Leona Lewis – Glassheart

Pop heavyweight Leona Lewis returns with new album Glassheart, which was slated as a move away from her usual wallowing ballads and towards dub-step and electronica. The result instead is more of a mix between these styles. The tracks Unlove Me and I to You are definitely more of what we’re used to from the 2006 X Factor winner, whereas Come Alive and title track Glassheart certainly have a more dub-step feel to them, or at the very least an approachable pop take on the genre.

Lewis is one of the real success stories of music-based reality TV, winning season three of the X Factor when it was still a relatively credible talent hunt, rather than the slightly abhorrent exploitation of some people’s need for fame and the viewing public’s desire to witness their embarrassment and failure that it has become in recent years. Indeed, Leona’s enchanting, graceful good looks and powerful mezzo-soprano voice have carried her through an immensely successful career. Both of her previous albums have gone platinum, she’s had three Grammy nominations and her worldwide sales currently exceed 20 million units.

Glassheart will only add to this. It’s exactly what you’d expect from one of popular music’s pros. The song writing is safe and pleasing, the singing is rich and clear – no auto-tune noticeable, thank heavens. It’s hard to fault music like this, being as it is constructed and produced by some of the best and brightest in the industry has to offer and performed by a truly talented vocalist. The tentative edge towards the darker side of dance music feels right too, and it’s been approached with a sense of measure. Anything too close to actual club music would have come off a bit forced and trite in our opinion. Anyone who wishes to ride the bigger waves in the constantly changing sea of popular music these days must be adaptable and confident about changing direction and Leona Lewis is both of these, albeit in a safe and subtle way. No epic Madonna style reinventions so far at any rate.

Joe Waits

Glassheart is out now. For further information or to order the album visit Leona Lewis’s Facebook page here.

Watch the music video for Trouble here: