- Label
- Syco
- Release date
- 19th October 2009
- Genre
- Pop/Soul
- Buy this album
- Order CD
X Factor winner lacks the X Factor. Pretty ironic, really
Simon Cowell is rarely guilty of anything less than forensic efficiency when it comes to maximising the commercial potential of his X Factor charges and ITV’s flat-topped svengali has excelled himself with Alexandra Burke.
As with Leona Lewis, Cowell has given 2008’s winner a full year to record her debut and armed her with stellar songwriting and production talent: Lady GaGa co-creator Red One, Whitney collaborator Louis Biancaniello, Swedish hit machine Stargate, etc.
The finished product, wrapped in a sleeve whose photo session probably cost more than most entire albums, is unsurprisingly a glossy, seamless summary of the state of modern R&B, from the Motown-hued Bury Me to the Rihanna-like Dumb.
Flo Rida and Ne-Yo make the obligatory rap cameo appearances on lead-off single Bad Boys and Good Night and Good Morning respectively, and Burke is admittedly a technically fine singer. A shame, then, that Overcome lacks the one thing even Cowell’s millions can’t inject it with: soul.
More to try:
Leona Lewis: Spirit
Alesha Dixon: The Alesha Show
Beverley Knight: Who I Am
