the elephant in that particular corner of the room - which I didn't have the time or space to go into in this interview - is of course that soul is traditionally black music and an integral part of the black experience; which isn't to say that white people can't do it (we talked about Amy W a lot, whom Estelle loves and totally accepted as a soul singer) but when only white people are promoted, and they're singing a v much 'whitified' version of it, then there is an issue there.

also re: the 'black experience', Estelle also said interesting things about how easily she bonded with black Americans compared to white Britons even though theirs was in many ways a more alien culture.