Music > Album Reviews

Estelle // All of Me

21/03/12

Estelle – All of Me (Atlantic Records / Homeschool)

When ‘Freak’ was announced as lead single of the new album way back in 2010, I was more than a little excited about a full body of work. It showed an advancement in dirty production, dance fever and Estelle’s ability to churn out hits… surely? Poor sales shelved those plans, and we’ve had to wait another two years for the album’s release. ‘All of Me’ starts with ‘The Life’, a track showing the purity of Estelle; an understanding of melody and clever rhymes that manage to hold the sensitivity of previous British female soul / hip hop artists Floetry were solely capable of before Estelle and Speech Debelle hit the scene. She cuts the figure of an international superstar – quite literally on ‘International (Serious), a jet-setter with America in large part, picking up the bill for her air miles. The U S of A have been infatuated with Estelle since they lent their marketing sultan, Kanye West to Estelle’s campaign in the 2008 smash, ‘American Boy’, and she has a stable home in John Legend’s HomeSchool label in the US. There are two misjudgements on the record – she should have had the courage of her convictions and kept ‘Freak’ and ‘Fall On Me’ on the album, and Chris Brown? Estelle has all the stock of a fantastic female role model, and literally anyone can do Chris Brown’s vocal.

7/10 Emma Garwood

Estelle – All of Me (Atlantic Records / Homeschool)

When ‘Freak’ was announced as lead single of the new album way back in 2010, I was more than a little excited about a full body of work. It showed an advancement in dirty production, dance fever and Estelle’s ability to churn out hits… surely? Poor sales shelved those plans, and we’ve had to wait another two years for the album’s release. ‘All of Me’ starts with ‘The Life’, a track showing the purity of Estelle; an understanding of melody and clever rhymes that manage to hold the sensitivity of previous British female soul / hip hop artists Floetry were solely capable of before Estelle and Speech Debelle hit the scene. She cuts the figure of an international superstar – quite literally on ‘International (Serious), a jet-setter with America in large part, picking up the bill for her air miles. The U S of A have been infatuated with Estelle since they lent their marketing sultan, Kanye West to Estelle’s campaign in the 2008 smash, ‘American Boy’, and she has a stable home in John Legend’s HomeSchool label in the US. There are two misjudgements on the record – she should have had the courage of her convictions and kept ‘Freak’ and ‘Fall On Me’ on the album, and Chris Brown? Estelle has all the stock of a fantastic female role model, and literally anyone can do Chris Brown’s vocal.

7/10 Emma Garwood