Hackney girl

So, Leona Lewis is the winner of X Factor. A justifiable victory in my opinion. I've watched the show quite a bit over the last few months, although my hubbie is the biggest fan of the both of us - he loves watching all the divas belting it out across their multi-octave ranges. Leona seems to fit very much into the Mariah Carey school of vocalists but has an undeniably impressive voice. In the Final tonight, she performed some very good renditions of a few old favourites. Her version of "A Million Love Songs" was I think even better than the original and an added bonus was the surprise appearance of Take That with whom she shared vocals. It worked really well. Leona also did "All By Myself" a song that surely appeals to drama queens everywhere. She used a good technique of starting off with a quiet, understated vocal before erupting into a final, ball-busting "DON'T WANNA BE ALL BY MYSEEEEELF ANYMOOOOORRRREEE!!!" that almost blew the roof off - yet she held every note perfectly. Personally I didn't understand all the fuss about fellow contestant Ray, who couldn't hold a candle to Leona in the singing stakes. Okay, so he's quite cute and has a certain charm that probably appeals to housewives and grannies across the country, but his performances just didn't have the impact of Leona's, preferring to go for old-fashioned Rat Pack type tunes. He's safe, conservative and pretty dull.

Having said that, I can't help wondering if Leona will be moulded into just another Mariah clone. With a voice as amazing as her's, she needs original and challenging material, not bland, insipid love songs with cliched lyrics that you've heard a zillion times before. Unfortunately, her debut single, which premiered at the end of tonight's show, wasn't anything particularly special and was a classic case of the record company wanting to quickly capitalise on her success. Hopefully with time Leona will get better material that really allows her shine as a singer. After all, Will Young managed to rise about his bland beginnings and is now producing some quite good stuff.

One promising thing about Leona (and something the judges and everyone else kept commenting on) is how down-to-earth and self-effacing she seems. A NICE girl. It's a refreshing change to see a great female vocalist who is not a stuck-up prima donna or diva, in the vein of J-Lo or Diana Ross. Let's hope that success doesn't go to young Leona's head and she starts demanding that her hotel room is entirely redecorated for a one-night only stay, or expects rose petals to be strewn in her path, wherever she goes. She's from Hackney and it would do her good not to forget her roots. Then again, Naomi Campbell was from Streatham and look what happened to her ... But somehow I think Leona is different and genuine. Hope so, anyway.