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Posts Tagged “estelle”

rule of sevens

My Favorite Songs Of The First Half Of 2008 (As Of Right Now)

Midnight tonight isn't the exact midway point of this year, but hey, it's the last day of its sixth month, which is close enough for roadwork. Or, er, listwork, that is: After the jump, I give you the seven songs that I would be more likely to put on a mix CD than any other, in YouTube/blurb form. Think of it as a post for me and my creaky, prone-to-forgetting-stuff brain to come back to when the year-end listmaking craze hits in a couple of months and an invitation for you to engage in similar Monday afternoon quantifying! More »

12:00 PM on Mon Jun 30 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,651 views, 10 comments

Latest by bcapirigi: i was really surprised when do it to it came out two years ago that cherish was a group of four sisters and not one lady whose parents were just bad with child-naming. more »

idolator's 2008 summer jam tournament

Your Summer Jam Tournament Update: Voters Sure Like Shaking Their Coconuts

As of this writing, Tyga's "Coconut Juice" is beating Estelle's "American Boy" in our final battle of Idolator's 2008 Summer Jam Tournament—Tyga's track has 58.1% of the vote, while Estelle's has 41.9%. But those of you who were hoping for an Estelle win shouldn't fret—the difference between them could easily be made up in the hours between now and 5 p.m. ET, when the polls close! The poll's been reposted below, so get clicking. More »

11:00 AM on Fri Jun 20 2008
By Maura Johnston
271 views, 6 comments

idolator's 2008 summer jam tournament

Idolator's Summer Jam Tournament Enters Its Final Phase

After weeks of winnowing, our picks for the official summer jam of 2008 have been winnowed down to two: Estelle's lighter-than-air "American Boy" and Tyga's debaucherous "Coconut Juice." Polls (and videos, in case you need a last refresher) after the jump; we'll announce the winner tomorrow evening, right before the Summer Solstice begins on the East Coast. So get cracking! More »

11:00 AM on Thu Jun 19 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,862 views, 16 comments

Latest by n/a: Tyga's "Coconut Juice" is awesome, it should be 2008's official summer jam :D **************Gas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars. (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007) more »

idolator's 2008 summer jam tournament

Idolator's Summer Jam Tournament Reignites The Fierce UK-Denmark Pop Rivalry

The second half of Idolator's summer-jam semifinal is ready for tipoff (or whatever the musical equivalent is). Remember: These polls close tomorrow, so to have your voice heard, make sure you vote early and often—especially in this difficult matchup between Estelle's love letter to American men in baggy jeans and Alphabeat's ecstatically retro Europop party. Poll after the jump! More »

1:00 PM on Tue Jun 17 2008
By Dan Gibson
567 views, 16 comments

Latest by n/a: Alphabeat all the way. First losing Duffy, and now this? Shame. more »

idolator's 2008 summer jam tournament

Idolator's Summer Jam Tournament Gets All Boy-Crazy Again

Round two of our quest for 2008's official song of the coming summer concludes with what may be our toughest face-off yet, a battle between a Prince homage via Norway and an ode to the men residing across the pond. Vote after the jump, and don't forget to cast your ballots in other second-round matchups! More »

11:00 AM on Fri Jun 13 2008
By Maura Johnston
715 views, 16 comments

Latest by the rich girls are weeping: "American Boy" is REALLY growing on me. No competition here with Annie, who I'm officially freakin' sick of for reals, now. Blah blah blah. *yawn* I even like Kanye's bit and his Mockney flow. Ha! more »

videodrone

Estelle Gets Fierce, Puts George Michael's Jukebox Back Together


As Estelle's fantastic "No Substitute Love" drew, ahem, heavy inspiration from George Michael's "Faith," so too does the video's opening, although I kind of wish she'd stuck with the GM hip-shaking motif and tried to incorporate the inevitable, director-financing cell-phone "cameo" into that instead of inserting a Christian Siriano appearance (??) to hang the video's thread of a storyline on. Perhaps a Christian-designed gown with the phone placed strategically inside would have done the trick? [MySpace via That Grape Juice] More »

