How Love Changed My Life

ALMOST 20 YEARS AFTER WINNING THE X FACTOR, THE BRITISH SINGER REFLECTS ON HER CAREER AND BECOMING A MOM

- By JACK IRVIN

Back Onstage Lewis brings "cozy Christmas vibes" to her Starry Night Las Vegas residency.

The lyrics of Leona Lewis's No. 1 hit “Bleeding Love” hold a different meaning for the British singer today from when the song came out in 2007—one year after she won the U.K. version of The X Factor. “To me it was about a romantic love,” says Lewis, 40, who's now married to dancer Dennis Jauch and mom to their 3-year-old daughter Carmel. “When I sing it now, I think about [Carmel] and what she's opened me up to and how deep that love goes.”

Two years after winning the competition, Lewis was already a global chart-topper and a three-time Grammy nominee. “It got very big, very quickly,” she says. “It was a lot.” Soon she was in the same spaces as icons she grew up idolizing—like Céline Dion, whom she saw live in Las Vegas around that time. “I was so blown away,” she says. “In my head I was like, ‘Man, how epic would it be to have a show here and share a culmination of all of your work?’”

The Joy of Motherhood "Family is the most important thing to me," says Lewis (with husband Dennis Jauch and their daughter Carmel). "It's just amazing being a mom."