Leona posts open letter discussing depression, label split

Leona Lewis has written an open letter to fans in which she explains why she left Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco, and reveals that she has struggled recently with depression.

The singer, who has since signed to a new label, Universal Island, blamed her split from Syco on creative differences – and claimed that Cowell’s label threatened to tell the public she had been “dropped” if she tried to leave.

“I cannot make music that does not speak to my soul, as scary as it seemed. I could no longer compromise myself,” the singer wrote in an open letter posted on Twitter.

“I was threatened with the fact that if I left, it would come out that I had been dropped. That cut deep, but by this time nothing could stop me from walking away. The end of a relationship can really burn but underneath it all, there is still love there.”

The Bleeding Love singer also revealed that she has had a “rollercoaster year” marked by periods where she felt “extremely depressed”.

“It has been quite the rollercoaster year,” she wrote. “The emotions I have felt have been more powerful, in both a positive and negative way, than any other time…in my life. At some points I felt extremely depressed and other times experiences amazing highs, but it got to the point where the downs were outweighing the ups.”

Meanwhile, Leona Lewis filled in for Sam Smith during a performance of Naughty Boy’s La La La at the World Music Awards earlier this year – watch her version of the song here.