Leona Lewis Gets Christmassy

[caption id="attachment_1177" align="alignright" width="300"] Leona's 2013 Christmas album taken from DigitalSpy.co.uk[/caption]

LEONA LEWIS’ voice is pretty much perfect and her album Christmas, With Love, a cover album of Christmas tracks, puts the original singers of these songs to shame.

This album has all the Christmas classics, including Winter Wonderland, Silent Night and I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday.

She sings each one beautifully and this album is very festive. She has a wide vocal range and great control over her voice. She’s really pleasant to listen to because she doesn’t over-do her singing.

Each track is very similar to the original to make this album great for all ages.

Her young voice has really brought the old classics to life, but it would have been nice to have heard something different from these tracks. It feels like she has brought out this album for no real purpose. She hasn’t been around for a long time, so it could be a way to get back into the public eye and singing Christmas songs is an easy way of doing this.

Although this album isn’t a disappointment for Christmas addicts, it is disappointing for music lovers. There are so many artists who have brought out a Christmas cover album, so this one doesn’t really offer anything different. If Leona had have played around with the melodies and gave each song a unique sound, it would have been a more satisfying buy.

This album is similar to Mariah Carey’s Christmas album, which was on sale nearly ten years ago. Sorry Leona, but Mariah did it better. Not because she is a better singer, because they both have tremendous talent, but because when Mariah’s album was released, it was different to any other singers who sang the songs.

To preview Leona’s Christmas album listen here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/christmas-with-love/id731437243

Chester Intelligencer reporter, Amy Poole

R.Kelly's Back

[caption id="attachment_1188" align="alignright" width="300"] R. Kelly's new album, taken from hiphop-n-more.com[/caption]

AFTER three long years since his last album, R.Kelly is back with his new album, Black Panties.

This album has 17 tracks on the deluxe version and features superstars Ludacris, Kelly Rowland, 2 Chainz, Future, Juicy J and more.

The 46-year-old offers something different with each track, but it all fits together into one flowing masterpiece.  His vocal range is amazing and he isn’t afraid to flaunt his talent in each song.

There is so much passion with he sings and even though the lyrics aren’t romantic or personal, the melody of every song is so catchy.

This album has a sound that really fits into the music industry at the moment, but his style is very unique. It is fresh and each track is unpredictable.

It is certainly an album that offers something different with every track. There is a mixture of R&B, Soul, Pop and Ballads and his voice suits each one of these music styles.

He is that much of a superstar he has brought out a new sound from Kelly Rowland in the All the Way track. She sings in falsetto which she rarely sings in and it really compliments R.Kelly’s voice. Rather than having someone feature just to give the song more credibility, all of the features on this album have an equal amount to sing so it is more like a duet. This is very rare to come across.

This album is very chilled out. It’s great to listen to for background music. It would have been nice to have one or two songs that have a little more bass and a faster tempo, but I guess R.Kelly is known for his slower tempo R&B songs. Despite that, it is certainly a must buy at £10.99 for the deluxe edition.

Preview it on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/black-panties-deluxe-version/id742663988

Chester Intelligencer reporter, Amy Poole