Echo

Echo is the second studio album by English singer Leona Lewis. It was released on 9 November 2009 including 16 November in the United Kingdom, and 17 November 2009 in the United States. Its worldwide release was through Sony Music. The album charted across the globe, including the US, UK, Canada, across Europe, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand, with commercial success. Lewis worked with Ryan Tedder, Justin Timberlake, Max Martin, John Shanks, and Harvey Mason, Jr. amongst others to produce the follow-up to her debut album Spirit. The album was preceded by the single "Happy", released on 15 September 2009. "I Got You" was released as the second single in February 2010. The song "My Hands" was used as the theme song for the video game Final Fantasy XIII. The album achieved commercial success, peaking within the top twenty in nine countries, including debuting at number one in the UK with 161,000 copies sold in its first week. Lewis promoted the album along with her debut record on The Labyrinth, her debut headlining concert tour, starting in May 2010. Background and production As with Lewis's debut album, Spirit, each of Echos producers were enlisted by her mentors Simon Cowell and Clive Davis. Unlike her debut album where she travelled between cities, Lewis remained in Los Angeles for the recording of Echo, which took nine months to produce. It contains ballads, racier tracks and dancefloor anthems. Lewis titled the album Echo "since an echo describes a big, organic sound," and it appealed to her love of fantasy as Echo was a nymph who, in Greek mythology, "pined away till only her voice remained." In August 2009 Lewis told her official website: "I'm in the midst of the recording process, working with incredible songwriters and producers, and my music has really evolved. It's so exciting to create something new." She also said, "I'm actually more confident with this album than the last. I've taken more control this time and I feel more at ease with everything." She told Variety magazine that she "wanted the album to have a little bit more of a live feel to it, with a little more live instrumentation," and described Echo as "more guitar-driven" compared to Spirit, with a "harder edge" in an interview with Seventeen. Lewis worked with Ryan Tedder, producer of her second single "Bleeding Love", on the album's lead single "Happy", written by Lewis, Tedder and Evan Bogart, and "You Don't Care".