I Am... Leona Lewis

Day 4 of the 12 Days of Bubbles continues.

Leona Lewis's latest album I Am released in September has no relation to the Beyonce masterpiece I Am... Sasha Fierce. Other then both of their tremendous vocal ranges. It came out in September and I've still yet to buy it. And, I like Leona Lewis.

Picture it. It's 2006. She's just won the British version of X Factor. Simon Cowell has taken her under his wing. He plans on turning her into a superstar. Leona Lewis is primed to be the next Mariah Carey. My first experience with Leona Lewis was in the orthodontist chair. Something about cutting and snipping wires went so magically with Leona's voice.

By all accounts Simon Cowell achieved his goal in the running gate. The Ryan Tedder penned hit “Bleeding Love” dominated the charts. It's parent album Spirit went ten times platinum in the United Kingdom. The equivalent of three million copies. In the United States it went number one and sold close to two million copies. Spawning a second hit “Better In Time”  

Buy "Bleeding Love"

Everyone loved Leona Lewis. She was beautiful. Talented. Gorgeous. Safe if somewhat boring. But, this was a woman not heralding her music, but instead letting other creative forces do the work for her.

The first misstep she took was with Echo. Simon Cowell was once again at the forefront, but the producers he lined her up with didn't replicate the success of Spirit. Not that much would. In the UK it went a more then respectable two times platinum. Spawning one UK top ten hit and another top hit. In the US the album charted one single within the top 40 and failed to chart within the top ten on the albums chart.

She'd lost all of her momentum in the US. She was a pretty face. If somewhat faceless. Her brand of R&B just wasn't syncing.  

Glassheart was her musical detour. It had Childish Gambino on the lead single. Colton Haynes in a music video. It was an electronic experiement that was musically innovative for someone not known for her involvement in her music. She was safe. Glassheart was her underrated masterpiece. It achieved a silver certification in the United Kingdom and was never released in the United States.

A Christmas album was released to sales success if doing nothing to revitalize her status at radio.

Now we have I Am. As I said, I like Leona Lewis, so I listened to the singles. I don't know who was supposed to buy this album. “Thunder” sounded like a watered down version of Nicki Minaj's “Pills and Potions.” Not a song that was even a Nicki hit.

“I Am” harkened back to Mariah Carey filler of yesteryear when that kind of music went number one. The only song that held some interest was “Fire Under My Feet” that worked have worked much better as a club stomper instead of the R&B based number it was released as.

She seems to have lost any sense of focus or musical direction. She's probably wishing she hadn't passed up on “We Found Love” now. In the UK I Am was her first album not to go top ten in it's debut week. Not a single song went top 40 in her native country.  

In an attempt to garner radio play the only successful thing this able has accomplished is proving how much she still radiates. All of that said. I still haven't listened to the album in full. But, I would hate to put Leona out of the running forever. All she needs is the next Babyface to launch her back into stardom.