Real Music People

Oprah Winfrey says Leona Lewis is going to take the US by storm. The ‘Bleeding Love’ singer appeared on Oprah’s US talk show yesterday and blew the audience away with her amazing performance.

Afterwards, Oprah announced: “A star is born!”

Before appearing on the show, Leona - whose single ‘Bleeding Love’ is currently number one in the US iTunes singles chart - spoke of her excitement about meeting one of her idols. She said: “I can’t believe it really, I’m like, ‘Oh my God!’ ”

Leona’s debut album ‘Spirit’ is set for release in the US on April 8, complete with two new bonus tracks masterminded by Akon and Madd Scientist. Earlier this year, Leona was left “overwhelmed” when Whitney Houston said she was a “baby version” of herself.

The British star met her “all-time musical hero” at producer Clive Davis’ Annual Grammy Party in Los Angeles, but could barely speak when she was introduced to Whitney.

She said: “It was amazing, I got to meet my all-time musical hero Whitney Houston - who looked so incredible. Clive introduced us. I don’t think I managed to say much though; I was overwhelmed! I was told afterwards that when I performed she had said to a friend at the record label, ‘My God, she’s a baby me!’ Wow - what a huge compliment!”

X-Factor champion Leona Lewis has already taken the UK by storm and is even one of the best selling artists of 2007 on that side of the pond. Now, she’s set to release her debut album ‘Spirit’ in the US on April 28th. And she has some extra things in store.

Sources say that the singer is currently busy in the studio recording two brand new songs for the US release. One song, ‘Forgive Me’, is by singer/producer Akon and another is ‘Misses Glass’ by cutting edge producers/writers Madd Scientist and Rock City. Additionally, Leona has also re-recorded the video for ‘Bleeding Love’.

Out of four albums released over the span of her career, all four have debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts. Her most recent album was released last week, entitled As I Am.

A #1 debut is not her only Thanksgiving blessing this week, though. Keys has already sold 742,400 copies and is her highest performing debut yet. Her first album Songs in a Minor (2001) sold 235,800 copies while her sophomore album The Diary of Alicia Keys sold 618,300. Unplugged (2005) sold approximately 196,000 copies. This year, her closest competition was Josh Groban’s Neel, a Christmas themed album, which hit #2 with around 223,000 copies.

This recent increase in album sales has shown us that it is indeed beginning to look at a lot like Christmas. And a lot of people will be pleasantly surprised to find a copy of the R&B songster’s latest gift in their stockings!

Almost five years after releasing a near-classic rap debut, Freeway finally gets his second shot, and there’s some unsurprisingly frank talk about his surroundings not being identical. Since Philadelphia Freeway’s early 2003 release, there was the Damon Dash/Jay-Z Roc-A-Fella rift, so Free addresses that, despite it being old news. Free at Last has all the makings of a disappointment — a release destined to slide off everyone’s radar within a couple weeks of release. “Oh, yeah, Freeway eventually put out that second album… uh, Free Again, or something?”

The album is not the least bit deserving of that fate. Even with the amount of expectation-lowering context heavy on the mind, Free at Last sounds like a very strong follow-up. Apart from the 50 feature “Take It to the Top,” with a light and frilly production that is absolutely the worst fit for Free’s gruff and pop-unfriendly voice, there are no obvious points of weakness — unless, of course, Free’s lack of vocal versatility is something to gripe about. But his intelligible grunts and rasps are just as commanding and riveting as any other MC’s best mode. With a pilgrimage to Mecca also in his recent past, the dichotomy between his threat/boast-based rhymes and more introspective side is greater than it was on Philadelphia Freeway, and it isn’t at the expense of toughness — take, for instance, “I will squeeze and leave your spleen on the outside.” He is a sharper, more vivid lyricist, and it can also be sensed that he has done everything in his power to make up for all that lost time. And it must be said that his as-common-as-ever exultations of “Early!” — Practically a tic at this point — are more perplexing and amusing than ever