Leona Lewis is often been criticised for her lack of personality but judging by her recent interview with The Guardian, she seems to have finally found her sound. The winner of ‘The X Factor (UK)’ has revealed that her ‘Glassheart’ album, which hits stores on November 28th, will feature an “open and honest” approach to her music.

Channeling the voice of Barbra Streisand, thanks to the assistance of big ballad Ryan Tedder, Lewis stated that the record’s title was developed from the “fragile” theme of the material. See what she had to say below:

Leona’s as-yet-unfinished third album (out November, featuring a production spectrum from UK grime whizz Naughty Boy to US balladeer Ryan Tedder and Emeli Sandé) is called Glassheart “because it’s about being fragile, but also open and honest”. We hear a few songs other than the current corking dancefloor single Collide, its backing track now credited to Swedish DJ Avicii after a copyright rumpus (“I don’t get involved in record label politics,” notes Leona, adding that monetary/legal wrangling generally “actually hurts my soul”).

There’s the orchestral soundscape of Sugar, the eastern-tinged 80s electro of Fire Flies. Most intriguingly, there’s the stunning trip-hop of Trouble (“It’s very London,”), as if Kate Bush in 1979 was transported through a pop Tardis to front Massive Attack in 1991. Her spectral vocal imploring “I’m a whole lot of trouble.”

This is tremendous news, the lyrics centering on the relationship transition between her childhood sweetheart, electrician-turned-talent-scout Lou Al-Chamaa, from whom she split in 2010 (she never discusses her “sacred” private life) and her new beau, the incandescently handsome, Timberlake-esque German dancer Dennis Jauch, 22. “It’s about getting into a new relationship knowing there’s a past and it can be trouble for you, so don’t be a fool,” she demurs.

We adjourn downstairs to the recording studio where assembled “people” (PR, A&R man, vocal engineer) make jokes, much to Leona’s mirth, about tiny LA dogs wearing dinosaur-shaped coats. Suddenly, a voice shimmers throughout the room. Leona, as if beamed through a Star Trek transporter, is now barely visible behind a charcoal vocal booth curtain, singing a song no one has mentioned, a soaring reverie over mournful piano and strings, called Blank Page. “I am a blaaaaaank page,” she serenades, a soul-bending power lilt somewhere between Sinéad O’Connor and Barbra Streisand, “waiting for life to start.” It might just do for Leona what Someone Like You has done for Adele.

Read more on The Guardian.

Judging by what Lewis noted about this album, it looks like it will comprise several overtly sentimental ballads that will focus on displaying the impressiveness of Lewis’ range. However, regardless of how imposing her voice will undoubtedly sound, it will mean nothing if she can’t connect with the music. Hopefully, her being “open and honest” signifies that.

Thoughts?