As I sat on the train to London Waterloo, desperately scrawling questions into my notepad, I suddenly felt a pang of guilt. Estelle isn't your average UK singer now - she's a fully fledged pop starlet! Surely she warrants more consideration for her Notion questions? But, having listened to her debut album, 'The 18th Day', the cheekiness of her lyrics lead me to believe that she would do exactly the same thing to me, if our roles were swapped.

 

Half an hour later, I'm sat in a comfy white chair in a plush Tottenham Court Road office. Estelle's extremely pretty PR, Laura, ushers me into a cosy back room where the equally good-looking Estelle greets me. MOBO's Best Newcomer 2004 is über-trendy, with sloping, highlighted hair on the left side of her head, and shaved madness on the right. This is going to be a good day!

 

With a smash LP and two Top 20 singles under her belt, Estelle has managed to claw her way into a UK market where so many others still struggle to get a foothold. But was there ever a point when she questioned her own ability? "Only twice," Estelle begins. "Once was when I moved out of my mum's house and into a hostel - the first place I lived on my own. I remember thinking, 'oh my God, maybe I'm not going to be able to do this?' I was 19, and I had already released a record, which made it even worse! 'Maybe I'm just going to have one record out and then flop,' I thought. But the calls kept coming in."

 

Estelle is still obviously caught up in the swirl of media attention she has been receiving recently. Her talk is relentless - she has a lot on her mind; and her drive and determination can be detected in the way she stresses her point: "The second time I questioned my own ability was when I was offered a record deal; it got THIS close to going through," Estelle measures a short distance between her index finger and her thumb. "But then the label started frontin', and I was like 'what's wrong? Why aren't they going to do the deal?' I got my head together, though, and realised that the deal simply wasn't for me. I could have taken it just to get my foot in the door, but I thought, 'fuck this, it isn't going to work'. I just maintained confidence in myself to be a huge success - I knew that something would come along sooner or later."

 

It takes balls to turn down a record deal amidst the current climate of the 'urban' industry. The market is saturated with US acts, and record labels are reluctant to risk funding the tours and promotions of 'wannabe' UK artists. "It takes a lot of defiance, especially in the black music scene over here," says Estelle in a sombre tone. "Just look at it - since Soul2Soul there hasn't really been much else on a global level. Everyone has a certain level of expectation, especially after the success of other UK artists like Jamelia and Gabrielle. Apparently, you can't become a famous black artist doing music here… so the doubters say!

 

"But I wasn't hearing it," Estelle states firmly. "I had confidence in myself, and I was just going to be me and see how everything played out. I had to block out a lot of negative comments. I remember people saying I wasn't going to be able to do my thing the way I wanted, that I was just going to lay the way for someone else to come through and be bigger than me. I had people telling me stuff like this to my face, so I was like, 'well, what have I been doing this for the past six years for?' When I eventually got signed the same people were sat over there," she waves her finger in the direction of the far wall, "looking pissed off because I just got the deal and '1980' was blowing up," she says in reference to her smash debut-single.

 

Estelle's bullish attitude has obviously been a defining factor in her progress. "It takes arrogance," she admits. "But I always kept that in my head. I never went running around shouting, 'I'm the best! Sign me! This is Estelle!' I was never like that. I just kept it bottled up and said to myself 'you're good - you do your thing'."

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It's refreshing to hear someone with so much confidence. "Remember - I had to keep it inside," she laughs. "I don't think it's particularly good to go blabbing about how great you think you are. In the US, a lot of the artists run around screaming about themselves, but it's only because they have a powerful crew and marketing machine behind them. In the UK nobody supports no-one, so that arrogance has to be kept within the walls to keep you out of trouble."

 

Having waited patiently for the right record contract, Estelle has experienced her fair share of the business end of the music industry. Artists often despair at how faceless and money-grabbing the industry can be. For some labels, profit comes first and an artist's personal terms second. How does Estelle keep sane underneath the corporate pressure? "I have to laugh. If I don't laugh I'll cry. I just find it hilarious. For two seconds a day you will feel like someone gives a shit, and then you quickly realise that they don't."

 

Do these companies really care about the artists? Or are the artists puppets to be exploited? "It depends on who you sign with," Estelle explains. "My label is quite good; they actually do give a shit about the music," she states, in reference to V2 - a subsidiary of Virgin Records. "They're really into making proper music. Their whole belief is like, 'whatever happens – a good song will keep you forever'. For example, you get artists that have had one song since the 1930s and their status still lives off it. So that's why I signed to V2 - they respect real music.

