Leona Lewis has turned down an invitation to perform for President and First Lady Obama because she is too busy working on the follow-up to her platinum-selling debut album, Spirit.

The 24-year-old X-Factor star is currently holed up at a recording studio in Los Angeles putting down tracks for her sophomore disc.

“Leona was thrilled to be invited to dinner by Obama. She really wanted to meet him and his wife Michelle, who is a big fan and has her ‘Spirit’ album. But it was really unfortunate that it clashed with her tight schedule to get her second album done,” an informant revealed to Britain’s The Mirror on Saturday.

“Leona has had studio sessions in Los Angeles booked for months and has been working day and night getting things perfect. So there was no way she could make the trip to the White House,” the source added.

In other Obama news, The First Couple took Manhattan this weekend, arriving at the Belasco Theater to see August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone on the Great White Way.