I've mentioned in my threads before my dislike of Alexandra but she has had some good tracks-Bad Boys, ANL, SWY, TS...only one i didnt really like was broken heels so i will give her credit where its due but WTF is elephant?! i dont like the woman but she has got a really good voice...why shes wasting it on crap like this i dont know, she did perfectly well with up tempo's that suited her voice before (bad boys, all night long etc) and that was without autotune, or at least not as much.

Leona could have released her album now really, its been quite a quiet month for album releases except for Madonna-who in my opinion is underperforming in the UK (37 for GMYL?!) surely she must have enough tracks stashed away to be able to get a twelve track album out?! its been over 2 years since echo!

when stars are relatively new they have to 'blow up' and be able to maintain that way whilst they take there time with albums for them to be huge or keep producing albums every year or so-Britney, spice girls, mariah are a few examples of artists that were huge but knew they were new and released an album each year or so to keep the hype. leona and alex are nowhere near big enough to take these sort of gaps whilst they find there 'direction' or 'take time to find a sound'

Alex hasn't realy taken THAt long a gap. Her last single was out in December 2010, and then she was on tour till March. And went off recording the album, with UK tour and festival dates in between. It was meant to be out in 2011, but I believe RCA pushed it back. Also her new record deal caused problems too, I think something happened. If the music is good enough, it won't matter the gap. In Leona's case, it saddens me. She should've put out more singles from Echo (Outta My Head, Stop Crying (should've been the 2nd single), My hands. They are amazing songs. She just needs more promo. She's never seen. She has an amazing voice and she needs to be seen a bit more.

Alexandra Burke is yet to have that one huge hit that really takes her career off. Her debut album was successful though, and she is yet to release her sophmore album so there is potential to for it to be bigger than her debut although if Elephant is anything to go by, I can't see it happening. I just hope she has incredible material on this album because if she does then she's sorted. She has the voice, the looks, the dance moves and versatility. The full package to be a worldwide star.

Leona's career sadly started going downhill after Happy. I'm a huge fan, but even I can't deny her career has deteriorated. I think the label are somewhat to blame, "Happy" didn't take off worldwide and yet they didn't think to release a second single straight after to try and save it. Instead they waited until February and released "I Got You" in the UK with limited promotion and a late video release. That flopped too and then they just gave up completely. Leona's still does well for herself, she had a successful tour and her sales from Echo are still impressive (although not compared to Spirit) but she needs to just come back with another strong single and lots of promotion again.

Both girls have the potential to be up there with the biggest artists, they just need the right material and promotion to achieve it. Leona showed her potential with Spirit as an international star, Alexandra is yet to show what she can achieve internationally but I do think she can do it.

This post is fantastic, I agree with everything you've said.

I thought Happy was a good record - and I loved the video.

Fans often refer to Happy as the time it started to slip for Leona, but IIRC it was no.1 in the midweek chart for a couple of days before it then slipped behind the Black Eyed Beans song.

It was fine from a UK perspective, but not globally. More promo was needed. The notes on it are epic.

There's only room for a limited number of artists to be really successful. Most are marginalised in the end. However, the explanation is really quite simple, what makes pop stars, simple really... good songs....and neither Leona nor Alexandra have enough of them.

This post completely shows my opinion! Kinds creepy xD

Eventhough i'm not a huge fan of Leona, you can't deny she has an amazing talent. And with songs like Adele's 21 she could do really really well imo

No one could have predicted that out of the likes of Leona, Alexandra - and others Amy, Duffy, a lot of the acts that came out at that time - Adele would surpass them.

It does come down to songs.

You could actually. She seemed to have an it factor, even with her debut. People were amazed by her. Of course songs make a difference but so does promo. Adele has had perfect promo unlike Alex and Leona. They had good enough songs to sell, but their label were a mess. Alex had a good debut that was pretty much geared for the US, and they kept it in the UK. A waste. Adele got lucky too, she didn't have a big hit in the US when 21 came out, that happened months later. It's a rarity, it hardly ever happens. Props to her, her album is great.

Alexandra did pretty well with her first album. There were several hits off it, strong overall sales and it established her with a distinctive image (rather than Leona 2.0) which was "current" (RedOne being huge at that time as well). She should probably have had a follow up album out last summer/Christmas at the latest.

As for Leona, there is far too much time spent blaming promotion when it's more an A&R issue. Echo did not suffer from a lack of promotion. It did suffer from the lack of a hit single. And when they put out what was seen to be the "safe bet", it slumped at #14 and gave no boost to the album. Collide was a bad record, pure and simple. That was problem #1. Problem #2 was that it didn't really fit with her image. I don't think anyone is buying the whole "edgy" look because she just isn't at all. I think a lot of the people that bought her first album were "older" females (by that I simply mean not teenagers!). I don't think they want edgy and I don't think Leona has any competitive advantage in that area. But it does seem like there's a total lack of direction behind the scenes.

If anything, Syco need to be a bit more "factory-like". Until a few years ago, it would have seemed crazy to think that there could be 3 years between albums for one of their acts. But it has happened with Leona (and with Il Divo and Shayne Ward). It really doesn't help.