 

"I feel sorry for artists who sign to labels that just demand a hit. They don't care whether people hear it in the next five years; they just want success right away. I'm lucky I'm not in a situation like that. V2 sees the foundations of where I'm going, and they're going to take that journey with me. They're not going to rush me to achieve everything all at once."

 

Estelle's praise of her own label is predictable. Is she crediting them just to stay in their good books, or does she genuinely feel appreciative? "I speak my mind in interviews. I'm not media-coached or anything," she giggles. "This is me. I'm telling you what I think. I'm pleased so far with the way the media has represented me. They haven't marketed me as some sort of saviour of the music. They are just like, 'she is what she is'. The media has been pretty good, apart from the lazy Ms. Dynamite comparisons."

 

It's typical; commercial newspapers and magazines often only see in black and white. Ms. Dynamite and Estelle are both young female representatives of black music, but that's where the similarities end. Stylistically they are worlds apart. "Thank you!" says Estelle. "Please get that right!" she beams. 'The 18th Day' has made Estelle a firm fan favourite; type 'Estelle' on a Google search and you'll find message boards plastered with respect for her. It's all good winning awards, but the fans' admiration is often more fulfilling than any trophy. "I have to detach myself from it and listen to the praise as a regular punter," blushes Estelle. "The first feeling I get when I read the praise on forums, or from random people that come up to me and say 'I think you are the truth', is embarrassment. The second feeling is, 'I am glad I stuck to my guns and did what I felt was right'!

 

"I mean, I could never act out anything for this period of time," she continues. "So these people are right - I am truthful. If I did something that I hated and someone came up to me and said they loved it, I would say to them 'I think it's a pile of shit - wait 'til the next album comes out'. That's not necessarily a good thing, but I AM happy that people can relate to my work, despite it being so realistic."

 

So, what's next for Estelle? It's said that Pharrell Williams and Kanye West are admirers of her unique sound. Should we expect global domination from Estelle? "Global domination…" Estelle whispers. "It's always on the cards – it HAS to be! I'm working with a lot of good producers at the moment. I do want to work with Pharrell, in particular - he likes '1980' and the album. It scared me at first when he said, 'I feel that track - I remember that shit you're talking about!'

 

"I've spoken to a lot of Americans, and that's one song they all seem to pick out. In the US my music is a niche market, but I still receive great responses from it. A lot of producers contact V2, my management or me to ask to work with me. Diane Warren heard '1980' and rang to say she loved it, and asked if we could make a track together. All sorts of people. So, we should have some well-produced Estelle tracks in the future."

 

Diane Warren has pretty much produced for everyone and their aunt, including Aerosmith,

Toni Braxton and Whitney Houston. Around 150 million albums have been sold with her name buried in the credits as a songwriter/producer. But these big-name producers never seem get round to completing a product with UK artists. We all know The Neptunes are big fans of

Dizzee Rascal, but do we ever see a collaboration? Nope.

 

"A lot of UK labels are scared of America because they think it is going to cost billions of pounds to make a record," Estelle clarifies. "But in reality, all it takes is me going to Pharrell and saying, 'look, you know we're not balling like that over here. I'm not giving you £300,000 to do a track. Can we please do a trade?'" screams Estelle. "I mean, what's the harm in asking? All they can do is say no. And even if they do, then I'll make them want to work with me when I blow up.

 

"This is what happened with Kanye West. Everybody around me was saying 'nah! There's no point asking him until you're huge'. And I'm like, 'you know what? Fuck all that. I'm going to ask Kanye for a beat'. And I asked him, and things are in the process now. At the end of the day I know that many of the big producers are where they are because they appreciate real music (not just on a business level)."

 

It's no wonder Estelle has come so far, with that sort of attitude! Many people are blessed with talent, but don't share her drive and grit to take it to the next level. "We all look like crap in the morning. We're all human. Dude, I'm not scared of nobody, and I don't get star-struck any more. Saying that, the one person I might get star-struck by is Mary J. Blige, but that's another story."

 

To round off, let's focus on Estelle's lyrical content. In comparison to other UK rap, it seems more varied and far-reaching. "The whole urban thing right now is that you've got to talk about guns and knives," groans Estelle. "Yeah, I touched on that, but that's not my whole life. I've been around it but that was a while back, and I chose not to go down that road. There are other things to talk about, and that's one thing I hate - when people don't touch on different subjects. The guns and knives thing is not real life. It is, to a point, but it isn't the be all and end all; it isn't everyone's existence. How are you going to hit the world talking about that one little thing? How the hell are you going to reach people with your message when all you talk about is the same thing over, and over again?

 

Article by: John Murray Hill