In December 2006, Lewis won the third series of British reality singing contest, The X Factor, her prize being a £1 million recording contract with Sony BMG, for which Simon Cowell is an A&R executive.

During the live final, Lewis duetted with Gary Barlow of band Take That, who told Cowell, "This girl is probably fifty times better than any other contestant you have ever had, so you have a big responsibility to make the right record with her.

"[15] Cowell admitted that Barlow's words resonated with him, and thus the decision was made to not rush her debut album, as he wanted an "incredible record" of original material, which he believed could not be done in less than a year.

[18] On 25 April 2007, a press release was sent out revealing that Simon Cowell and Clive Davis, chairman and CEO of J Records, would work together in a first-of-its-kind partnership on both the song and producer selection for the album.

[22][23] Lewis recorded the album in several locations the first being London, England, where she worked with Steve Mac,[1] who produced the songs "Homeless" and "Footprints in the Sand".

[24] "Homeless" was written by Jörgen Elofsson, and was originally recorded in 2006 by Swedish singer Darin and featured on his album Break the News.

[30] They took the idea to a songwriting session the pair already had scheduled with Page at his home in Malibu, California and they finished the song the following day.

[31] In Los Angeles, California, Lewis teamed up with OneRepublic singer Ryan Tedder, with whom she recorded two songs, "Bleeding Love" and "Take a Bow".

[33] Tedder had previously made the decision not to work with contestants from the singing competition American Idol, but he had not heard of The X Factor.

"[34] On hearing that Cowell was looking for songs for Lewis's debut album, Tedder rearranged "Bleeding Love", changed the key and tailored it to suit her voice.

Lewis's debut single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", is included as a bonus track on releases in the UK, Ireland and Japan.

[53] "Footprints in the Sand" incorporates elements of pop and R&B genres,[54][55] and contains a gospel production performed by the choir and features "crashing drums".

[66] It was the second biggest selling single of 2006, behind Gnarls Barkley's Crazy,[67] and went on to be certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry.

[77] "Better in Time" was Lewis's second worldwide single, released in March 2008 in the UK and during spring and summer throughout the rest of the world.

[92] The deluxe edition was released on 3 February 2009 in the US, including two out of three of her b-sides as well as the single mix for "Run", which is 34 seconds shorter than the international album version.

On 24 September 2007, Lewis performed a special album launch party at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Knightsbridge, London.

[93][94] Lewis went on a two-day UK regional radio tour to promote the album and single "Bleeding Love" on 11 and 12 October.

In November 2007 she performed "Bleeding Love" and a cover of the Snow Patrol song "Run" on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge show.

In February, Lewis made her American TV performance debut on The Oprah Winfrey Show singing "Bleeding Love".

[98] In November 2009, dates in the United Kingdom and Ireland were confirmed for her debut concert tour, entitled The Labyrinth, supporting both Spirit and her second album Echo.

[100] IGN's Chad Grischow described Spirit as the "perfect showcase for [Lewis'] fantastic skills", praising her ability to sing both upbeat tracks and "tender piano ballads".

"[110] Digital Spy's Nick Levine gave the album four out of five stars, claiming that although Lewis had a pallet of different producers working with her, they managed to prevent her from sounding "too fusty or old-fashioned.

"[44] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic said "Lewis can hit those big notes but make it seem easy, never straining her voice and building nicely to the climax.

Lyndsey Winship from BBC Music complimented Lewis's vocal ability but perceived a lack of "hooks, innovation and personality".

[101] On Lewis's vocals Robert Christgau commented "The subtle flutter of her finest melismatics could give an open-minded person goose bumps.

[107] The New York Times's Nate Chinen felt the album did not live up to the standards of lead single "Bleeding Love", but was successful in showcasing Lewis's vocal capabilities.

[106] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian was disappointed, saying "[Lewis] has clearly invested every scrap of energy into these songs [...] but being able to belt 'em out is only half the story, and if there's a personality here, it's well hidden.

Instead of taking the opportunity to craft it into new and exciting shapes, it has been stuck in a big spotlit display case, revolving slowly and rather boringly on a velvet cushion of overstuffed balladry."

"[108] Mark Beaumont, writing for NME in 2016, included it on his list of eight of the all-time best-selling albums in the UK have no redeeming features whatsoever, criticizing how derivative it is of Whitney Houston, Snow Patrol and Coldplay.

[149] In the US, Spirit debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 205,000 copies in its first week,[150] which made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the chart with a debut album,[151] and the first British female to hit number one with an album in over twenty years when Sade Adu topped the chart in February 1986 with Promise.