3:30 PM on Fri Jun 6 2008
By Maura Johnston
433 views, 4 comments

Latest by the rich girls are weeping: You found it! more »

idolator's 2008 summer jam tournament

Idolator's Summer Jam Tournament Cooks Up Some American Pork & Beans

Our quest to find the quintessential summer jam of 2008 continues with some lighter-than-air R & B and the latest comeback single by a band every Idolator reader seems to have an opinion on. (Tomorrow, we'll have our final two first-round polls, and then round two—which will include excitement and arguing!—begins next week.) After the jump, the poll, the clips, and the arguments. More »

11:00 AM on Thu Jun 5 2008
By Maura Johnston
706 views, 14 comments

Latest by n/a: Not a huge fan of the new Weezer song, but "American Boy" is too slick and a half for me, and not in a good way. more »

idolator's 2008 summer jam tournament

Estelle, "American Boy"


Breezy, worldly, with a touch of East End slang, "American Boy" isn't just a fine summer single, it's a great example of R&B's new post-disco vibe for the late aughts. Estelle's voice brings to mind a wispier Lauryn Hill, but it works like gangbusters here, as she dreamily pictures Brooklyn as a hip mecca filled with 5-foot-7 guys who're just her type. As for Kanye, the rap is one of his cleverer ones ("Dressed smart like a London Bloke/Before he speak, his suit bespoke"), suggesting that he liked Estelle enough not to phone it in. [YouTube]
More »

12:00 AM on Thu Jun 5 2008
By Chris Molanphy
188 views, Comment

they come in threes

A Few Albums That I Am Really Digging Right Now

As a companion to Dan's open thread Tuesday, which I still need to dig through and fully suss out, and as a way to liven up a dreary Friday, I am going to use this space to tip you off to three (well, four, actually) records that I've been listening to in the spaces between Mets games recently. Hey, the best time to flout the "music-recommendation posts get low pageviews" maxim is the hours before the weekend begins, right? Israeli funk, recently excavated '90s indie, and UK R & B after the jump! More »

12:40 PM on Fri May 9 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,255 views, 9 comments

Latest by SAMIDAE: I hate to start this but... I took a road trip and made myself listen to all three of the Dueling Divas' albums (Madge, Le Mariah & Jan Jan the dancin' robot). Somehow between the redundant electrobeats, I discovered that Jan's more »

who charted

Madonna Does Her Part To Save The Pop Charts

Madonna's Hard Candy was last week's top-selling album, shifting 280,000 copies in its first week of release and leaving every other commercially available offering in the dust. Candy was the only album on this week's chart to break the six-figures-sold mark; Mariah Carey's E=MC2, the runner-up to Hard Candy, sold 95,000 copies. More »

1:00 PM on Wed May 7 2008
By Maura Johnston
756 views, 10 comments

videodrone

Estelle Meets An American Boy (And It's Kanye)


British R&B singer Estelle's "American Boy" is a bloke-crazy travelogue across the fifty nifty—even if she seems more interested in checking out the scenery than the local singles scene—with a fur-draped Kanye stopping by for two check-cashing guest verses shameless enough to rhyme "U.K." with "you, K." Five years ago, the song's house-style backing—a vaguely French-style confection too chill for prime time clubbing but perfect for an Ibiza-themed, bikini-bedecked comp—would have meant the song was dead in the water commercially on the Europhobic side of the Atlantic. After West's own "Stronger" and the recent spate of 4/4 -friendly R&B and pop, its U.S. crossover commercial fortunes are less of a given, but Estelle's delivery might still be a little too prim for us downmarket R&B fans who prefer belters to the cool composure of the continental club diva. [YouTube]

11:00 AM on Tue Feb 26 2008
By Jess Harvell
137 views, 1 comment

Latest by n/a: It's already down :( more »