It’s been a little while since we’ve heard from Esthero (2005 to be exact) but she’s back with the single “Never Gonna Let You Go” from her forthcoming studio album Everything is Expensive. The catchy, upbeat track will undoubtedly be stuck in your head all day until you’re all like “I can’t take it, I need to know more about this talented chick.” That’s where we do you a total solid…
Five things we love about Canadian singer/songwriter Esthero:
She watches viral videos: Esthero is lost in a vortex of viral videos and it’s all our fault. She’s watching “Five hilarious videos under 25 seconds” on loop and can’t stop cracking up at the auto-correct fails, particularly the phrase ‘unicorn titties.’ She tells me her favourite viral video is “How to Stop A Nightmare,” which somehow went passed my radar. “You’re going to be OVER,” she jokes. She was right, the cuteness was actually too much to take.
The record was a surprise: She wasn’t planning on making another record but a few unwritten songs were haunting her when she went to bed. One day she said “f*ck it, I’ll go in and record.” She booked four days in the recording studio and eventually two songs became four and four became more. The songs were flowing naturally and bubbling up so quickly she could hardly keep up. “I was really puking out this album,” she says over the phone from Los Angeles. “I got musically pregnant and it’s like giving birth. All we want to do is dance to her new single ”Never Gonna Let You Go” (below).
She worked with Kanye and he’s a tank: She’s been away from the spotlight since the release of her 2005 album Wikked Lil’ Grrrls, collaborating with high-profile artists like The Black Eyed Peas, Timbaland and Kanye among others, co-writing three tracks on his platinum-selling 808s & Heartbreak LP. Kanye is a hard-worker and a tank when it comes to writing on a deadline: “I’m so crafty and I come from that school of backpack rappers. I don’t want to repeat the same words or use clichés, I want it to be witty and make sense,” she said. “With Kanye you gotta make it happen and make it happen fast. It’s nice to be in that kind of environment.”
She has a dog named Oboe: Esthero is cray busy these days but she manages to take time for herself and of course, to spend time with her pure bread pekingese Oboe.
Her stage name is from The Bell Jar: Esthero’s real name is Jenny-Bea Englishman. She created the character Esthero when she was 18-years old, after seeing Larry Peerce’s The Bell Jar. The protagonist Esther is a messed up young adult who repeatedly tries to kill herself, which might be pretty gloomy if it weren’t for the end of the film. ”I remember the last line in the movie, Esther has to find a way to carry on and live her life. She said: ‘If I am to be the hero, then I cannot fly from darkness.’ And I was like ‘ah shit,’” says Esthero. “Something about that line just resonated with me — you have to face whatever your demons are.”
“Never Gonna Let You Go” is from Esthero’s third studio album Everything is Expensive, which is expected to be out this summer.
