Track Listing

1. Wait A Minute (just a touch)
2. No Substitute Love
3. American Boy Feat. Kanye West
4. More Than Friends
5. Magnificent Feat. Kardinal Offishall
6. Come Over
7. So Much Out The Way
8. In The Rain
9. Back In Love
10. You Are Feat. John Legend
11. Pretty Please (love me) Feat. Cee-Lo
12. Shine

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #289 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-31
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Award-winning British artist Estelle never got her just desserts for her 2004 debut album The 18th Day. Though the record was a critical success, it failed to make the mainstream splash many had hoped for. Her sophomore project, Shine, seems hell bent on avoiding the same fate. Backed up by a coterie of high profile US starlets--Wyclef Jean, will.i.am, Mark Ronson and Kanye West--Shine has surefire commercial success written all over it; though that's not to say Estelle has sold out. Despite the high-impact American-style production, Shine remains reassuringly British. Estelle's West London twang is as sharp as ever, and even Kanye drops rhymes about "WAGS" and "London Boys" (see single "American Boy"). It's every bit as diverse as its predecessor too, featuring dancehall party jams ("Magnificent", produced by Mark Ronson and featuring Kardinal Offishall), the will.i.am produced "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)" (which uses a twisted up sample from Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You") to lovers' rock ("Come Over") and, of course, some love ballads too, such as "Substitute Lover", overseen by Wyclef. A solid all-round follow up, Shine should give Estelle the commercial success she deserves. --Danny McKenna

The Guardian
"(Shine)...may just provide Britain with its first successful female Hip Hop artist since The Cookie Crew"

Mojo
"From funk to soul to reggae...sparkling "

Customer Reviews

The most boring album of the year! Where are the hooks?
Estelle has a good voice no doubt about it and American Boy is one of the songs of the summer. Sadly, such elements have failed to contribute to a memorable album which feels like a rushed cash in with production values so tired, you can ever hear them yawn!

American Boy sounded really fresh with a brilliant use of horns but the rest of the album is just derivative R&B that could have been produced by any female artist within the genre. Estelle struggles to stamp her own identity on any of the tracks and she just sounds like a vocalist singing someone else's work. Generally there is little passion and soul in this, I found myself barely noticing any differences between tracks. As a result, it feels more like lounge music than anything else.

There are highlights as the first three tracks are very good and are funnily enough the ones plugged on the case promo sticker. Then we have to wait until the duet with John Legend called You Are before anything interesting of note is heard. Nothing is bad, but I have so many albums in my collection like this and those artists do it better. The whole thing left me cold and it plods along at an anaemic pace, it felt like it ran for about 3 hours!

Finest UK Female Artist Around!
Much like Her 2004 debut album, 'The 18th Day', Shine proves to be an outstanding contribution to the world of UK hip-hop. Featuring collaborations from Kanye West, Will.i.am, Cee-Lo & John Legend, the album had all the ingredients to be a major success. A very summer feeling on the record, and a 2008 must buy!!

Second Impression - Lacklustre
I gave this one some time. I really did. "Don't let first
impressions get the better of you" - That's what I told myself.

I want to like Estelle but there's something disingenuous
about this album which keeps me at arm's length.

Perhaps it's the celebrity pals. A pretty blatant US market launchpad.

Perhaps it's the uneasy slipping and sliding between West London
and American brogues...NB 'More Than Friends'.

Perhaps it's that the voice is pretty ordinary truth be told.
Lacking in dynamic variation and uncertain in tone.

Of the twelve songs in this collection only a couple rise above the middle of the road.

'Come Over' and 'Pretty Please' both possess a degree of sassy charm.

'So Much Out The Way' and title track 'Shine' however are real stinkers.

Unfocussed and disappointing.