UK singer/rapper, Estelle, is the first artist to be signed to John Legend's new Homeschool imprint which will release her sophomore album Shine in February 2008. Meanwhile, she's lined up tours with Amy Winehouse and Kanye West (probably Amy in the UK and Kanye in the US) and the first single from Shine, "Wait A Minute (Just A Touch)" will be released on November 19th. Her music and songwriting style has been compared to Lauryn Hill during her best days with the Fugees: smooth rhymes paired with soulful singing. Shine features collaborations with Kanye, Will.I.Am, Wyclef Jean, Swizz Beats, Cee Lo, and The Leg as well as John Legend himself. Estelle says she speaks her mind on the album and writes about real life. She says it's an album that young and old alike will get. In a recent interview with Hattie Collins, published on RWD, Estelle elaborated:

“If you're real about your life, you need to get this, because I feel we keep giving young people unrealistic ideas of where their lives are going to go. I’m not here to preach to anyone, because I went through so much stuff, relationship-wise and whatever, just to figure out who I was as a woman. But I realised you're meant to go through it, it's normal; no one is superwoman. We need to tell kids to be the best human being you can be, rather than by the age of 23 you have to have it all sorted out. ”

Estelle - "Wait a Minute (Just a Touch)":http://www.estellemusic.com/http://www.myspace.com/estelleonline