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" Earlier this week, we were invited to watch Rebecca Ferguson perform a selection of new songs from her new album Freedom, which comes out later this year.  As you may already be aware, we were quite taken with her debut record Heaven for its clever blending of soul and pop without sounding dated or mumsy.  But what does Rebecca have to say about her next offering? &amp;quot;Since the release of Heaven, so much has changed in my life,&amp;quot; she says. &amp;quot;I feel like I&amp;#039;ve learned more in the past two years than in the rest of my life put together and this is reflected in the music on this record.  &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;ve put my heart and soul into it. If it&amp;#039;s passionate, vulnerable, soulful and raw that&amp;#039;s because everything I&amp;#039;ve gone through when making the record has driven the music and lyrics. I&amp;#039;m not someone who can just go into a studio at any time and just create \u00C2\u2013- I need drama and passion.   &amp;quot;If the first album was a collection of great songs, this new album is more of a coherent statement. I&amp;#039;m excited again!&amp;quot;  It certainly sounds promising - if a little dismissive of her debut - but how is the album shaping up? We&amp;#039;ve posted our initial thoughts below.  1. &amp;#039;I Hope&amp;#039; It&amp;#039;s essentially a big &amp;#039;n&amp;#039; breezy midtempo number built around the hook: &amp;quot;I hope, I hope, I hope life treats you good.&amp;quot; As you can probably decipher from that line, it&amp;#039;s about sending a man on his way after a break-up and saying there&amp;#039;s no hard feelings. Nobody would confirm it, but we suspect this will be the first single given it sounds like it could have been on Heaven, making it the perfect bridge song between the two. 2. &amp;#039;Fake Smile&amp;#039; &amp;quot;Put on your short skirt and show him what he&amp;#039;s missed,&amp;quot; Rebecca sings in this smooth and soulful kiss-off to - you&amp;#039;ve guessed it - another rogue ex. &amp;quot;Put on your fake smile and wipe away your tears... what&amp;#039;s real anyway?&amp;quot; she asks over sassy, finger-snapping grooves on the chorus. Again, it&amp;#039;s not worlds away from her previous efforts, but one noticeable difference is Rebecca&amp;#039;s vocals, which have a newfound confidence and diva-like quality we&amp;#039;ve been anticipating since she left The X Factor.   3. &amp;#039;Freedom&amp;#039; A piano ballad about searching for hope in a relationship that builds gradually towards a huge, crashing climax on which she sings: &amp;quot;I am free/ It&amp;#039;s the sound of peace.&amp;quot; The song put us in mind of Leona Lewis&amp;#039;s version of &amp;#039;Run&amp;#039;, which is a good thing in the sense that it&amp;#039;s an epic and chart-friendly ballad, but a bad thing in that it sounded a bit like Rebecca covering a Snow Patrol song.  4. &amp;#039;All That I Got&amp;#039; Another grand affair similar to &amp;#039;Freedom&amp;#039;, although this time she&amp;#039;s accompanied by a full guitars, drums and xylophones backing band. &amp;quot;I give it all that I got/ Let the healing start,&amp;quot; she sings in gospel-like fashion on the song which, as you may have already deciphered, is about that moment just after everything has gone wrong and you&amp;#039;re finding the energy to start again. It&amp;#039;s worth mentioning that after performing the new songs, she put her own (brilliant) spin on Katy Perry&amp;#039;s &amp;#039;Roar&amp;#039;, which is a good indication of her current mindset and the lyrical style of Freedom. And if the rest of the album follows suit, she could once again be a late contender for album of the year. Freedom is released on December 2. Are you looking forward to Rebecca Ferguson&amp;#039;s new album? Leave your comments in the box below:  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a518375/how-is-rebecca-fergusons-new-album-shaping-up-review/>