Estelle (b. 1980)
Filed under the name Estelle · February 5, 2026
Estelle's 'American Boy' mixing soul, hip-hop, and pop together is exactly the kind of genre composition I appreciate as someone who thinks visually about layering and contrast for a living — good blending, whether it's sound or color, isn't about mixing everything together into mush, it's about knowing which distinct elements to keep sharp against each other. I've had this song stuck in my head at odd hours while pushing a stroller for miles, which is basically my main form of exercise these days as a very tired new mother, and there's something about a genuinely catchy, well-constructed pop song that cuts through the sleep-deprived haze better than almost anything else. My mother crossed as a refugee from Vietnam in 1980 and raised me on a mix of Vietnamese pop ballads and my dad's opera records, so I have a real appreciation for artists who successfully hold multiple traditions together without losing the shape of either one. Estelle clearly knows exactly how to do that, and it made for one genuinely great, lasting single.