Jared Braden A healthy obsession with pop music!
A not so funny thing happened to 2006 UK X Factor winner Leona Lewis earlier this year. Following a series of low-charting singles and an underperforming album, she parted ways with Simon Cowell’s Syco label. Leona has finally opened up about parting ways with the label.
In an open handwritten letter to her fans, Leona says, “After several years, I thought about leaving over and over again. I was terrified of walking away from a somewhat secure relationship, even though I knew that we were no longer right for each other and at times even bad for each other. However, I clung to the safety net I had grown so attached to.
“One day everything changed. For my fifth album, I was asked to make a record that would not have been true to myself. By all means as an artist in this climate, I was thankful to even get the chance to make another record. But I cannot make music that does not speak to my soul, and as scary as it seemed, I could no longer compromise myself, and so I decided to leave.”
Adding: “I was threatened with the fact that if I left, it would come out that I had been dropped. That cut deep, but by this time nothing could stop me from walking away. The end of a relationship can really burn but underneath it all, there is still love there.”
Leona also talks about her bouts with depression. “It got to a place where the downs were outweighing the ups. I’m writing this letter for anyone who has ever felt the same way,” she says in the letter.
Leona Lewis released her last non-holiday album, Glassheart, in 2012. The album, which was met with mixed reviews at best, became Lewis’ first album not to debut at number one.
