The allure from “across the pond” has always made its way on the music scene here in America, be it Brit-soul divas like Adele and the late Amy Winehouse or respected lyricists like Skepta and Little Simz. Back in 2008, we saw it front-and-center on the R&B/pop scene with the rise of Estelle. Similar to the aforementioned Winehouse, who achieved hometown fame with her debut LP before embarking on an American takeover a few years later, Estelle went from a big win at the MOBO Awards with her 2004 debut, The 18th Letter, to going even bigger at the GRAMMYs four years later with her American top 10 hit, “American Boy.”
Virtually on every ‘best of’ list in reference to the 2000s, “American Boy” by Estelle is still one of the best pop singles to make an international splash by way of the UK.
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This week on “My First Time,” the London-born singer gives us her personal recollection of what it was like debuting in America as a fish out the pond. While we were jamming along to her tune about falling in love across the 50 states and then some, she was simply just trying to navigate getting lost in translation when it came to slang and other staples to American culture. From acting out her words in order to get people to understand what she was trying to say or on a more intimidating note coming off, as she put it, “alarming” to those confused by a British Black female that sounded like her, it wasn’t always easy getting acclimated on her way to the top. Thankfully, her overall charm (and strength to block out the haters!) soon won the masses over to be a respected international superstar.
