» Estelle Interview
Nick Aldwinckle chatted with recent Mobo winner Estelle about her American adventure
Not many British music stars can claim to have conquered the elusive American market. Even fewer black UK performers can be counted amongst the likes of The Beatles, U2 and Amy Winehouse, so it was something of a big deal when 28 year-old West London girl Estelle Swaray’s collaboration with Kanye West, ‘American Boy’, gatecrashed the US Hot 100 chart earlier this year.
Born into a Senegalese/Grenadan family, the young Estelle was brought up on a diet of gospel, roots reggae and dub, which soon led to her early performances as a hip-hop artist on the small label Ill Flava Records. As she started to get noticed, Estelle was signed to indie label V2, who released her self-produced debut LP, The 18th Day, in 2004. The record was greeted with critical acclaim and a MOBO award for Best Newcomer, though this didn’t translate to big album sales. A label more used to dealing with up and coming guitar bands, Estelle describes her time at V2 as “basically me trying to find my way and not really knowing what I’m doing, but being signed to a label that doesn’t really know what it’s doing, too”.
This lack of commercial success led to Estelle failing to get a deal despite talking to several labels in the UK, independent and major: “None of them wanted to sign me. I thought it was pretty strange, thinking ‘what the hell’s wrong with you people’? I had a lot of love from people in the labels, but not the bosses. My friends told me to just go where you’re wanted.”
Inevitably, then, she did. Hungry for her music to be heard around the world, in May 2007, Estelle took the difficult decision to move to New York after old collaborator, American soul superstar John Legend, offered to sign her to his Homeschool label. A hefty touring schedule (including a number of sold-out warm-up shows) around the US in support of the record, has led to very little downtime in her new home. As she puts it: “I think I’ve been in a different city every day of the month for about four months now, so I think I’ve seen all of the USA; every American boy you can possibly think of.”
“None of the UK labels wanted to sign me. I thought it was pretty strange, thinking ‘what the hell’s wrong with you people’?”
One American boy she’s certainly been fortunate to meet is John Legend. Since signing to his Atlantic Records imprint, success has come swiftly. Her second LP, Shine, hit number 6 in the UK album charts and garnered another MOBOs haul; this time round, she got five nominations and won Best UK Female and Best Song. With more of an old-fashioned soul vibe than her first, more r’n’b record, Shine sees Estelle’s vocals come to the fore. She attributes this simply to ‘singing better’ and her vocals working better with the second album’s ‘rougher’ sound. Others might put it down to an artist reaching her peak.
It certainly looks that way, looking at Atlantic Records’ roster. Home to Kelis, Missy Elliott and some of the biggest names in music, the label clearly has faith in Estelle’s potential, having signed her up for a five-album deal. With a host of massive collaborations, including Mark Ronson, Gnarls Barkley’s Cee-Lo and, of course, Kanye West, as well as planned work with Gym Class Heroes, Kid Sister and Santogold, you’d be forgiven for assuming the powerful major had got together this enviable line-up. Not so: “(Producer) Craig Kallman’s idea was to put me in with these big names and to see how high I could raise my game. It was people like Wyclef and all those guys calling me up and asking if I wanted to work with them; not the label asking them to work with me on my behalf. It was really exciting.”
Particularly exciting was writing with former Fugees man Wyclef Jean, who has previously compared Estelle to his ex-band-mate Lauryn Hill; “I was honoured. He said it in the way that he hadn’t seen anyone work the way I do. I’ve never met Lauryn and I’m not copying her. He didn’t do anything; he just made the beats and sat down and watched me write the songs. It was a massive compliment for someone who’s sold ten million records to do that.”
Wyclef’s not the first big name, and certainly not the last, to heap praise on this ambitious lady. Her work ethic is about being ‘a brand’, as she puts it, ‘of always being at the forefront of what’s coming musically next. I feel like everything I’ve done is a template and the first album was a pre-cursor to what I’m heading to now’. With this potentially world-conquering confidence, she just might live up to the hype.
