"One More Sleep" is a song recorded by British singer Leona Lewis for her first Christmas album and fourth studio album, Christmas, with Love (2013). It was written by Lewis in collaboration with Richard "Biff" Stannard, Iain James, Jez Ashurst and Bradford Ellis, and produced by Richard "Biff" Stannard. It was released in the United States on 5 November, in Ireland and the United Kingdom on 29 November and many parts of Europe on 2 December. "One More Sleep" is recognised as one of the biggest recent Christmas songs in the UK according to the Official Charts Company. The song is certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). "One More Sleep" is also one of the most-streamed Christmas songs in the UK, with over 93 million streams as of 2021.
Background
In February 2013, a representative from Syco Music, Lewis' record label, announced that she was about to start writing and recording material "imminently" for her fourth studio album, and that it would be released in late 2013. The news came after Lewis announced that she had parted ways from Modest! Management, the management team who had represented her since she won the third series of The X Factor in 2006. Various media outlets speculated that this was due to the weak commercial performance of her third studio album, Glassheart, which was released in November 2012. It became her first album to not debut at number one or earn platinum certification in the United Kingdom. It was also reported that the second single from the album, "Lovebird", had sold fewer than 600 copies, meaning that it failed to attain one of 200 chart positions on the UK Singles Chart, and this was another contributing factor to her departure.
In June 2013, speculation arose that Lewis' fourth album would in fact be a Christmas album, after British production duo MagicIT tweeted that they were in a studio recording Christmas songs with the singer. The following month, Lewis confirmed that she was indeed in the process of recording a Christmas album. She revealed that it was recorded on the recommendation of Syco boss Simon Cowell. Speaking in July 2013 about the decision to record a Christmas album at this point in her career, Lewis further explained how Cowell had come up with the idea: "Simon is still very much involved in my career and helps me out. He came up with the Christmas album idea, and we both kind of felt it was the right time to go ahead with it."
Release
On 24 October 2013, Lewis unveiled "One More Sleep" as the album's lead single, and she released the single cover artwork a week later, on 31 October. The artwork is a head shot of Lewis holding a red bow over her eye. The song was released as a digital download in the United States on 5 November through RCA Records, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland through Sony Music Entertainment and the United Kingdom through Syco Music on 29 November, and multiple other European countries on 2 December, including France and Spain. Lewis uploaded a Cahill remix of the song to her official SoundCloud account on 21 November 2013.
Production and composition
"One More Sleep" was co-written by Lewis in collaboration with Richard "Biff" Stannard, Iain James, Jez Ashurst and Bradford Ellis. Stannard and Ash Howes produced the song, while they and Lewis carried out the vocal production. It was recorded by Biffco and mixed by Howes at Biffco Studios, Brighton, and Angel Recording Studios, London. The song utilised a multitude of instrumentalists: Keys and programming were performed by Ashurst, Stannard and Howes; Celli by Nick Holland; drums by Freddy Sheed and bass by Knight Time Horns; trombone by Barnaby Dickinson and trumpet by Graeme Flowers; James Knight performed the saxophone; strings were led by Rolf Wilson, arranged and conducted by Cliff Masterson and booked by Roz Colls; Rolf Wilson, Simon Baggs, Steve Morris, Julian Leaper, Tom Piggot Smith, Richard George, Jonathan Hill, Laura Bruce White, Tim Grant, Reiad Chibah performed the violins; and violas by Greg Walmsley, Nerys Richards. Background vocals were sung by Katie Holmes, Kelli-Leigh Henry-Davila and Bianca Claxton, while Choir vocals were performed by Diva singers, who were arranged and conducted by Masterson.