Glassheart

Glassheart is the upcoming third studio album by British singer/songwriter Leona Lewis. Originally scheduled for release in November 2011 through Syco Music and first release with RCA Records, the album will now be released in March 2012 after Lewis decided to schedule additional recording sessions. The album's first songle titled "Collide", and was released 2 September 2011 but was met with controversy after Swedish DJ Avicii made a copyright claim on the song. An out-of-court settlement led to the song being released as a collaboration between the duo. In the UK, "Collide" became a top-five hit while in the US it became Lewis's first song to top the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart.

Background

Lewis began work on her third album shortly after she had completed The Labyrinth tour.^[1] It was also reported that Simon Cowell had set a deadline for the album for a summer 2011 release.^[2] Lewis later stated that she was given personal control over the album and that she determined when she wanted to release it. She also revealed that her record label was "scared" about the album.

For this album, Lewis has worked with numerous writers and producers including: Ammo, Jonas Quant, Chuck Harmony, Claude Kelly, Ryan Tedder, Fraser T. Smith, Al Shux, Steve Robson,^[3] Dallas Austin, David Guetta, ^[2] Rico Love^[4] and Ne-Yo.^[5] In May 2011, it was reported that Lewis had recorded a track called "Trouble" written by Hugo Chegwin, Harry Craze, Shahid Khan and Emeli Sandé. Lewis also recorded a track called "Mountains" written by Khan, James Murray, Mustafa Omer and Sandé.^[4]

In late September, Lewis announced that she cancelled plans to release the album in 2011 and cited more "inspiration" as a reason to continue recording and release the album in early 2012.^[6] In order to satisfy demand by fans, she released a side project, Hurt: The EP in December 2011.

Composition

Lewis suggested the album would be "a bit different from what people have heard" from her before, adding that she planned to "go in and create and just see what happens".^[7] Lewis later described the album as "more progressive", "more eclectic", "more uptempo" and "a bit darker".^[8] Reports suggested that the album had taken a dubstep direction, with songwriters asked to submit dance songs and no ballads.^[9] However, Leona has since refuted these reports and said that the album will have "big, Leona ballads."

In June 2011, when asked about the upcoming album, Lewis described it as "energetic, deep, [and] unique". She also commented that it would have a darker tone and that she would be putting her "heart into [her] lyrics". She cited Tracy Chapman and Tears for Fears as the album's primary influences.^[10]

Promotion

On September 3, 2011 Leona appeared on the first episode of Red or Black? to perform Collide. Following the performance she also went to G-A-Y, a nightclub in London, where she performed Collide and debuted the song 'Glass Heart'. It was also Lewis' first performing at G-A-Y.

Singles

"Collide" is the first single released from this album. The dance-pop anthem, written by Autumn Rowe and produced by Sandy Vee, had its first UK radio play on The Scott Mills Show on BBC Radio 1 on 15 July 2011. It was released in the UK on 4 September 2011 and Germany on 9 September 2011.^[11][12][3] The single courted controversy after it was claimed to have plagiarised Swedish musician Avicii's 2010 song "Penguin".^[13] Berg took the case to the British High Court where it was resolved by the single being released as a collaboration with both artists.^[14][15] In the issue of Billboard magazine dated 9 August 2011, "Collide" became the "Hot Shot Debut" on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, debuting at number thirty-two, three weeks before its official release date.^[16] In its fourth week, the song rose to number thirteen. In its seventh week the song topped the chart, becoming Lewis' first number one on the chart. In Japan the song debuted at number 79 and jumped nearly 50 places the following week to number 32. In Slovakia, the song debuted a number eighty-nine on the week ending 28 August 2011.^[17] On 9 September, "Collide" debuted on the Irish Singles Chart at number three.^[18]

Recorded songs

• "Blank Page" _{(Sia Furler)}^[19]
• "Burn" _{(Brent Kutzle, Ryan Tedder, Noel Zancanella)}^[20][21]
• "Collide" _{(Tim Berg, Lewis, Simon Jeffes, Arash Pournouri, Autumn Rowe, Sandy Wilhelm)}
• "Favourite Scar" _{(Lewis, Roland Orzabal, Curt Smith, Ryan Tedder, Noel Zancanella)}^[22]
• "Fireflies"^[19]
• "Glassheart" _{(Lewis, Brent Kutzle, Ryan Tedder, Noel Zancanella)}^[23][24]
• "Mountains" _{(Shahid Khan, James Murray, Mustafa Omer, Emeli Sandé)}^[4][25]
• "Trouble" _{(Hugo Chegwin, Harry Craze, Shahid Khan, Emeli Sandé)}^[4][26]
• "Sugar"^[19]
• "LoveBirds"^[27] _{(Bonnie McKee)}

_{Release history}

_References