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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW ESTELLE
The Hammersmith born singer- songwriter, rapper and record producer has made herself a household name with hits such as ‘Shine’ and ‘American Boy’. We talk to her about her prospects for the future...
Issue 31 / September 201
Issue 29 / July 2011
Mr Wondah
mrwondah@guestlist.net
You come from humble beginnings; what was life like growing up and what were your musical influences back then? Well, everything. You know how we do in London; we listen to every- thing. My parents are African and Grenadian, and we would listen to reggae, Zook, pop music... My parents would have us into ev- erything consistently, without fail. It was a huge family and everyone was bringing their thing. It was fun growing up. I can’t even front; we went through crazy [times], but it was fun. My parents are the kind of parents that would not let me believe or see that we were broke, just by giving us different priorities by which to judge our wealth and happiness. So my mum would be like, “You got food in your mouth. There is a house over your head. Okay, so you ain’t got them Nikes, but you can save up and get them when you are paid. Right now you can wear what I got you. We’re good.”
From the album The 18th Day you released the hit songs ‘1980’ and ‘Free’, and the success of that album was recognised with a MOBO. How did you secure your first record deal? This is something I always feel like I have to break down. I had my own record label by the time I was 17 or 18 years old, Stella Entertainment, and I basically moved it, got myself together and got a distribution deal. This was back in the late ‘90s to 2000. I was the only girl that had her own record label at that time, for real. You ask around; I was the only one with my own distribution situation. The [major] labels came runnin’. It wasn’t easy; they saw me at gigs and still didn’t know what to do with me. They were still looking at me like, “[sigh] What is this girl, what the hell?” And I was kind of like, “Well, look, here’s what. Let me show you what to do.” I took the example of the Jays [Jay-Z] and the Puffys because they had to set up their own, and showed people how they should be marketed and how they should be sold. I did the same
thing and it worked. That is how I got my first record deal and I am proud of myself.
Didn’t you attribute this album to your mother? Yeah, my parents in general, but my mum plays a major part in my whole existence and how I started music. She was definitely a supporter, but she also wanted me to be grounded and have my own back. So when I called
with my life.”
You have collaborated with quite a few artists, like Sean Paul, Ne-Yo, Kardinal Offishall, John Legend and Robin Thicke. Which collabo- ration is the most memorable, and why? It’s kinda hard to go down from Kanye, innit? You can’t do better than Yeezy. It was like, who do you work with now? The one that was
“It’s kinda hard to go down from Kanye, innit? You can’t do better than yeezy.”
my album The 18th Day it was a tribute to her, for sticking it out when she was a kid and had me. I remember being 19 years old, not having anywhere to live and not being able to deal with certain things, and she had me at 19 and my older brother too. She had two kids and was doing way more than I could even remotely think about by the time she was my age. So that was my tribute to her, to say, “Thank you for having me, and I appreciate that you let me get on
most fun to do was Robin Thicke because we did the video too, and that was like a big party. That was hilarious, yeah.
You are a singer and a rapper, but you also are a songwriter. What inspires you to write? My life. When I am singing ‘Break My Heart’ it’s real, and this new album was my most uncomfort- able album to write. I had to sit down, really look at myself and be like, “What do you wanna say
now?” You win a Grammy, you are flying around the world but you are still going through stuff that everybody else goes through. You are trying to fall in love, you are try- ing to be happy, you’re wondering if you made the right choices, and you are having to deal with all the consequences consistently, with no breaks.
The last album was in 2008 and you now have the new one coming out later this year. Some people would have tried to release another album immediately to capitalise on the success, but you didn’t... Yeah. Shine was in 2008 so it has been a couple of years but, like I said, I had to grow through it. To that end I don’t want to just throw it [another album] out. I want to make sure people get it, feel it, un- derstand it, dig it and know where I’m coming from. We are taking it old school.
What kind of collaborations can we look out for on the new album? It’s called All of Me. I don’t need hardly anyone else on it but I do
have two major collaborations: I worked with Common and I worked with Jannelle Monae. Common was just because I wanted to sit and look at him in the studio; he’s too cute [laughs]. No, I am a HUGE fan of Common Sense, so it was an honour to get in with him there. Jannelle Monae because that’s my sister y’all. I freakin’ love her. She is individual, she is who the hell she is, she does not apologise and you can see the truth in her eyes when you look at her. I love her, yeah.
So you have another album soon to follow this one? Yeah. I have already started work- ing; we have to close that gap on the time. I am going through a lot of stuff personally now, so I just figured I may as well continue to write. You never know what might happen...
Catch Estelle’s brand new album All of Me dropping at the end of the year, and stay up to date with her latest on twitter @estelledarlings
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