Shine (Estelle album)


Shine is the second studio album by British rapper and singer Estelle. It was released by Homeschool Records and Atlantic Records on 31 March 2008. The album features Kanye West, will.i.am, Kardinal Offishall, Mark Ronson, John Legend and Cee-Lo.
The album earned generally positive reviews from music critics. It peaked at number six on the UK Albums Chart, eventually reaching Gold status in the United Kingdom, and entered the top ten of the US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart. Shine was preceded by lead single "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)," while second single "American Boy" featuring West became Estelle's breakthtrough hit, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart and the top 10 in several other countries. It also garnered two Grammy Award nominations for Best Rap Sung Collaboration and Song of the Year.

Background

The album features Kanye West, will.i.am, Kardinal Offishall, Mark Ronson, John Legend and Cee-Lo. The song "Life to Me" by Hi-Tek featuring Estelle as a guest artist was included on some editions as a bonus track. "Magnificent" was featured in the 2008 film 21, and the single "Pretty Please (Love Me)" was featured in the top-grossing romantic comedy Sex and the City: The Movie, and it is included on the second soundtrack of the film.
A version of the album with additional bonus tracks and videos was made available through iTunes. The two bonus tracks are "Life to Me" and "I Wanna Live", plus the videos for "American Boy" and "Wait a Minute ". Shine was nominated for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize in 2008.

Critical reception

Shine was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 73, based on 18 reviews. Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian found that the "Londoner has constructed something lovable in Shine. Equal parts reggae, pop and hip-hop, it's stuffed with potential singles. It's fairly lightweight and, thanks to its phalanx of American producers, incredibly glossy. AllMusic editor Andy Kellman noted that Estelle could "be proud of having made a second full-length that builds upon and far outstrips her first Through it all, Estelle is the main attraction and is never upstaged or out of her depth." He concluded that "not many vocalists could possibly navigate all this terrain without losing a beat, but Estelle has no trouble pulling it off with her versatility and easy-to-like personality. Her second act is ceaselessly enjoyable, one of the finer R&B albums to be released in 2008."
Ben Hogwood from musicOMH felt that Shine was "the winning end product of her musical dalliances with John Legend and Kanye West, who head an illustrious guest list Compared to the admittedly prodigious vocals of Duffy and Adele, this feels like the real deal." Jon Caramanica from The New York Times called Shine a "charming if sometimes blithe second album a more modern antecedent: the decade-old Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Rolling Stones Jody Rosen fund that with Shine "Estelle offers a gritty alternative to R&B; divadom's strutting fembots." But Yanks don't dilute Shines regional feel — this West London homegirl's perspective is etched in her husky singing, fleet—tongued rapping and wised—up lyrics. 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." Billboards Mariel Concepcion found that Shine was "heaving with catchy, instantly likable hip-hop/R&B/pop songs," Rodney Dugue, writing for The Village Voice felt that "Estelle turns Shine into a durable debut, pleasant and shrewd."

Commercial performance

Shine debuted and peaked at number six on the UK Albums Chart. It also opened at number one on the UK R&B Albums chart. The album reached Silver status on 11 April 2008 and was eventually certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry on 29 August of the same year. In the United States, Shine debuted and peaked at number 38 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 14,800 copies in its first week. It also reached number six on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.

Singles chronology

United Kingdom
Europe and Australia
  • "American Boy"
  • "No Substitute Love"
  • "Come Over"
North America
  • "American Boy"
  • "Come Over"