Leona Lewis - "Echo" Era (17th NOV 09)

[leafgal]

www.rap-up.com/2009/09/25/timbaland-missing-from-leona-lewis-album/

TIMBALAND MISSING FROM LEONA LEWIS ALBUM

Leona Lewis’ new album will feature an all-star cast of contributors, but one name that will be absent is Timbaland. The “Happy” singer explains why.

Lewis and the super-producer did log studio time, but don’t expect to hear the fruits of their labor on her sophomore effort Echo. “I went in the studio with Timbaland and we vibed out,” she tells Rap-Up.com. “The thing is, on this album, there were a lot of people that I’d been with on the first album so I knew them and we kinda got into the vibe straight away.”

But don’t rule out a future collaboration. “Obviously I’m still getting to know Timbaland,” she says. “It’s kind of a continuing and evolving relationship, so this time he’s not on the album, but hopefully next time he will be.”

While Timbo may be M.I.A., Justin Timberlake, Novel, Ne-Yo, and Ryan Tedder did make the project, due November 17.

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[starr]

Is something wrong with Timbaland's tracks lately? I notice that a lot of artists work with him but they don't include any of his produced tracks on their final track list.

[suzyolu]

Sept 24, 2009 23:56:36 GMT -5 tsw2008 said:

Echo is full of big emotional, dramatic songs broken up by hard-hitting uptempo songs.

MSNBC:
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/33006874#33006874

like the sound of this.

[S_Bunny]

^^Me too.

I hope the Timbaland tracks are used as B-side or something, I'd still like to hear them.

[blurple]

Sept 25, 2009 7:33:16 GMT -5 starr said:

Is something wrong with Timbaland's tracks lately? I notice that a lot of artists work with him but they don't include any of his produced tracks on their final track list.

He's so 2006/2007.

[S_Bunny]

Some more album news

They'll be some uptempo's this time round.

The new CD is also a departure for Lewis as she tackles more uptempo, dance songs, like “Outta My Head,” written and produced by Max Martin (Pink, Backstreet Boys).

OUTTA MY HEAD
Writer(s): JOHAN KARL SCHUSTER, SAVAN KOTECHA, MAX MARTIN

www.harryfox.com/songfile/pub...lldown&index=0

New co-written song

SAVE MYSELF
Writer(s): LEONA LEWIS, SAVAN KOTECHA, RYAN B TEDDER

www.harryfox.com/songfile/pub…lldown&index=5

[EPG]

Awesome! A little less than 7 weeks to go!

[BrokenArrow]

Biog By Paul Flynn

Now and again, when Leona Lewis sits down in the studio and listens back to a recording she has just made, she starts to cry. Like the millions who have been touched to their core by her voice since she won that show and began releasing a series of songs that defied preconceived ideas of what mere ‘talent show winners’ could ever be or become, she is at times caught off guard by the haunting, ethereal quality in her own voice and is, quite simply, moved to tears.

“It’s weird I know, but sometimes it feels like something outside myself. It’s not necessarily that a lyric is even something that’s happened to me but I almost feel like it has because I can get swept up by the emotion, and when I do it can be overwhelming.”

Big emotions and sweeping, widescreen melodies form the beating heart of her much-anticipated new album ECHO, which sees her re-teaming with the likes of Max Martin, Ne-Yo and John Shanks as well as working with new collaborators Xenomania and Julian Bennetta. Direct, incisive song titles like BRAVE and BROKEN cut to the chase, setting emotions-laid-bare lyrics to timeless yet utterly contemporary soundscapes.

“I really wanted a dramatic, almost filmic quality to the songs,” says Leona, a self-confessed ‘film nerd’ who unexpectedly name checks 80s fantasy The Labyrinth as her favourite ever flick. “We would even put on movies on in the studio to inspire us, it was a cool way of writing. I’m always thinking of scenes in my head.”

