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It’s apparent that no pressure was too great for Ms. Lewis.  She proved to herself, her hometown of Highbury, London, and to a worldwide audience that nothing will hold her back. “Bleeding Love,” her second single, surpassed competing songs to become an international hit, in the United Kingdom, France and the United States, as Spirit, under the direction of Clive Davis and Simon Cowell, ascended to No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart in April 2008. This triumph should not be taken for granted as previous winners of “American Idol,” the UK’s version of the “X Factor,” have learned that winning a talent show doesn’t guarantee a successful career.

While Lewis’ angelic image and friendly demeanor paint an innocent personality, her flaming voice and confident stage presence reveals the diva within, as Simon Cowell observed in her rendering of “Summertime” during her rise to “X Factor” stardom.

The vocal performance on Spirit, demonstrates that Lewis can entertain like a trendy pop star and belt like a big-ballad vocalist, in the style Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston—a good combination to have; being that most pop singers tend to capture only one of those qualities.

What is next for this rising star? After winning “X Factor” and achieving a No. 1 album and single, the bar has been raised very high for Ms. Lewis. However, she already confirmed that she’s not a quitter and defied logic when she burst into the industry at the lowest point of her pre-musical career. So, there’s no doubt that Leona Lewis will reach for the stars again.  

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