Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke (born 25 August 1988) (that's "Alex" to you) is an English pop singer, songwriter, dancer and sometime model. After winning the UK version of The X Factor in 2008, she released the number-one album Overcome, which spawned four number-one singles.
Three years and one Updated Re-release later, she released her sophomore effort, Heartbreak on Hold. Despite buying into the electro-dance craze, it didn't fare as well on the charts, reaching number eighteen despite a number three single in "Elephant". A little while after the album's release, she parted ways with both her former record label and her management, and stated her intent to return to her pop-R&B roots for her third studio album. Said album, The Truth Is, released on March 16, 2018.
Burke has been active in London's West End since 2014 when she replaced Beverley Knight in the lead role of the stage version of The Bodyguard. Since then she has also performed in Sister Act: The Musical, Chess (1984), Chicago and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She has also acted in a pantomine performance of Jack and the Beanstalk, appeared on several reality shows and made her film debut in Pretty Red Dress.
Discography:
- Overcome (2009)
- Heartbreak On Hold (2012)
This musician shows examples of:
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: "Bad Boys".
- Call-and-Response Song: "What Happens on the Dancefloor", featuring Cobra Starship.
- Cover Version: Her most famous one is of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", which was her "victory single" after winning X Factor.
- Ms. Fanservice: Her wardrobe can be stripperiffic, but not to the levels of her contemporaries.
- The Fashionista: Designed her own clothing range in collaboration with the Boy Band JLS, called 2KX.
- Lyrical Cold Open: "What Happens on the Dancefloor", "Bury Me (6 Feet Under)", "Good Night Good Morning".
- Melismatic Vocals: And how. She's been compared to Whitney Houston because of them.
- Overly Long Name: Her full name is Alexandra Imelda Cecelia Ewen Burke.
- Record Producer: RedOne produced most of her debut, and she gives him a playful Shout-Out at the beginning of "Broken Heels". Eric Morillo even gets a "feature" credit on "Elephant".
- Retraux: "You Broke My Heart" is an old-school soul song
in the middle of an otherwise electropop/R&B-oriented album. - Self-Empowerment Anthem: "Broken Heels", which carries the implications that women still have to enjoy "girly" things even when they want to outshine the opposite sex. Oh, and it implies that all men are weaker than women, too.
- Title-Only Chorus: "What Happens On the Dancefloor".
- Title Track: Both her albums have one.
- The '90s: Many of the songs on Heartbreak On Hold are a pastiche of 90s house music.
- A Wild Rapper Appears!: FloRida in "Bad Boys", Pitbull in the remix of "All Night Long", Laza Morgan in "Start Without You".
