Leona Lewis! Leona Lewis!
City Weekend writer Michael Engstrom recently bumped into British singing sensation Leona Lewis whilst on the other side of the East China Sea. Having come over to Tokyo for a small showcase, the 2006 winner of “The X Factor” (Britain’s version of “American Idol”) was magnanimous enough to dedicate some minutes of her precious time to friendly conversation. Sitting quietly on the 49th floor of the Tokyo Ritz Carlton, they sipped Evian and discussed the finer points of divadom.

City Weekend’s Michael Engstrom: As many of your international fans may not understand English, where do you think your appeal lies for them?

Leona Lewis: It’s kinda surreal to me that the music is transcending that language barrier. I just think it’s amazing, and for me, I studied classical music, doing a lot of opera, and there’d be a lot of artists singing in French, Spanish, and Italian, and I wouldn’t understand exactly what they were saying. But I got the feeling from their voice and the musical elements, and I think that’s what’s happening with my music.

CWME: Let’s say you were given an opportunity to sing at the Beijing Olympics. Would you accept? What about singing in London in 2012?

LL: That would be amazing, an amazing honor, you know it’s just such a big ceremony, viewed by so many people. So that’d be an amazing honor to do that, if I had the chance. Being from the U.K., I’d love to sing in London 2012.

CWME: Are you familiar with the Idol phenomenon taking place in China?

LL: You mean like the American Idol?

CWME: Yeah, but it’s Chinese. It’s called “Super Girl.” Would you be willing to collaborate with the Chinese Idols?

LL: Yeah, I am always looking to do collaborations; I think it just makes for more interesting listening! But I’ve never seen the show, though I’d love to see it. Don’t really know how I would fare…

Click here to read the whole City Weekend Magazine interview. Thanks to Aidan from the official Leona Board for the info.