I’m very surprised I See You didn’t make the top 20 . :o

The results so far are more or less what i expected, it will be alot more interesting as we move on.

19. Ave Maria | 7.14

Highest: 10 (Lukuzz) / Lowest: 2 (Billy)



At 19 is Leona’s first and only classical recording to date – the sublime ‘Ave Maria’. The traditional Catholic prayer has been covered countless times in the past – even sung by Christina Aguilera at Kobe and Gia Bryant’s memorial in February – but from the ones I’ve heard Leona’s is the best. :wub: It isn’t typically my style of music, hence my score of 7, but the song is a demonstration of Leona’s versatility as a vocalist and proof that she is more than just falsettos and whistle notes. I wish Leona performed the track live on some big TV show around Christmas because it deserves to be heard! It mostly received scores between 6 and 8 so for a song so far removed from Leona’s usual sound I think it has done very well!

'Come Alive' is one of her most under appreciated in her catalogue. Should be higher. It's fantastic.

 

'Ave Maria' is STUNNING. I was praying for a big performance slot on it. I honestly think she'd have been in a MUCH bigger position for her 'I am' album had she performed that somewhere over the Christmas period! Gorgeous.

18. Thunder | 7.19

Highest: 10 (Mike, Lukuzz) / Lowest: 5 (Billy)



So it is here we lose the last remaining song from the I Am era! ‘Thunder’ was released as the album’s lead single in the US and reached the top 30 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts. However, it sadly failed to dent the all-important Hot 100. Musically, it is reminiscent of Sam Smith’s ‘Stay With Me’ but slightly more upbeat with self-empowering lyrics in the same vein as the majority of I Am. It’s great to see this make the top 20 here – especially considering all the other tracks from that era had fallen out early – but I think it’s definitely in the right position. It was one of my favourites from the album on release but these days it sounds a bit… plain? It’s nothing out of the ordinary and the song should probably punch more than it does – I mean it’s called ‘Thunder’ after all lol. The scores were generally favourable with no one giving it anything below 5! Over half of the voters gave the song a rating within the 6-7 region though so, although favourable, many aren’t wowed by it.

17. A Moment Like This | 7.31

Highest: 9.5 (troylovesmusic) / Lowest: 4 (Mike)



At 17 is the song that kicked off Leona’s career. This holds such special memories for me and any other Leona stan because it was of course her 2006 X Factor coronation single, her first #1 – and a Christmas number one at that! The song was originally released by Kelly Clarkson as her very own American Idol coronation single in 2002 but their vocals are so different that one doesn’t show up the other’s version. The song spent four weeks at number one and must be close to 1 million copies/units by now! The track was downloaded over 50,000 times in the first 30 minutes of release! What a queen! I don’t find myself listening to ‘Moment’ these days – the song itself is a cheeseboard – but Leona’s vocals elevate it into something worthwhile. This is actually equal in average to the song at #16 but, due to a lower highest score, finishes one place lower. Everyone except five voters gave it a 7 or higher!

'A Moment Like This' is beautiful. Such a fitting coronation winning single. I think it's top 3 out of the coronation singles, for me.

 

'Thunder' is cute, but not a favourite. Never really has been. 'Another Love Song' should have been higher, imo. Switch the places and I'd be content with it tbh.

Ave Maria is absolutely perfection, I am a sucker for classical and opera type music though so I adore her version of this.

 

Also love Thunder think it really should have been the lead single from the album.

 

A Moment Like This is really good although a little bit forgettable, but considering Kelly Clarkson is my favourite female singer of all time I actually prefer Leonas version

16. I Will Be | 7.31

Highest: 10 (Billy) / Lowest: 3 (HurtMyHands)



Thanks to Billy’s 10, Leona’s final single from her debut album finishes above ‘A Moment Like This’ despite having the same average. ‘I Will Be’ is a cover of the 2007 Avril Lavigne song which appeared as a bonus track on Avril's album The Best Damn Thing. I have always found it rather weird and random how ‘I Will Be’ – a pretty obscure track from an album released seven months before Spirit – was chosen for Leona to cover. On album release, ‘I Will Be’ was one of the tracks that instantly stood out to me with it being a perfect song for Leona to showcase her vocal ability and its accessible pop melody. However these days I’m not as into it as I used to be. I also think it was a poor single choice to end the era on when ‘Take A Bow’, ‘Yesterday’, ‘Here I Am’, ‘Homeless’ or even ‘Whatever It Takes’ could have been given a chance to shine instead. It was treated favourably in this rate though because besides HurtMyHand’s 3, everyone else gave the song at least a 6!

Thought a moment like this would be much higher.

As a song, IWB is cute! As the final single over some of the others like what you mentioned? Baffling.

