“Bleeding Love” – Leona Lewis
(Words/music: Jesse McCartney and Ryan Tedder, appears on Spirit, Sony BMG 2007)

These days, I only really listen to the radio in two locations – in my car and in public places where it’s playing.  Even when I listen in the car, I usually have my iPod or someone to talk to, so rarely do I scan the stations looking for something.  My point is that when I hear pop music now, it’s usually as some kind of background music – part of a commercial, pumping through a speaker while I’m shopping, or the sound I put on in the car to keep my thoughts from consuming myself, so I find that I recognize a lot of pop songs but don’t really know them – unless it’s someone I knew already, I rarely associate the song with the performer.  What this means is that the pop songs I end up knowing have to be recommended by someone or ubiquitous enough to transcend the role of background music.

“Bleeding Love” was one of those songs – it seems like everywhere I went for a few weeks in a row those booming drums and that huge voice filled the air.  It’s the kind of song that demands attention – every time I heard it, my ears perked up and I would linger around just long enough to try to hear a DJ give the song credit or to try to catch the hook or something.  Lyrically, “Bleeding Love” is another pop song with bad romantic advice (in this case – “you hurt me emotionally, but I still love you”), but let’s be honest – pop hits need more than words (and, in some case, just need words that aren’t completely idiotic).  Those huge drums contrast with the R&B synth and organ flowing through the song (and don’t be surprised if Kanye has a taiko drum / church organ song on his next album, it seems like the next obvious step for him) and make it interesting – it’s not the typical Whitney/Mariah/et all diva ballad.  Ultimately, it’s Lewis’ performance that makes the song remarkable.  Her voice drips with the emotion of a confused and wounded lover – conveying emotion more than the Livejournal-like lyrics penned for her. 

Tonight, “Bleeding Love” is nominated for the Grammy award for Record of the Year and not for Song of the Year, and it’s appropriate that the track is honored for its performance and production rather than its penning.  I’m convinced that the magic happened in the studio with Lewis’ producers setting her up for these four perfect minutes.  We put a lot of weight onto the pop stars that sing their own material, but there’s also room for those who can take others songs and execute them in a way no one else can.  This is the type of performer Lewis is, and I hope she embraces it.

Oh, and give her (er, her producers) the Grammy.

EDIT: To be fair, my favorite of the songs nominated is “Paper Planes,” but it came out almost two years ago.  Granted, “Paper Planes” got huge in 2008, but it ended 2007 with a lot of steam.  “Bleeding Love” seems much more 2008 and thus, in my opinion, seemed more appropriate to win an award for 2008.  “Bleeding Love” is also much more in the vein of what usually wins these awards (more than “Paper Planes” at least)

Of course, about 5 minutes after I posted this, Robert Plant and Allison Krauss won.  I forgot that T-Bone Burnett has sizable blackmale on the Recording Academy.

More on Leona Lewis: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm