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James AnthonyEstelle tells the story of her parents’ real-life romance on her new album, Lovers Rock, out today.
The Grammy Award-winner say she began writing songs about her failed relationships, and realized that she was actually going down the same path traveled by her mother and father.
“I started doing some sort of therapy to a degree and just kind of questioning myself, like girl, why you are you making these terrible choices in men in life?” she tells ABC Radio.
“The more I started thinking, the more I was like, I am repeating kind of what my mom and my parents did, and the more I started talking to my mom about her life and her stories, the more I realized I was…making terrible mistakes in my life.”
Estelle says after she was born, her parents separated and then reunited twenty years later. She realized the songs she was writing reflected her mom and dad’s story of love found, love lost, and love found again.
“’These songs are really good,’” Estelle says she thought to herself. “’Why don’t I make it about my mom and my dad’s story?’”
“People don’t get to fall in love, have three kids, and even though they’re separated, find their way back 20 years later and then get married,” she continues. ”They don’t do that. Y’know, there’s always some real issue. And when I look at them, it’s like, nothing happened. It’s like, not a day was missed.”
Estelle blends reggae, soca, dancehall, and African music on Lover’s Rock. It’s her fifth studio album, and her first since 2015’s True Romance.
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