She's back! It seems with every release,the divine Estelle changes again. Her first album, The 18th Day, was a hip-hop based affair. That was followed by the soul/rnb/pop stylings of Shine, which spawned the Kanye-boasting megasmash American Boy. Where to from there? Simple: go absolutely fucking batshit.
With David Guetta at the production helm, Estelle has delivered a decidedly weird, minimalist dancefloor inferno. Chopped up vocal samples lead the parade before Estelle throws in some smutty sex-raps, breathy speak-singing and a banging chorus that ties the entire bizarre affair together. I'm normally not a fan of Guetta at all (I found One Love to be all style and no substance), but I really appreciate his approach to Freak from a composing perspective. It's much more a focus on Estelle's voice and the beat itself, as opposed to overloading it with cheesy club synths and repetitive chord progressions. It's a very clever way to go about it, and it's especially different for an artist like Estelle. It fits her like a cute Gucci dress, though. Will be interesting to see how the rest of the record pans out.
FINAL RATING (/10): 8
David
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