Leona Lewis Recorded Ellie Goulding’s “Burn” First: Listen To Her Version

Mike Wass | July 8, 2013 2:03 pm

Ellie Goulding has repackaged her dark and somber sophomore effort Halcyon with a couple of upbeat pop tracks to, you know, get played on the radio and important things like that. The project is spearheaded by the catchy Ryan Tedder-produced single “Burn”, which was actually recorded first by fellow English songbird Leona Lewis.

“Burn” was originally intended to be on the X Factor winner’s underwhelming Glassheart album but was scrapped when the project was retooled to include more ballads. Her version is very similar to Ellie’s — the only real difference being the pronunciation. Leona goes for an American approach (“we don’t gotta worry”), while her compatriot sticks with correct English grammar (“we don’t have to worry”). Compare versions after the jump.

Leona Lewis — “Burn”

Ellie Goulding — “Burn”

So the question remains — who did it better? While both sound great in their own way, I prefer Leona’s towering vocal on this. A song like this would have radically improved Glassheart. Let us know your verdict in the comments.