Syco
Urban Contemporary, 2009
While Alexandra Burke sounds nothing like Leona Lewis – her voice is a little huskier – as I am listening to her debut album, I can’t help thinking that perhaps her handlers are trying too hard to groom her to sound exactly like the other The X Factor winner. Just listen to The Silence and Leona Lewis’s Broken back to back for a good example of this.
Overcome is a slick and swanky album full of songs produced by the current hottest beat makers like RedOne, but the end result is unfortunately an album that sounds a lot like everything else at the market out there at the moment. Songs like Bad Boys and the 60’s-influenced Bury Me (6 Ft Under) are bouncy and fun pop tunes, but they are not outstanding tracks in any way.
The only standout song here is her cover version of Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, complete with choral accompaniment, but that’s pretty much because it’s the only song that does not conform to the safe and bland pop/R&B formula of the moment.
Overcome is a fun and fluffy album with some entertaining pop tunes, but it lacks that special something that will allow it to become something more than yet another pop/R&B album by a pretty lady.
