The truest test of Simon Cowell's power within the music industry circa 2008 was not whether #American Idol could produce a star in its seventh season or if its U.K. cousin, #The X Factor, would have another success in its fifth season -- it was whether he could turn Leona Lewis into the international superstar he so clearly believed she is. Lewis was the third winner of #The X Factor -- the Cowell-driven replacement to #Pop Idol in Britain, a replacement that came to be because he wanted to own a significant piece of the show -- and one of the key differences between #Factor and #Idol is that the judges can mentor the contestants and therefore have a stake in the outcome of the show, more than they do on #Idol, where the judges merely comment. Rightly impressed by Lewis' multi-octave voice -- reminiscent of a warmer, earthbound Mariah Carey -- Cowell continued his mentorship after the conclusion of the show, making her the first contestant in the whole #Idol/#Factor enterprise that he personally shepherded through the major-label process. He struck a deal with Clive Davis -- the executive producer behind all the #American Idol projects, the producer who publicly bristled when Kelly Clarkson tried to take control of her career through her original compositions -- and the two launched a grand plan to break Lewis in her native U.K. first, then slowly roll her out in the U.S. a few months later, via an appearance on #Oprah and a slightly re-sequenced and remixed version of her debut, Spirit.

1		Bleeding Love
2		Whatever It Takes
3		Homeless
4		Better In Time
5		Yesterday
6		Take A Bow
7		I Will Be
8		Angel
9		Here I Am
10		I'm You
11		The Best You Never Had
12		The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
13		Footprints in the Sand

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