The Star Online: Entertainment: Music
The Star Online: Entertainment: Music |
| Posted: 04 Nov 2011 01:59 AM PDT Rapper-singer Estelle is taking her time between albums to build up material for her songs. IT may be easy to dismiss British rapper-singer Estelle as a one-hit wonder. After all, she has not found similar success with her other songs since her hit American Boy from her second album, Shine, exploded on the charts in 2008. A collaboration with fellow rapper Kanye West, it had over 1.5 million downloads in the United States and reached top 10 in many countries. It was also nominated for Song Of The Year at the 2009 Grammys, and won Best Single at the 2008 Music Of Black Origin (Mobo) Awards in Britain. But the 31-year-old, whose full name is Estelle Fanta Swaray, will have you know that she was taking her time to release a follow-up for good reason. In an interview last month while she was in Singapore to perform at the opening of the Louis Vuitton store at Marina Bay Sands, she said: "I actually write my own songs about my life, so I had to live it out. But people don't understand, especially with the rate they make superstars now. It's like 'just go now onto the next record and get it out now.' " The New York-based singer has certainly accumulated enough material in the last three years. She went through a break-up, watched her friends wrangle with their own relationships and went on tour in the United States. "I was falling apart inside. It got to that point where I cracked and ended up writing songs for a new album because I was so full of emotions and energy. That was where it started." Her experiences have gone into her retrospective third album, All Of Me, slated for release next February. To date, she has released two singles from that album, Thank You and Break My Heart, featuring rapper Rick Ross. Born the second of eight children to a Senegalese mother and a father from Grenada, Estelle's music crosses genres from hip hop to reggae to pop, and has a distinctive soul vibe. Although she released her first album, The 18th Day, in Britiain in 2004, it was through working with West and R&B singer John Legend in New York a couple of years later that got people to sit up and really take notice of her. For now, she is enjoying promoting her new songs, remaining nonchalant that they might "never quite catch up" to her American Boy success. "That one hit introduced me to the world, and now I have a whole new album. I'm fine as long people are interested and want to know more. I can teach them the rest of the songs." Going into the promotion for a third album, what's your reaction when you debut new, unfamiliar songs? I don't know what people will think or whether they would accept it from me. I'm not nervous but I don't take it for granted that people will always like my music. They could tell me that I suck but I want that real feedback, too. What common misconception do you think people had of you when you became famous with American Boy in 2008? Everyone had this idea that I was this British girl that John Legend found and made into a pop star. But I already had my own label and had put out my first album on my own at that time. John gave me the co-sign to his HomeSchool record label but he didn't literally make my life. It was a whole big misunderstanding. People didn't really get that I wasn't this helpless pop chick that someone had suddenly put together to perform that one song. Do you worry about being a one-hit wonder with American Boy and do you ever hate singing the song over and over? I think about a year ago, I felt sick of singing it. But then I had to stop and count my blessings that I had a song that has lasted for three years, and people still love it. I've been to the most countries because of this one record. I'm happy as hell, so let's do it all over again. I will not complain. What's your take on the new wave of British artistes getting attention in the United States now? It's the third time round. Ms Dynamite did it in 2003, then Amy Winehouse and I did it in 2008, and now, Adele's doing it. But it's so hard to have a career nowadays. Unless you're a known legend from way before, it's difficult to even make your third or fourth album. To have a new album coming out is a miracle to me. I'm doing music that I love with songs that I can stomach to sing and people still like it. I'm not selling out on my own terms, so I'm thankful and I'm happy for everyone else who can do that, too. – The Straits Times, Singapore/Asia News Network Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
| Jury to get Jackson doctor manslaughter case Friday Posted: 03 Nov 2011 05:24 PM PDT LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A Los Angeles jury will start deliberating the fate of Michael Jackson's doctor Friday after a six-week manslaughter trial stemming from the 2009 death of the self-styled king of pop. In closing arguments prosecutors said Jackson ''paid with his life'' for the criminal negligence of Dr Conrad Murray. Defense lawyers said Murray was being held responsible for Jackson's own actions. ''For a crime to be proved, the prosecution has to show that Dr Murray actually killed Michael Jackson,'' defense attorney Ed Chernoff told the jury Thursday. ''They want you to convict Dr Murray for the actions of Michael Jackson,'' Chernoff said. ''If it were anybody else but Michael Jackson, would this doctor be here today?'' Chernoff asked the jury to forget that the victim was a pop star. ''If you are going to hold Dr Murray responsible, don't do it because it's Michael Jackson. This is not a reality show. This is reality.'' Murray, who was hired to care for Jackson as he prepared for a series of planned comeback concerts, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. He did not testify at the trial and could face up to four years in prison if convicted. Jackson was found lifeless at his Los Angeles mansion on June 25, 2009, age 50. He was later ruled to have died from an overdose of propofol, which is normally used in surgery, and sedatives. The defense argued at trial the singer was dependent on propofol. Desperate to sleep, he likely gave himself a fatal dose of the powerful anesthetic, as well as swallowing a handful of sedatives, without Murray's knowledge, defense lawyers argued. Prosecutor David Walgren slammed that theory in his closing argument, calling the scenario presented at trial by a key defense expert ''junk science'' and ''garbage science.'' MURRAY 'MADE MISTAKES' Walgren said Murray abandoned Jackson on the morning he died, delayed calling 911 and deceived medical personnel on his use of propofol in a bedroom setting. Murray violated the trust between doctor and patient ''and for that Michael Jackson paid with his life,'' Walgren said. ''The evidence in this case is abundantly clear - that Conrad Murray acted with criminal negligence, that Conrad Murray caused the death of Michael Jackson, that Conrad Murray left Prince, Paris and Blanket without a father,'' the prosecutor said, referring to the singer's three young children. Chernoff said the defense was not disputing negligence on Murray's part. ''We would not dispute Dr Murray never made mistakes,'' he said Thursday. But he maintained that Murray's actions did not amount to criminal negligence and were not the direct cause of Jackson's death. Trial judge Michael Pastor told jurors Thursday they could convict Murray even if Jackson may have contributed to his own death, if they believed the physician failed to use reasonable care to prevent that outcome. Pastor said the jury could find Murray not guilty if it believed his actions on the day of Jackson's death were accidental. Walgren reminded the jury that phone records showed Murray was busy with personal matters for some 40 minutes after the physician said he gave the singer a small dose of propofol toward the end of a sleepless night. Chernoff said, however, that Murray could have been by Jackson's bedside while on the phone, or near the singer's side and keeping an eye on him, before he realized he had stopped breathing. Walgren said Murray had abandoned the singer that morning. ''Conrad Murray gave him propofol and abandoned him. Conrad Murray is criminally liable. Justice demands a guilty verdict,'' he said. Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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