While Leona readily admits she is well aware of the expectations on her in following up her 6 million plus selling debut SPIRIT, she wisely focussed on putting that out of her head and just creating great songs – none more so than spine-tingling lead single HAPPY, co-written with Leona’s old BLEEDING LOVE compatriot Ryan Tedder. Rising from a fragile, almost acapella intro, a gorgeous piano line carries it to an anthemic life-affirming chorus featuring a gravity defying vocal performance from Leona.

“That vocal was totally spontaneous, I sang it down as soon as we finished writing, Sometimes it’s better not to overthink things,” says Leona shrugging off any fears of recreating those head-spinning high notes live. “It’s weird because the highest parts of my voice – my head voice - are the actually ones that I find easier singing. I was trained in Opera so that comes really natural to me.”

Leona says it was hard to think of a title for the album straight away, but when it finally came it made absolute sense. ECHO not only reflects the record’s ‘epic and ethereal’ sound, but what’s more it appeals to Leona’s innate love of fantasy and otherworldliness – the places she would go in her head as a child ‘to escape’ and start creating the songs about other worlds, other lives.

“Echo was a nymph in Greek mythology and she fell deeply in love with a boy who didn’t return her love,” she recounts. “ But she loved him so much that she pined away till only her voice remained. That’s a really sad and beautiful story.”

If there’s a whispy, head-in-the-clouds quality to Leona at times (she’s currently besotted with fashion icon Vivienne Westwood she says because of the period references in her work – “if I could walk around in period costume all day I would”) it’s more than countered by a certain steely determination at her core. Don’t forget – when X Factor was just a shimmering Emerald City on the horizon, this girl would spend her days working in a succession of part-time jobs (“oh, everything receptionist, Pizza Hut waitress, there were loads”) to fund her fledgling night time studio sessions and confidence building early gigs around East London.

“I think sometimes people mistake shyness for someone that doesn’t have motivation – but I have so much motivation,” she states. “I’ve got a lot of ambition and drive – it probably comes from my parents being really supportive of what I want to do and knowing in life you have to work for what you want.’

It’s that quiet but resolute determination and complete focus on her craft that has seen Leona rise in a few short years from gigging around Hackney to sharing stages with the likes of childhood idols Beyoncé and Mariah Carey (“When they asked me I was like ‘are you serious? I can’t believe these people even know who I am”). You saw it in 2006 when week after week she returned to the X Factor stage and belted out pitch perfect takes on standards like ‘Summertime’ and ‘Over The Rainbow’. No frills or gimmicks - just that voice. Now, having spent the summer in the Hollywood Hills, LA (somewhere definitely not on her old number 55 bus route from Hackney) she’s been turning down invites for swanky celebrity dos to spend hour upon hour in the studio perfecting and polishing ECHO.

“I’m sure there are people out there who embrace everything and go to every party and that’s fun from time to time, but to be honest I’d much rather be in the studio or at home with my boyfriend or my family. I think that’s what keeps me grounded.”

This is a girl who still lives round the corner from her parents in Hackney (“paparazzi don’t come to Hackney, it’s only when we go to Islington,” she jokes) and has had the same steady boyfriend since she was 17 (they first met when she was 10). One of her few indulgences is frequent – as frequent as her schedules allows – horse-riding sessions in the countryside where she is free and left to her own thoughts (Leona is great animal lover and tells an odd but utterly sincere story about buying a baby rabbit from a homeless man in LA. The rabbit now lives with her and is on nodding terms with Ne-Yo).

In the increasingly here-today-gone-tomorrow world of fame hungry wannabes selling their privacy for column inches, she is that rarest of creatures, an old school star with integrity.

“I was asked to open the Harrods Sale this year but I had to refuse. My principles mean a lot to me. I’m a strict vegetarian so I don’t think fur should be sold in any way,” she states. “It’s about time everyone came up to date with their attitude towards the fur trade.”

Vivienne Westwood’s strong, ethical stance is one of the reasons Leona has turned to her for the understated glamour of her punk couture look for her return to the public eye. That and the fact that “she’s British, and I like to support Britain… oh, and she does great corsets”.

