Estelle
London recording sensation, Estelle, has taken the world by storm with her single “American Boy.” With a smooth style accentuated by a colorful British accent and a whole lot of charisma, Estelle has secured a firm grasp on her career and what she brings to the industry.

The FrontPage had an opportunity to sit down with her and find out what it’s like to “Shine” a day in the life of Estelle:

FrontPage: For those who don’t know, who is Estelle?

Estelle: Singer, writer, rapper, producer, all this good stuff.

FP: You rap too?

E: Yeah.

FP: Who and what inspired you to do music?

E: To do music, was Mary (J. Blige) and Ella Fitzgerald. I just love the way their voices sound, I love the feeling I got when I listened to them and what they were about as women. They weren’t the norm and I figured out pretty early that I wasn’t the norm and I was never going to be the norm. So they were kind of somewhat of a reference point as to where I should go as an artist in this music.

FP: How did you hook up with John Legend?

E: I met John six months before he was signed and a few months before I was signed at Roscoe’s Chicken in L.A. with Kanye West. We was all hanging out; it was nothing big. They were hanging out and I went up to Kanye and said, “I’m a big fan, where’s John?” He’s like, “Come sit here.” So I sat there talking to him for a while. Then at the studio, Kanye comes back in and I was like, “Where’s John?” cause I didn’t know what he looked like. And he was like, “He’s right there. You’ve been talking to him. I thought you knew.” I was like, “Oh,no! How you doin’?” So it was a bit of a moment but we just stayed friends. He was on my first album that was released in the US, the UK, and Europe. We stayed friends after that to do the second album; he was going to produce the second album on the last label. I left that label and he said he would sign me and he did. And that’s where we are today.

FP: You’re from London; what’s the music scene like in London?

E: It’s different. It’s a lot of different styles of music all at the same time. They just appreciate whatever’s good rather than genres. Rather than it be like you do this, so you’re not going to quite listen to that. If it’s good they just like it. So it’s a lot of different music all the time.

FP: Tell me about “Shine.” It comes out when?

E: It comes out April 29th.

FP: What can fans expect from “Shine?”

E: A lot of different styles of music coming from London, but with real talk. Every single thing I sing has come from a situation that I’ve been through, literal conversations I’ve had with people, things that I’ve been through on a very real level. Like on “Shine,” I’m talking about insecurities I have. Like I really don’t want kids right now [because] I’m scared of the pain, and that’s the main reason. And I might not be a good mom. So I just talk about real-life things that everyone can relate to it because I feel like they see what we do as musicians and they think “oh, this is great I love your life.” And it’s like, you probably wouldn’t if you were living it because it’s as real as everybody else’s. It’s just like I wanted to make every single song real. But there’s so many different styles of music, I couldn’t just keep it to hip-hop or R&B. I put it on reggae, I put it on soul, I put on Motown, I put in some dance music, some rock, 80s; just something fresh and different.

FP: Do you have some guest appearances on there?

E: Oh, yes.

FP: Who are some of the people you worked with?

E: Cardinal in Toronto – crazy! Ceelo’s on there. We did a song called “Pretty Please.” He wrote it for me and with me. It was crazy. It’s got the feeling of, you know when you’re busy and what you do, especially just in life, most times you forget your other half. It’s kind of a song to be like, you know what? Don’t forget about me. I’m over here. Because you work so much, sometimes you forget that you have another half sometimes. I don’t normally sing other people’s songs but I just completely folded at that point. I was going through it, so it was that whole moment. John Legend features on the album with a song called “You Are” that I wrote and he loved the song and he wanted to do a duet on the album, so he chose that one. It’s a straight love song, which was fun. It’s not going to help rumors but it’s really cool and it’s nice. The way he sings, every girl slips off their seat. It’s ridiculous.
FP: What’s your favorite song?

E: My favorite song on the album is one called “Come Over,” cause it’s straight reggae. I’ve always wanted to do just a straight reggae song. That reminds me of when I grew up. It’s got a good feeling and it makes you feel warm when you hear it.

FP: Who does your music speak to?

E: I think it speaks to everybody on a level. I wrote it from personal experience and don’t know whether I was trying to prove that I wasn’t crazy or if I was just trying to be me. I don’t know what I was trying to do with it but I was just writing because it felt right. I feel like everybody’s gone through what I’ve gone through but at the time it was so frustrating to me. I was like, is this normal? It was kind of almost me saying in my head, trying to figure out, if I was sane or not. And when people heard it they were like, “I’ve been there! I know exactly what you’re talking about!” So, I feel like I’m talking to everybody and people who haven’t been through, I’m kind of giving them a free pass as to what might happen if you’re in your mid 20’s and you’re a girl. Or if you’re in your mid 20’s and you’re a boy even- this might be what you go through.

For more information on Estelle, visit www.estellemusic.com or www.myspace.com/estelleonline.