No.1 for Interviews - Leona Lewis
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The golden girl of The X Factor, Leona Lewis is still the success story of the show. Here she talks to Radio Clydes Romeo about becoming an international superstar
It’s hard to imagine a time when Leona was a struggling singer; now she is such a well-respected and critically acclaimed superstar that you would be forgiven for thinking she may have become caught up in her own hype. But we are pleased to say she is still as unassuming and sweet as the girl who first auditioned on The X Factor three years ago.
After her triumphant win, she went on to release her album Spirit in 2007, which became the fastest selling debut in the UK and broke records by topping the American Billboard 200. She has sold over 6.5 million albums and her newest release – Echo – is set to break even more records!
All this and Leona is only 24 years old! But she seems determined not to change or get sucked into the world of showbiz. She is still with her childhood sweetheart Lou and resisted the urge to make a permanent base in LA by just renting whilst she was over there recording.
She’s also a staunch animal lover, she turned down a £1 million offer from Mohamed Al Fayed to open a Harrod’s sale because the store sells fur.
Recently Leona has waged in on the great Jedward debate, but being such a nice lady, she refused to slag off the boys themselves. However she did say of The X Factor, “It’s all pantomime, of course. I do feel that when I did it, it was more about the music. Now it’s a whole production – so many people on stage, dancing, special effects going off, all that craziness. It’s definitely changed emphasis.”
Here Radio Clyde’s Romeo catches up with Leona, on behalf of No.1, to get the scoop on her new album and whether she’s backing any of The X Factor contestants to win...
You’re here in the UK at the moment Leona, but where is home? Is it the UK or is it LA?
I spend most of my time here but because I was recording my album in LA I spent a lot of time there.
After spending so much time in America, when you come home and go round to your mum’s, do you get the coming home treatment, like cooked dinners and your ironing done for you?
Yeah, I get that for like a day and then it’s like ‘ok, bored now.’
And is it true you’ve bought a new pad out in LA?
I rent out there, I rented whilst I was doing the album.
It was quite a swanky pad though wasn’t it?
It was really nice yes. It wasn’t massive. It was like a bungalow and it was just nice for when I was recording. It had all this outdoor space so that was lovely.
A lot has changed since winning The X Factor – you’ve become a global singing sensation. And talking about The X Factor, someone else’s life will change at the end of this year when they win. It could even be John and Edward… what do you think of Jedward?
I think that they’re very entertaining. Of course they’re not the best vocalists in the competition but they have the entertainment factor.
The rumours are rife that they could win The X Factor… do you think that would change the whole premise of the show?
I believe that every year there’s a group or someone that everyone is saying, “Oh they’re going to get to the final” but they’re not the best act. They could get quite far, they could get to the final because people are obviously voting for them, but we’ll see.
Maybe they should be on Britain’s Got Talent because they can’t sing, they’re more about entertainment. Apparently they’re going to get a merchandising deal with school clothes and pencil cases and pizzas! What next?
Oh, I’m sure that’s just all rumours like most stuff.
What about a Leona Lewis pizza range?
That would be weird! That would be too strange!
Who are you backing on The X Factor this year?
To be honest I haven’t seen enough of everyone to make a good judgment but there are some good people on there. I like Stacey, but they’re all good and all different.
Yourself, Alexandra Burke and JLS have all set the bar pretty high for the other contestants, especially as you have all performed on the latest series. Did you get nervous before you went on to perform?
Yeah I get nervous before every performance. It just gives me that buzz and adrenaline rush, but it’s a good nervousness!
If a seat was freed up on the judging panel one year, would you be up for that?
I think that because I’ve been on the show, I know what everyone is going through so that would be good. But being a judge is also about turning people away at auditions, which I don’t think I’d be so good at!
Your new single Happy is another big power ballad. You’re wearing some amazing dresses in the album shots!
All of the dresses are Vivienne Westwood designs, I got loads of pieces from her. She just has an amazing range of clothes so it was really fun to work with those designs!
That’s a pretty good freebie – Vivienne Westwood dresses – but have you ever had anything better for free?
I get bits and pieces like clothing and make-up and a lot of Topshop stuff as well. So I really appreciate that, it’s cool to be given things.
If you could get any freebie, what would it be?
I would probably get a horse. I’d call it Pocahontas, but I’d need to have somewhere to keep her!
You have an autobiography out at the moment called Dreams, tell us about that…
It’s more of a picture book really. I had a photographer who followed me on the road and took pictures of every aspect of mylife. So I have got lots of pictures in there and some text about what I’ve been up to so far and it’s just a really beautiful book.
You’ve just said how you would like a horse and in the book there are pictures of you posing with a donkey – do you love animals?
I do love animals. I wanted to do a shoot where I had lots of animals around me. Then this lovely lady had horses and dogsand we just went to her house and did lots of pictures there! The donkey just chills and walks around the house!
There seems to be contradictions in the song Happy…
Yeah there are. The song is a little darker than the title, it’s about striving for happiness.
The video was shot in Cuba with a big wedding scene – what was that like?
The video has a South American/Latino vibe and the story is like a love triangle. It’s like a mini-movie. We shot for three days, which is a lot for a music video, and we got lots of footage. All of the actors were authentic and only spoke Spanish so I was acting but they were speaking to me in Spanish and I was talking back to them in English. So it was a bit weird.
Are you ready to get married in the real world?
Not yet. I’m still quite young, so not yet!
But you’re still with Lou, your boyfriend?
Yes I am. He works in music at the moment.
The new album is out now and obviously Happy is a taster of what’s on it – but what else can we expect?
There are big ballads. It’s a very dramatic and cinematic album. Also there are really good up tempo tunes on there and a duet with One Republic. Also Justin Timberlake has produced a song on there – so it’s a real treat.
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