Best Kept Secret

Issued in early 2009, BEST KEPT SECRET reveals what British R&B/pop singer Leona Lewis was working on before she won THE X-FACTOR reality show and rocketed to international stardom with her full-length debut, SPIRIT. Recorded in ’06, the collection--essentially a series of demo tracks--features Lewis’s expressive voice (see the uplifting “Joy”), but is somewhat hindered by uninspired songwriting and slick, keyboard-heavy arrangements, as on the synthetically funky “Dip Down” and “Ready to Get Down.” While this SECRET isn’t likely to get beyond Lewis’s most diehard fans, for her devoted followers, the album is an intriguing document of her formative work.