SB: One thing I kind of missed on this album was Estelle the rapper. Where is she hiding? Will she ever come back? Why did she take a step back?
E: Man! I didn’t like any of the rap songs I did! My thing is never to put out some s**t you can’t stand behind. I was like, "Yeah! I’m gonna rap." Then I was like, “These suck!” No! I wasn’t hittin’. Next album, maybe, but this album, I didn’t want to crush it with wack raps.
SB: Throughout your career, you’ve pretty much kept your own vibe and aesthetic and how it aligns with your music, but you haven’t been afraid to push boundaries, such as in the "Freak" video. How large a role do you think image plays for American artists versus British artists.
E: A crap load. The industry at home is a little different. We don’t want to see anything overblown because people will say, “Oh! You’re trying to be American.” It’s also a weird contradiction, because we run the world in terms of fashion. Some would argue that British people are the most stylish. We’re born with it. Which I agree with because I’m British and I think I’m pretty fly. It’s a different connotation, a different energy. However, you guys have an awesome grip on marketing and image and making people buy into a certain space and a certain thing. I was out there in structured outfits looking like I was about to take off and heavily embroidered, et cetera, and that’s what I was feeling, that’s what we were doing back home. You guys took that and branded it in such a way that people will be like, "I know you with the short hair!" We have more music outlets, more places to sell music, so it’s less about placing people with a brand or a style than the music. I know, it’s six in one basket and half a dozen in the other, though. I mean, I get it.
SB: Besides music, you’ve been involved in a lot of other ventures, from cartoons to mentoring young people.
E: It’s like All the things I wanted to do are happening. All the parts I wanted to do and I’m so excited.
- Advertisement -SB: How did your mentoring program start?
E: I started the mentoring foundation four years ago after traveling and talking to young people [who were] asking me how to become rich and famous, but not seeing another way out of their situations. They were just asking, "Oh, can you introduce me to such and such?" and "You’re famous." So, their aspirations were to meet famous people. I was like, "Why don’t you do something worthwhile. Why don’t you became somebody." But they don’t know how. They don't want a handout, they want someone to point them in the direction so they can go get it. I’ve had people behind me saying you can do it, here’s how, so now I’m sharing some of that goodwill. All I ask is that they give back and mentor others. It takes a village and we just want to be part of that network of support.
- Advertisement -SB: Tell me about your work on Steven Universe?
E: Well, I play the main character, Garnet, on the show on Cartoon Network. I’ve been doing it for the last two years and it’s been doing pretty good. It’s just great. [Executive producer] Rebecca Sugar is awesome. She drew the artwork for my album sleeve. I just love her. She’s amazing. She writes all the songs on the show, she plays the ukulele, she makes cartoons. She’s a creative person if I ever met one. I’m just honored to have her be part of my first moment on my own label.
- Advertisement -SB: Will we ever get a full version of the "Conqueror" / Steven Universe mash-up you did at the New York Comic Con on an album or an EP?
E: Maybe. Ha!
- Advertisement -SB: You have a lot of ventures going on right now? In addition to your music, what would you most like to be remembered for?
E: Beyond music, [probably] film, TV, acting. But also, in a general sense. I like doing TV and film. I feel like all my test runs through doing my shows and music videos, it feels like an escape from reality. I want to be an industry powerhouse. TV, film and production. I want to have as many partnerships as possible and being someone that is a legit threat, if that makes sense. [Someone] that actually does the work and isn’t just here to smile and sing.
