Feature: British rapper/singer Estelle shines on new album
May 1st, 2008, 6:03 pm by Jaime Galvan
BY GLENN GAMBOA/Newsday
Estelle isn’t a worrier.
When her label seemed confused about the direction the British rapper/singer wanted to go in for her new album, she calmly went to see the execs and said, “Let me go, please.”
“I believe that if the music is good, the rest will follow,” she explained, calling from a tour stop in Washington, D.C. “I thought, ‘If this deal doesn’t work, I’ll get another one somewhere else.’ I was writing the album with John Legend and he said, ‘I’ll sign you.’ He made it happen.”
The result of their collaboration is “Shine” (Home School/Atlantic), a collection of hip-hop, old-school soul with bits of reggae and pop thrown in for good measure. The first single “American Boy,” which teams Estelle with Kanye West, has already topped the British charts and is now making its move in America.
