No it's got nothing to do with the Matt Cardle song...
Spyke
Since getting a little overenthusiastic over Bleeding Love and Leona's debut album Spirit, my interest in her has wavered considerably (or maybe it just got completely diverted to Rihanna but oh well). I don't think anyone really expected her to take off in the way she did, and after executing the Spirit campaign fantastically (though they should have release Run in the US) her record company have seemed to struggle with what to do with her since. When you have the likes of Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry all dominating the pop scene you can't afford to make a mess of an album campaign like Leona's second album Echo (see Christina Aguilera's last attempt as a further example).
So here we are on album number three and it would seem that Leona has gone for the more upbeat approach; thankfully she's not quite reached the point of selling out to Guetta or RedOne for a hit (yet). Which doesn't make that much sense when she could have just released the fantastic Outta My Head from her last album. I must say it is quite a nice effort, and very much reminds me of When Love Takes Over - I thought Leona might have been aiming more for Beyonce's league rather than Kelly Rowland's but apparently not. The song doesn't quite have the impact I want it to, it could do with an epic key change at the end with the final chorus just blowing you away. However I am yet to hear the track in high quality so that may change everything...but as Nicole Scherzinger would say 'Don't Hold Your Breath'.
That's not the end of the story though. This track was originally recorded by Swedish DJ Avicii who put the track out there for someone to lay lyrics over, and Leona's team jumped on the opportunity. Unfortunately something changed and it turns out that Avicii actually had plans to release the track himself under the name Fade Into Darkness. It's not uncommon for producers to put demo tracks out there, like this, to get some rotation with the aim that an artist will pick it up, release it and make it a success. Ultimately the writers/producers of the track make the most money out of it so generally the bigger the hit the more money they stand to gain. However there are (rare) instances when the composer wants to release the track themselves, but if another artist has been preparing it for their own release there can be issues. Another recent example of this was Cathy Dennis wanting to release Once herself rather than give the gem away to Diana Vickers; but needless to say Simon Cowell is a very powerful man.
So anyway I think I actually prefer the Avicii version; check it out below and make up your own mind up. There are rumours that it's going to get a rush release prior to Leona's but we'll have to wait and see. Leona's version will no doubt come with an accompanying X Factor performance when it gets a full release in September on the same day that Pixie Lott and The Sugababes are releasing their new tracks, so we'll get a mini chart battle - I say mini as I'm not convinced any of them will be able to make it to #1.
Chart Predictions:
Spyke 3
McLovin -
Actual 4
Avicii - Fade Into Darkness
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