Estelle riding high at home... across the pond Leona Lewis is currently number ONE on the billboard hot 100.
Making a bit of history... It has been 21 years since a British female solo artist has achieved this milestone, not since Kim Wilde’s cover of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On” in 1987.
Leona on Oprah earlier this week. You know this feature helped.
I like Leona Lewis, and i'm not ashamed to say, brit school stand up.
Good week? I think so.
9 comments:
Didn't think think this would happen so I'm very happy for her (and for Estelle too!) but as far as her singing goes she still leaves me a bit, well, cold... Lovely girl though. Let's see how it all goes, I'll be following this with interest when I'm over there.
I knew that girl would do exactly this! I just knew it!
Cowell is a marketing machine and what a guy pulling off the Oprah appearance! When he got her under the belt of Clive Davis big things were bound to happen.
I'm well happy for her, I'm a fan. Beautiful voice.
a star is born...cha ching
So here's the question - were it not for Cowell would she still have achieved what she has?
no way!! without cowell and the reality tv machine... her severe lack of charisma would have held her back.
So is she by definition a star? Or a purely a product of a marketing machine? Also, if that is the case, does that mean that any of us could be a star if put in the same position?
It's a bit of both really I think, I'm not a Leona Lewis fan at all but you can't deny she can sing, so she has got a voice, but of course your going to need the marketing machine if your going to hit big on a Global level. Clav your question that could anyone be a star if in the same position? You only need to look at the Spice Girls they hit big in every country and not one of them could sing, or had any really talent.
More and more of people are hitting big off reality music shows, american idol past and present contestants dominate charts and awards shows over there, then there's the making the band series,etc.
@ One: I take your point to an extent but my definition of a star is NOT some-one who lasts for 1-3 years if they're lucky and then are never heard of again as is mostly the case with the TV-generated acts (step forward Gareth Gates, Hearsay etc) and also in my mind the argument of whether Leona can sing is a moot one - as far as I'm concerned Sade isn't a great singer technically but she DOES have vibe (in addition to being able to actually write great songs, over 22 million albums sold in the US alone - pause!), something which Leona doesn't seem to possess, God bless her.
With regards to the Spice Girls they may not be able to sing but they too had "attitude/vibe" - this is why I said in a previous post that Leona leaves me cold, I'm not saying she's rubbish but I wonder how people will think of her once they get over the "shiny and new" hype... Will she still be so lauded in 5 years time? We shall see.
In my humble opinion, a "star" if you will is some-one who possesses that (cliched now) "X-factor/Stardust", not just because they can sing a song reasonably well (many can't) and as a result these types generally tend to outlast their contemporaries - think Mary J (16 years in the game and STILL relevant) or even Britney (almost 10 years) and Beyonce (over 10 years).
Right, I'm done now!
Post a Comment