Shine : Estelle : Review : Rolling Stone

For anyone who never warmed to Erykah Badu's Egyptology or still mourns Lauryn Hill's disappearance, help has arrived. Estelle offers a gritty alternative to R&B divadom's strutting fembots. On her American debut, this former U.K. record—store clerk boasts an all—star cast: executive producer John Legend, Will.i.am, Swizz Beatz, Kanye West and Cee—Lo, who duets on the Philly—soul "Pretty Please (Love Me)." But those Yanks don't dilute Shine's regional feel — this West London homegirl's perspective is etched in her husky singing, fleet—tongued rapping and wised—up lyrics. ("You ain't spending the night/After we're done here, it's back to the wife," she commands in "Wait a Minute.") The music encompasses rugged modern R&B, dancehall, Sarah Vaughan—style jazz vocalese and, on "No Substitute Love," a reggae—soul—hip—hop torch song. But the mood is always beatific, topped off by "American Boy," a treatise on Anglo—American relations where Estelle plays a cheeky sex—tourist. "Don't like his baggy jeans," she raps, "but I'ma like what's underneath them."