Even so, in typical Leona fashion, she quickly adds that you’re as likely to find her rummaging through the racks of Miss Selfridges or New Look (“great for vegetarian shoes” apparently) in Oxford Street as you are in the swankiest designer stores.

But for now, all Leona’s energies are focused on the imminent release of ECHO to an eager public. So eager in fact, that the recent much-reported illegal leaks of certain unfinished tracks have formed the highest profile case of its kind. Second time around, the stakes may seem even higher but with typical understated self-assurance Leona seems quietly undaunted by it all.

“I’m actually more confident with this album than the last. I’ve taken more control this time and I feel more at ease with everything. To me, it’s all about great songs and I hope the songs move people as much as they move me. I hope so anyway.”

www.leonalewismusic.co.uk/index.php/bio

[neally]

An interesting read:

Ryan Tedder Interview
OneRepublic and Projects With Adam Lambert, Leona Lewis, and Adele
By Bill Lamb, About.com

Bill: What about a favorite song for another artist?

Ryan: I've gotta be honest, man, "Already Gone"still gives me goosebumps. I love the crap out of "Already Gone." I love that one and for the first time ever, last week in Orlando I heard "Happy," the Leona song, on the radio, and that might be my new favorite. That's one of my favorite songs of all time I think that I've written or had any part of. I can say honestly that what I was tallking about a minute ago about writing the kind of songs that people can actually, that can change people's lives and actually affect people, that's one of those songs. Those are the kind of songs that when I'm old and gray and not writing anymore, "Happy" is the kind of song I want to be known for. Those kind of songs.

top40.about.com/od/popmusicproducers/a/ryantedderinterview.htm

[©!nful]

New leaked demo:



I got chills around the 3 minute mark. I see what she meant about the songs having a filmic quality. Would make a great B-side.

[EPG]

I love it! I just need an uptempo from her! lol

[Mike Tuinstra]

I like that one again, great song. Happy is okay, but not good enough for me.

[Deleted]

I'm really looking forward to this album now. I hope she releases on of the uptempo songs in the US this time.

LOVE Stone Hearts, alot more than Happy.

[BrokenArrow]

This is the album cover picture on Amazon.

[tsw2008]

Cover in HQ:

i35.tinypic.com/2us9bfq.png

[muziclvr1]

I LOVE the cover!

[EPG]

Oct 5, 2009 15:00:04 GMT -5 EPG said:

LOVE ( ) the cover!!

[S_Bunny]

Oct 5, 2009 14:13:35 GMT -5 BrokenArrow said:

This is the album cover picture on Amazon.

;DLoves it! So Fierce!
Craps all over the Spirit cover.

[elementd5]

Wow! She looks absolutely stunning.

[ratchet]

they keep trying to copy the queen,

but they always fail :'(

[autodidact]

It looks great! I think she was trying to look like Echo, the nymph from Greek mythology.

[Jack]

I like the way they've kept the same font.

[Hefty Hanna]

She looks breath-taking on her album cover. Terrific! :o

Despite loathing 'Happy', I think I'm going to buy it anyway. I thought Spirit was very good. I'm going to stream it first.

[d.t.m]

Awesome cover, jeez. Leona's one of the most beautiful women in music.

[fire]

I think the fanmade cover that appeared not too long ago looks miles better but I agree, Leona's definitely one of the most beautiful women in today's music industry!

[©!nful]

More Echo artwork:








:o

[muziclvr1]

WOW!! She looks STUNNING, but how many more people are going to do this same pose? lol

[elementd5]

They look exactly like the artwork from her last album only sexified/sasha-fierced out.

[©!nful]

OFFICIAL TRACKLISTING!

1. Happy
2. I Got You
3. Can’t Breathe
4. Brave
5. Outta My Head
6. My Hands
7. Love Letter
8. Broken
9. Naked
10. Stop Crying Your Heart Out
11. Don’t Let Me Down
12. Alive
13. Lost Then Found (featuring One Republic)

[leafgal]

Disappointed the Neyo track didn't make the cut.