Esthero is an R&B renegade. The Canadian-born singer has an
attitude of a bad bitch of R&B, but has such a strong sense of
jazz and most variants of modern pop in her music that her style of
R&B is truly unique to herself.
Wikked Lil’ Grrrls, from the way the title is misspelled,
makes it pretty clear that this is an R&B/hip-hop record. The
pumped-up killer opener “We R In Need Of A Musical Revolution”
totally suffocates this expectation. The song, with its heavy bass
and synth lines and well-mannered innocence, is through-and-through
eighties soul, except for the explicit media-abhorring lyrics that
go like, “I’m so sick and tired of the shit on the radio and MTV,
they only play the same thing,” not to mention the unpleasant
references to Britney and Ashanti.
What follows next is the spoken-word by Jemeni, “Dragonfly’s
Intro.” In all the purity of the spoken-word, it goes: “I am at the
hip-hop show, head-boppin’ in the back / Smoking anything that’ll
burn / During the intermission, I am in the club bathroom praying
in earnest for Jeff Buckley’s return.” The spoken-word, hip-hop’s
pride, doesn’t sound so true to its roots when it makes a reference
to Jeff Buckley, does it? But, this is Esthero; who loves the
reprehensible combination of hip-hop and rock.
The only rock number on the record, “Everyday Is A Holiday With
You” (co-written with John and Yoko’s Sean Ono Lennon,), has
absolutely no shadow of the hardcore Latino tune that precedes it,
or the smooth Sade-ish jazz cut that follows it. Executed in a 100%
Brit-pop fashion, “Everyday” has Esthero sounding like a
Beatles-inspired British singer of Scottish descent, who could have
very well been a lead for Fools Garden (of “Lemon Tree” fame).
Though the presence of R&B on the record stands out most
prominently, it is Esthero’s use of jazz and her use of horn and
string arrangements that makes the album outstanding. From the
crestfallen (“Dragonfly’s Outro,” “Melancholy Melody,” and “My
Torture”) to the more buoyant (“Wikked Lil’ Grrrls” and “Bad Boy
Clyde”), these horn and string arrangements fuse fifties Broadway,
sixties psychedelia, and contemporary soul in such a manner that
these songs are pleasures to listen to, as well as complements to
these great genres.
Esthero’s mastery with different genres of music doesn’t seem
all that clever at times, when she tries too hard to sound hip-hop,
inviting guests to emcee on a few of her numbers. The result is
shoddy — the rapping sounds too forced and out-of-place, and the
guests? Well, except for the smart Jemeni, the other rappers only
bring a genuine feeling of odium toward them.
Esthero’s blending of so many different genres makes her a very
exciting singer. Amongst the current family of soul singers, Prince
has been the only one to give soul music unimaginably audacious and
strange twists; Esthero is his female counterpart. The true talent
of an artist lies not in the ability to cross genres, but in the
comfort with which this is attained. Just ask Esthero.
