Shine (Estelle album)

Shine
Studio album by
Estelle
Released31 March 2008
Length47:29
Label
Producer
Estelle chronology
The 18th Day
(2004) 		Shine
(2008) 		All of Me
(2012)
Singles from Shine
  1. "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)"
    Released: 27 November 2007
  2. "American Boy"
    Released: 4 March 2008
  3. "No Substitute Love"
    Released: 15 July 2008
  4. "Pretty Please (Love Me)"
    Released: 9 September 2008
  5. "Come Over"
    Released: 16 September 2008

Shine is the second studio album by British 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" (also on the UK CD single for "American Boy") and "I Wanna Live", plus the videos for "American Boy" and "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)". Shine was nominated for the Barclaycard Mercury Prize in 2008.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic76/100[1]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Guardian[3]
Pitchfork6.8/10[4]
PopMatters7/10[5]
Rolling Stone[6]
RWD Mag[7]
Slant Magazine[8]
The Skinny[9]
The Times[10]

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.[1] 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.[3] 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."[2]

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."[11] Jon Caramanica from The New York Times called Shine a "charming if sometimes blithe second album [with] a more modern antecedent: the decade-old Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.[12] Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen fund that with Shine "Estelle offers a gritty alternative to R&B; divadom's strutting fembots." But [the] Yanks don't dilute Shine's 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."[6] Billboard's Mariel Concepcion found that Shine was "heaving with catchy, instantly likable hip-hop/R&B/pop songs,"[13] Rodney Dugue, writing for The Village Voice felt that "Estelle turns Shine into a durable debut, pleasant and shrewd."[14]

Commercial performance

Shine debuted and peaked at number six on the UK Albums Chart.[15] It also opened at number one on the UK R&B Albums chart.[16] The album reached Silver status on 11 April 2008 and was eventaully certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 29 August of the same year.[17] 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.[18] It also reached number six on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart.[19]

Track listing

Shine track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)"
will.i.am3:42
2."No Substitute Love"
3:34
3."American Boy" (featuring Kanye West)
will.i.am4:45
4."More Than Friends"
Keezo Kane4:25
5."Magnificent" (featuring Kardinal Offishall)
Ronson3:57
6."Come Over"
Supa Dups3:41
7."So Much Out the Way"
  • Jean
  • Duplessis
4:05
8."In the Rain"
Douglas4:08
9."Back in Love"
  • Swaray
  • Stephens
  • Steve McKie
McKie4:01
10."You Are" (featuring John Legend)
  • Swaray
  • Stephens
  • Tom Craskey
Craskey3:30
11."Pretty Please (Love Me)" (featuring Cee-Lo)
Splash3:58
12."Shine"
Swizz Beatz3:49
Total length:47:29
Shine  – Japan and iTunes edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
13."I Wanna Live"
  • Swaray
  • Stephens
  • W. Robinson
Shawn Diggy4:05
14."Life to Me" (Hi-Tek featuring Estelle)
Hi-Tek4:57

Singles chronology

United Kingdom

Europe and Australia

  • "American Boy"
  • "No Substitute Love"
  • "Come Over" (Remix)

North America

  • "American Boy"
  • "Come Over" (Remix)

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for Shine
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[17] Gold 100,000^

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release history for Shine
Region Date
United Kingdom 31 March 2008
United States 29 April 2008
Europe 13 October 2008
Australia 21 November 2008
Brazil 12 December 2008

References

  1. ^ a b "Shine by Estelle". Metacriticaccess-date=July 11, 2025.
  2. ^ a b "AllMusic review".
  3. ^ a b Sullivan, Caroline (28 March 2008). "Estelle, Shine". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  4. ^ Love, Joshua (27 May 2008). "Estelle: Shine". Pitchfork (review). Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  5. ^ "PopMatters review".
  6. ^ a b Roden, Jody. "Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 1 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  7. ^ "RWD Mag review". Archived from the original on 26 March 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  8. ^ "Slant Magazine review". Slant Magazine. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008.
  9. ^ "The Skinny review".
  10. ^ Paphides, Pete (28 March 2008). "Estelle: Shine". The Times. London. Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  11. ^ Hogwood, Ben. "Billboard review". musicOMH. Archived from the original on 20 February 2009. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  12. ^ Caramanica, Jon. "New CDs". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  13. ^ Concepcion, Mariel. "Billboard review". Billboard. Archived from the original on 3 May 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  14. ^ Dugue, Rodney (29 April 2008). "Estelle's Shine". The Village Voice. Archived from the original on 21 August 2008. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  15. ^ a b "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 16 April 2023.
  17. ^ a b "British album certifications – Estelle – Shine". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
  18. ^ "Estelle Returns!" Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ a b "Estelle Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  20. ^ "ARIA Urban Album Chart - Week Commencing 9th June 2008" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association (954): 19. 9 June 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2023 – via Pandora Archive.
  21. ^ "Austriancharts.at – Estelle – Shine" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  22. ^ "Ultratop.be – Estelle – Shine" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  23. ^ "Ultratop.be – Estelle – Shine" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  24. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Estelle – Shine" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  25. ^ "European Albums – Week of April 10, 2008". Billboard. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  26. ^ "Lescharts.com – Estelle – Shine". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  27. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Estelle – Shine" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  28. ^ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Estelle". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  29. ^ シャイン/エステル [Shine / Estelle] (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  30. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  31. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Estelle – Shine". Hung Medien. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  32. ^ "Estelle Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  33. ^ "Top de l'année Top Albums 2008" (in French). SNEP. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  34. ^ "2008 Year-End UK Charts" (PDF). Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  35. ^ "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2008". Billboard. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
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