I love I Will Be one of my favourites on Spirit actually. I agreed it shouldn't have been the final single from Spirit though. I also think Leona's version was far superior than Avril's !

Edited May 17, 20205 yr by troylovesmusic

15. Forgive Me | 7.40

Highest: 10 (Cameron) / Lowest: 4 (Billy)




This marked a slight change in direction for Leona. Written and produced by Akon, and serving as the lead single of Spirit’s deluxe edition, Forgive Me was Leona’s first venture outside of ballads – as far as singles go at least! The lyrics tell the story of Leona being dissatisfied in a relationship so looks elsewhere for love. The theme is similar to Rihanna’s ‘Unfaithful’ except Rihanna is actually apologetic and feels remorse in ‘Unfaithful’ while Leona doesn’t seem to care as much. Critics found the song to be very inauthentic for sweet-natured Leona and I half-agree. Yes, it seemed her A&R team were trying to give her some edge for the US market and could have found more subtle ways of achieving that, but it wouldn’t be the first time a pop star has suspended reality in their music. :lol: Anyway, the song entered the UK chart at #5 (during the iconic Diva Week! *.*) before steadily falling. It simply failed to capture the public’s imagination but at least we got a stunning Musical-themed video for the track and the Labyrinth Tour version is a beauty! :wub: While it was a commercial underperformance, Leona and her team had an ace up their sleeve…

I Will Be is a good song but should not have been a single at all, wouldn't have had it top 20 on here.

 

Forgive Me is great and should have been a bigger hit for her

Loving the countdown so far!

 

I guess I’m the only person who thinks Inespettata is a bop :heehee:

Also; how is IWB so high?? Everyone else gave it a 6+?? The lack of taste. :puke2:

 

Fingers crossed something sneaks in above BL. Come on OMS!

FM is an odd one. I appreciated the change at the time, but I think it was a bit TOO different, so came across as a bit try-hard/unnatural to me. It's a bit of a diet bop, but she has far better not only in general, but in terms of uptempos too!

Forgive Me is really awkward to watch in terms of the music video... She looks super uncomfortable. She’s had much better uptempos what didn’t get their chance to shine.

 

 

14. You Are the Reason (with Calum Scott) | 7.62

Highest: 10 (Billy, Feel The Fever, Winter Freeze, Jordan Lee, Jonjo) / Lowest: -1 (sorryislayed)



Being at the bottom end of yet another tied average is Leona’s 2018 duet with Britain’s Got Talent alum Calum Scott. The song began as a solo track for Calum but he decided to record several duet versions with different female artists and Leona’s version became the most popular. :heart: The song had modest success chart-wise with the duet version reaching the top 20 in Belgium and peaking at 23 in the US… on the Bubbling Under Hot 100. :kink: I definitely think the song was more popular and well-known than its chart history suggests with 280 million views on YouTube – making it Leona’s most viewed video ever! I also believe it could have been a decent hit if the streaming promo was there as it seems to have got a largely positive reception. Leona performing the single on The One Show with Calum has to be one of my favourite recent Leona performances – she looked so amazing too. :wub: I think the duet is so beautiful yet understated and their voices really complement each other. It's also nice to see Leona return to ballad territory because I for one have missed Balladona. Besides the -1 score, everyone else gave it at least a 5 so if we were to disqualify sorryislayed’s rate, YATR would have finished comfortably in the top 10! :lol:

13. Collide (with Avicii) | 7.62

Highest: 11 (Alfonso LeLe) / Lowest: 5.5 (Bitch)



If 'Forgive Me' was merely Leona dipping her feet in the pool of up-tempo pop, 'Collide' was her diving in. B-) Written by Autumn “Swagger Jagger” Rowe and backed by a plagiarised sample of Avicii’s ‘Penguin’, this single entered the UK chart at #4 before steadily descending down the chart. I remember it was released during a busy week of new releases alongside Pixie Lott’s 'All About Tonight' and The Saturdays' 'All Fired Up'. Maybe I’m biased but I think Leona deserved to be the highest of the three – alas she was the lowest. That said, I find the song very basic and, besides Leona’s vocals, there’s nothing much to the song. The lyrics are like a children’s nursery rhyme lol (“I’ll pick you up when you’re down / Be there when no one’s around” really queen? I had such high hopes when the team behind ‘Only Girl’ and ‘Firework’ were said to be behind ‘Collide’ but it just didn’t deliver imo. To think if the writers just came up with a better song and without any copyright infringement, the Glassheart era could have turned out very differently! The Afrojack Remix however is WHERE IT’S AT. It goes OFF. Anyone who is yet to hear it or cannot remember what it sounds like – turn up your volume and press play. :music:

I can’t believe Collide is above YATR :kink:

 

Also Scene, I love that you expected more from Collide because it’s the same team behind Firework - the song with the lyric “do you ever feel like a plastic bag” :heehee: