"THIS GIRL IS PROBABLY FIFTY TIMES BETTER THAN ANY OTHER CONTESTANT YOU HAVE EVER HAD" - GARY BARLOW (TAKE THAT) SPEAKING TO COWELL IN REFERENCE TO HER STANDOUT PERFORMANCES ON 'X-FACTOR'

'Spirit' is the debut album from Leona Lewis, and broke records for being the fastest selling album by a new artist in the UK market. Being the second largest selling album of the year with its release coming in the latter months only confirmed how well Leona had been received, considering earlier in the year people had been wondering where the girl had disappeared to since her Christmas number one with the cover version of 'A Moment Like This', coincidently that was the track recorded by the first winner of American Idol and also featured a similar styled video. Simon Cowell was very public about his plans to create the right sound for Leona no matter how long the production would take though, believing she was an artist with longativity, rather than another reality talent where the best thing to do is to strike when the iron is hot to get the most out of their 15 minutes of fame. Leona's part on lending a hand to writing songs has also been documented, as she begins her conquest to be an all-around talented diva the likes of Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey or Beyonce Knowles. It would be unfair to say that Leona's release came at a time when there was no competition as well, as the UK album hit stores the same week as the Spice Girls greatest hits compilation to mark the beginning of their worldwide reunion tour.

• 01, Bleeding Love (4.23), 4*
• 02, Better in Time (3.54), 3*
• 03, I Will Be (3.59) 3*
• 04, I'm You (3.48) 3*
• 05, Forgive Me (3.41), 4*
• 06, Misses Glass (3.41), 5*
• 07, Angel (4.14), 2*
• 08, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (4.26), 2*
• 09, Yesterday (3.54), 3*
• 10, Whatever It Takes (3.27), 4*
• 11, Take a Bow (3.54), 4*

• 12, Footprints in the Sand (4.08), 2*
• 13, Here I Am (4.52), 2*

When it comes to the US market, the entire shape of things changes, and no matter how many sales you can garner on our shores -- if even our critics are slamming Leona Lewis, you wouldn't think she has much chance in a more vicious market. That said, the US production team behind 'Spirit' knew what they were doing when it came to giving Leona aload of samey ballads and feeding it to us hook, line, and of course sinker. This same production company knows that if they mix things up a little bit, and introduce a couple of new tracks, they could perhaps get the same result. Introduce a new sexed-up version of the 'Bleeding Love' video, where a more airbrushed 23 year-old welcomes herself to Times Square and does the ultimate corny manuever of making everyone around her freeze. 'Bleeding Love' has made it to number one in 27 countries worldwide, and most noticeably has made Leona our newest international celebrity by topping the US Billboard. From what I have figured out from the internet, the R&B fanbase seems less interested in taking on Leona, however if she can capture the majority of the country then she should have no problem selling her records.

"A COLOSSAL AND TIMELESS DEBUT" - BILLBOARD ON 'BLEEDING LOVE'

There were no shortage of actual American celebrities from the right side of the camera willing to put their hand to working with Leona, and by the time the ten seconds of 'I Will Be' have past you will certainly not be surprised to hear she worked with Avril Lavigne on the record, as whilst the track doesn't quite sound like 'Sk8er Boi', it's certainly familar to 'When You're Gone'. My biggest disappointment from the original release of the album was when I heard Leona was working with Ne-Yo on 'I'm You', yet the track falls almost flat on its face. Clearly the main objective of the management team was to keep featured artists completely off the release, and make Leona the centre of attention. The final big-name 'helper man' has to go to Akon, who worked with Leona on the US-exclusive 'Forgive Me', rumoured to be the next single off the album. The beginning of the track screams 'Sweet Escape', and hearing Akon's voice rattle, "Konvict," at the beginning on a Brits track is something else that I haven't experienced since the mock-up of a Leona Lewis and Ludacris track. 'Forgive Me' would benefit from not sounding quite so much like Gwen Stefani, however it does give an up-tempo edge to the album that it was missing, and should do well in the US.

'Misses Glass' probably sounds like an absolutely ridiculous song title, but then again didn't 'Bleeding Love' sound a little crazy? The second of the two US-exclusive tracks, I feel this is actually the better of the two as it sounds more Leona Lewis than Akon. This is a track that Leona should be very proud of, as it does show that she can do uptempo alone. I would actually go as far to say that Leona being broken like glass, is the standout track of her short career thus far. If the US production team were looking at other extra tracks to throw on to the album, I'm surprised they weren't interested in her cover of Snow Patrol's 'Run', as whilst the track does run a little long it is probably the first time I have been pursuaded to like a track of another genre based off its cover version. Clearly though it was important for this album to feature original material, with the exception of 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'. Celine Dion most recently popularised the track with a 2000 cover, however its appearance on 'Spirit' is one of those reasons her debut was getting branded boring.

Leona Lewis is reportedly planning a 2010 worldwide tour work an estimated £15 million, this will also be used to promote a 2009 follow-up album, and this could potentially be one of the records of our lifetime if pulled off correctly. But I won't get my hopes up this early. 'Angel' and 'Take a Bow' should not be confused with Robbie Williams and Rihanna tracks, however the latter is a prime example of what the entire album was described as -- "classic songs with a contemporary edge." I can see why 'Best You Never Had' and 'Homeless' were cut from the album, although they are by no means awful and surprised they weren't kept in some form rather than just getting rid of the tracks for the sake of it. 'Homeless' was produced by a team that do essentially work with British talent however, so perhaps the song just wasn't American enough. 'Spirit' could play at a dinner party, but you may want to learn the track order for when your friends ask you what the song is called, because you really won't know. More background music than something to jump around your bedroom to, with the obvious exception of keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding love...