Things have been quiet as of late on the Leona Lewis front, but last week saw her reveal some information that we doubt anyone was expecting to hear.
After being signed to Simon Cowell‘s record label SyCo since she won the third series of The X Factor back in December 2006 and being his golden girls of sales, the singer revealed this week that she had left the label in favour for a “new chapter” with rival company Island Records UK.
But the question remains: why did Lewis leave SyCo? Various media outlets have used the words “dumped”, “quit” and “sacked”, but we don’t think these are necessarily true. We don’t believe that Cowell would willingly part ways with the artist that saved The X Factor from being axed and his record label closing down. Under his guidance, she became the worlds best selling artist of 2008 and first UK British female to top the US charts in over 20 years. Here are five possible reasons why we think she decided that it was time for a change!
1. No longer SyCo or Cowell’s star act: It’s no secret that past artists affiliated with the show have left Cowell’s label as a result of a lack of attention. Alexandra Burke, Cher Lloyd and Matt Cardle all parted ways with the label after just a couple of years. With the rise of One Direction and Cowell’s quest for them to be the worlds biggest boy band in history, perhaps Lewis started to feel neglected.
2. Creative differences: Lewis was given full creative control of her third studio album ‘Glassheart’, and while it was met with praise from critics for its experimentation, the sales didn’t reflect it. While it was Cowell’s idea to release a Christmas album in 2013, we think that plummeting sales could have had something to do with it.
3. She was ‘headhunted’: Island Records may have seen the direction Lewis wanted to go in with ‘Glassheart’ and saw how badly her label and management promoted it. As a record label that lets artists be who they want to be, we think they could have felt as though they would have done a better job and made the first move in contacting her.
4. End of her contract, option one: This option could have gone one of two ways. We think that there is a very strong possibility that Lewis simply came to the end of her contract, and was not “fired” or “dumped” by SyCo as speculated by the media.
5. End of her contract, option two: The other option in this scenario of record contracts is that SyCo may have very well indeed offered her a new deal to stay with them, but Lewis may have rejected it, and decided to look elsewhere.
What do you think? Has Leona Lewis made the right decision in leaving the label than launched her? Make sure to leave a comment below!
