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The winner of X Factor in 2006 had an explosive start to her career: her first single, Bleeding Love, reached No. 1 in 35 countries and she has had two albums top the charts in the UK. However, she has since parted ways with her mentor Simon Cowell and in 2016, she withdrew from a Broadway show due to an autoimmune condition. Without a studio album since 2015’s I Am, she is now on tour with her 2013 Christmas album, Christmas, With Love. “Is anyone already decorating their Christmas trees?” she exclaims. “Those are my kind of people.”
After previously exploring more club-like sounds, the 38-year-old is reinventing herself as a Christmas version of Ella Fitzgerald. Classic holiday songs like Winter Wonderland and Santa Claus Is Coming To Town are given a post-Bublé twist, with swing jazz arrangements, powerful vocal displays, and special effects like dry ice and a lit-up tree during White Christmas. Some moments are almost surreal, such as a jazzy rendition of Wizzard’s I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day or a slightly uncomfortable virtual duet with the late Nat “King” Cole’s “iconic voice.” In the future, people may speak fearfully of the night they witnessed Lewis perform her 2018 ballad You Are The Reason with a couple from the audience slow-dancing while wearing antlers.
However, even after a brief speech about vague struggles on a personal and global scale, Lewis skillfully captures the sadness that lies within Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. She doesn’t seem phased by the unexpected paper snow that falls on her head. When she delivers Snow Patrol’s Run with strength and vulnerability, she receives a well-deserved applause, indicating that she still possesses a powerful voice in need of emotionally resonant material.
A neat segue of Bleeding Love and Higher Love takes her back towards R&B. Lewis looks momentarily startled when a young woman she invites up to sing during One More Sleep turns out to have the X factor: a fantastic voice. Still, the 2013 hit single is that rare thing, a glorious latter-day Christmas song, and it ends an uneven evening with joyful festive cheer.
Source: theguardian.com
