Girls of the new soul sound

There is a new kind of female soul sound. It is really an off-shoot of the old but mellower, less embellished and first made itself felt a year ago. I see it as a combination of Mary J. Blige and Amy Winehouse or of Beyoncé and Buffy. The result is soul but with none of the saccharine sweetness of Motown, remember the Supremes, or the big, hard edged vocals of the later years as in Aguilera. This soul is actually the sort that John Legend makes and among the females, I think that these albums best exemplify the evolving genre.

Shine by Estelle. OK, she is not really new. She was the one I kept mixing up with her fellow Brit Adele. She released a CD titled The 18th Day some years ago. Shine is actually the sophomore outing of an artist whose first one didn’t make it. So why bother with the second when the first album was not a hit? Bother with this one, you should, not only because Estelle is an excellent vocalist who can rap or croon with ease in a couple of octaves, but also because, Shine is a great album.

If I remember right, Shine got a Grammy nomination or two this year. No time to check on which ones but I am not surprised it did. For one Shine is a star-studded production involving some of the best. Legend is here in You Are. So are Kanye West in American Boy; Kardinal Offishall duets and Mark Ronson produces in Magnificent; Cee-lo is in Pretty Please; will.i.am of Black Eyed Peas is producer of Wait A Minute (Just A Touch). They come one after another and Estelle does them all proud. Then when alone, In The Rain and No Substitute Love, she also shines.

Shontelligence by Shontelle. Rihanna comes from the Barbados in the Caribbean. So an enterprising producer hied off to the place to check if there are more Rihannas down there just waiting to be discovered. And there are. The result of that search was Shontelle, who was studying to be a lawyer when music came calling. And it looks like she will also make it big, thanks to that opening salvo that gave us the ubiquitous T-Shirt.

I think Shontelligence was produced as a mix of R&B and island pop hence some reggae tunes like Life is Not An Easy Road and Roll It are keeping company with T-Shirt and Superwoman. Just take those to the clubs though, because it is in new soul where this girl really excels. Shontelle who is, in fact, an even better singer than Rihanna, has expressive winners in Battle Cry, Cold Cold Summer and Ghetto Lullabye. Focus Pon Me, Plastic People, I Crave You, and Flesh and Bone are the rest of the CD.

Fearless by Jazmine Sullivan. This girl is quite a songwriter and composed all of the songs in her first CD. The famous Missy Elliott joins in some cuts. Jazmine also has great vocal chops and is the one among the three girls, whose singing recalls the soul legends of old in terms of range and depth of tones. Think Dinah, Etta and Aretha. And Jazmine knows it. Which is why as one of the producers she gave this album this vintage from the ‘60s and ‘70s vibe. I am not also surprised she was mentioned for some Grammys.

Jazmine’s singing throughout is unbelievable. Best of the lot here are the reggae-tinged Need You Bad, the dramatic After the Hurricane, and the lovely ballad In Love with Another Man which should go big with Pinoys. I also noticed how her writing is several notches above the usual R&B tunes we get these days. She has plenty of ideas in her head and knows the words and the beat to put to use.

Other cuts included are Bust Your Windows, One Night Stand, My Foolish Heart, Lions Tigers & Bears, Call Me Guilty, Dream Big, Live a Lie, Fear, Switch!, Need U Bad Remix featuring T.I. and the Stonebridge remix of Dream Big.