Not sure where this is coming from. There hasn't been a single series where only the winner has been signed. In fact, in the first series of Pop Idol, Cowell/Fuller signed an act that only made the top 50 (Sarah Whatmore?).

what about cher llyod she's talented but her album wasn't promoted properly except a slot on the x factor.
want you back should have been a top 10 hit also
playa boi could have been another hit.
Swagger jagger was awful and a big mistake and it meant people didn't take her seriously as an artist.
Syco is a big joke I bet singers are thinking twice now whether to enter the x factor now.
JLS would never have done as well if they signed to syco.

Totally spot on.

The 'Pop' market can only support so many singers can't it.

At the moment, the market is saturated...yet Cowell still insists on pushing more and more singers into that already saturated market, instead of focusing on and developing the 'stars' he has already found. It really shows what he is really about!

In such a saturated market, only the lucky survive.

With all due respect, there is no God given right for any single / album to be "top ten"! If it is liked, people will buy it. If it isn't, people will walk on by.

Why would Cher be mentioned? This thread is about how Alex and Leona should have more success because of how talented vocally they are, and Cher can't compare to them.

To be fair to Alexandra, she has been using her time away from the spotlight pretty wisely. Unlike Leona (as far as I can tell, anyway) she's been establishing valuable connections with credible US songwriters, producers and artists which I think will inevitably work in her favour when the time comes for her promotional push stateside. She's had studio time with Swizz Beatz, Rico Love, Usher, etc. and through that she'll be learning and growing as an artist. Her debut album was pretty good but it certainly was nowhere near good enough to promote on a global scale; though saying that, Jessie J's album was pretty terrible and still managed to sell well.

Leona doesn't have the balls to take the reins of her career in the same way Alex did. Echo bombed in comparison to Spirit and, as others have said in this thread, she doesn't have the drive to promote the music in the way artists should be. Never see her at festivals or doing low-profile promotional gigs.

If I was Leona and her management i'd be doing everything possible to get a slot on the Olympics Opening or Closing ceremonies. She is an East London girl so it shouldn't be too hard to convince the organisers, a top draw performance in front of a TV audience of billions would get her back in the big time.

Oh no...we don't want any ex-reality tv 'stars at the Olympics. We would be a laughing stock.

Who's we? Leona Lewis and David Beckham did a stellar job in Beijing....Leona is a perfect role model.

David Beckham is one thing, he is fine...but most of us won't want Cowell and reality tv 'stars' anywhere near the Olympics. The opening and closing ceremonies mustn't look like The X Factor.

A big fat "no" from me re: reality tv stars and Cowell being involved in the Olympics.

So what do you propose? They shoot themselves to avoid the shame of getting a record deal via XF? They have careers and incredible voices and they are the cream of the crop in british talent. It won't look like the XF, because they are head and shoulders above everyone. And there is no XF stereotype. People must start to realise this. And they aren't REALITY stars either. They are very good singers and recording artists. Cowell won't be involved in it. And Leona did incredibly well at beijing. I didn't see people throwing stones at her saying 'get off stage, we don't like XF singers'. That's the point of the show, and Alex and Leona fulfilled it. They found talent and stars. It's like saying we don't like Jimmy from Berlin, because Berlin is a German city. Foolishness. They set the standard.

To be honest, I don't think Leona's very interested in being a superstar, she prefers to spend her time in the studio and being low key when it comes to her personal life. She doesn't wanna get involved in the media bullshit, so for that I really admire her.

There's nothing wrong with being an artist who prefers to spend their time like this, as apposed to others who we never hear the end of or are completely in your face.

I, for once, entirely agree with you.

Alexandra never hit the heights Leona did and probably never will.

Alex has sold 800,000+ in her debut.
Leona has sold over 3,000,000+ in her debut.

WW, Alex has sold probably 900,000+ in albums.
WW, Leona has sold more than 7,000,000 in albums.(debut)

Leonas second album was much better and worked with amazing producers. Wrong decisions were made (not touring in the US) off the back of Spirit.
Wrong songs were chosen for the album and released.

However, the album sold over 2,000,000 copies and that is considered a flop?!

Now Alex may be working with good producers but until someone gives me definitive proof thatshe is working with Usher etc.
Elephant has BOMBED and her fans need to get a grip as she has so much more to prove with this new album.


Leonas comeback was IMO was good. She took a massive risk in the sense of goin into uptempo single. It was good enough to chart in the top 5 after a year and half away.
No radio support and the fact so many releases in the month of sept was the reason for it not going to number 1. If it was out in July, it wood have been.

Leona has worked on Glassheart for such a long time and the list of songwriters and producers she has worked with is endless. Obviously her label are willing to give her time to create a good album. so she beats the common criticism of rush releasing for the sake of it

Her new songs "lovebirds" and "glassheart" are really catchy.


Overall, both can reach the highs and I believe Leona deffo will.

I thought Elephant did similar business to Collide. Both top 4 hits that exited the top ten after a week.

I've always thought that Leona and Alex, although quite different artists, usually have similar chart positions.