much. So thanks for letting me know.
Tysa