Crowning Queens
Leona Lewis: "Bleeding Love"
from the forthcoming Spirit (J)
Kate Bush: "Running Up That Hill"
from Hounds of Love
With news that Clive Davis intends to roll out Leona Lewis as an artist you need to care about at his pre-Grammy party this year, it's probably time we spend some energy on her. But not too much energy. Music Editor JC has had a thing for her for a minute and we featured the controlled, crystalline vocalist in our Mentors edition of NEXT in September's Juice issue. Both Simon Cowell, who praised the singer throughout her run on U.K.'s X Factor (the Brit American Idol), and legendary recordman Davis have been pushing Lewis as a nu-Mariah, a performer with the flexibility to melt hearts and titillate minds. No word on either of those conceits yet. To me, Lewis's debut single "Bleeding Love" smacks of Kate Bush, coupling those thwacking drums with a mid-tempo singing style. Compare and contrast the two tracks above. Bush probably (?) isn't a reference point for the 22-year-old Lewis, but there's the sound of something similar. It's early still, but if she leans more artiste than diva, I won't be mad.
Tags: American Idol, Clive Davis, Kate Bush, Leona Lewis, Simon Cowell
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Comments
1.
clown says:
I recently bought leona lewis debut album spirt overseas form amazon.com and let me tell the cd is well worth the extra cash. She has such a pure voice the kind of voice thats so rare today. You can feel emotions and feeling behind every record even the more commercial ones. I wouldn't say she is exactly like Mariah but given the time I think she can form a class of her own. Bleeding love is just a little taste of what she can do check out Take a Bow, Homeless and the first time I ever saw her face. Nothing you would expect from the chessy type stuff american idol type singers make. So imagine when she gets more creative control.
02/08/2008 at 11:23 PM