All of Estelle

In 2008, British singer Estelle and Kanye West had a huge international hit and Grammy win with the buoyant R&B song “American Boy.” It’s taken Estelle since then to record and release her follow up album. On Feb. 28, she’ll unleash the heart-on-her-sleeve “All of Me.”

The album was announced in 2010 but she delayed the release to make sure the energy was right.

“It took me three years to get to the point where I was happy with it,” Estelle said last week. “It’s like finally. I’m happy, I’m really, really happy. I don’t know how to explain it. It was the most trying part of my life for me to record this album. It took a lot of me to do it.”

During the past few years, she’s gone from being an obscure London artist to moving to New York and seeing her sophomore album “Shine” sell very well and transform her into a major player in the music world.

On the new record, Estelle documents her trajectory with songs about travelling, getting her heart broken and maturing. “I think you have to go through a period where you grow and you develop and you become more adult and I definitely had to go through it.”

Having a highly anticipated album always brings expectations, but she’s realistic about it. “I think as an artist you want to do it to do well; you don’t want to do it for it to suck or anything like that.”

Estelle’s known for collaborations with hip-hop’s elite having worked with West, Gucci Mane, John Legend and Mark Ronson. With this album she includes inspiring vocal and written contributions from Trey Songz, Akon, Janelle Monáe, Ne-Yo and Rick Ross, where he raps against Estelle’s soulful vocals on “Break My Heart.”

And she’s never afraid to speak her mind, especially to her detractors. “People kept asking and kept wondering who I was. She’s from London, who does she think she is coming over here doing all of these things? And I was like, I know who I am. Who are you? Don’t knock yourself down, be embarrassed or be ashamed to be who you are. ”

She mentions it’s her fans’ opinions she cares about the most. She refers to her touchstones as “my darlings” on Twitter and says she has a real and relatable relationship with them. “We all go through the same things. You have crazy family members. I have crazy family members. I have issues. My friends are crazy. It’s the same as everybody else around the world. I’m trying to bridge that gap.”

Fans will be able to see the singer do what she was born to do when her BET Music Matters “The All of Me” tour kicks off this week and she’s embraced life on the road.

“I love touring,” she gushes. “I absolutely love it. It’s one of my favorite things to do in life…I grew up doing shows. I came into the game to simply do shows. It’s kind of where I live. I always travel. I’m never in more than one place for more than a month. It’s been like that the past 12 years.”

Despite the shadow of “American Boy” hovering somewhere along the horizon, Estelle doesn’t feel any pressure to find another equal caliber hit – she just wants to keep evolving.

“I wanna write, do music and do what I enjoy doing in life and not feel bad about it. It’s a blessing. I’m really happy about all of the choices that I’ve made that’s gotten me right here.”