Asha Tanna:  (Intro) Leona Lewis burst onto our screens one year ago. After winning the X factor the 22-year-old from Hackney had a Christmas number one hit with 'A Moment Like This'. It was the most downloaded track in the UK last year, with an astonishing 50,000 downloads in the first half an hour alone.

Asha Tanna:  Now one of the things the judges all commented on, wasn't your voice, obviously, but was about your confidence. They wanted you to come out of your shell. They wanted to see more of Leona.

Leona Lewis:  Yeah.

Asha Tanna:  How have you managed to do that in a year?

Leona Lewis:  Well, I think I am still the same as I always was. Ehm, but I think travelling and being away from home a bit more, and working in the studio and being back and forth, I've kind of grown up a little bit more.

Asha Tanna:  Now, Gary Barlow, when he was on the X Factor, if I can quote him, said to Simon Cowell, "This girl is probably 50 times better than any other contestant that you've ever had. You have a big responsibility to make the right record with her." Do you think you've made the right record with Simon?

Leona Lewis:  (Smiling) Definitely! I think that I have been given this time to write and record loads of songs. And, um, you couldn't really put a time limit on getting a great album together.

Asha Tanna:  Now, you have been described as having the same sort of qualities as Whitney, Mariah, Christina. They're pretty big names to be compared to. What does that feel like?

Leona Lewis:  I mean, that's amazing! 'Cause they're people that were my inspirations when I was growing up. And, you know, to be even put in the same sentence as them is amazing.

Asha Tanna:  (Voiceover) On Saturday Leona returned to the X factor stage as a guest performer. Her transformation into a potential international star was complete. Poised and confident.

Asha Tanna:  Simon has said you are probably the best talent that has come out of X factor and American Idol. Somebody could turn around and say "Well you're... you were just a manufactured pop star."

Leona Lewis:  I think that, you know, you just can't put everyone in a box, 'cause you don't know what people have done before then. And, um, the X factor has given me a great opportunity and a great platform to showcase myself.

Asha Tanna:  Has it been difficult getting used to the flashbulbs going off and people chasing you down the street?

Leona Lewis:  (Laughs) Yeah, it's been kind of mad. I was going home and like the paparazzi were following me on like mopeds and craziness like that.

Asha Tanna:  Would you consider leaving Blighty?

Leona Lewis:  Leaving?

Asha Tanna:  England.

Leona Lewis:  (Laughs) I was like 'What, where's that?'!

Asha Tanna:  Old phrase! (Laughs)

Leona Lewis:  Oh... erm, I don't know. I mean my home is London and I live in London and my friends are there and in Wales as well. So, erm, I don't know, you know I don't know what the future holds. You know, maybe, but I enjoy going back and forth.

Asha Tanna: (Voiceover) It's still early days but America is watching and who knows Leona Lewis could soon have a pad in tinsel town too. Asha Tanna Five News.