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Crystal Estal (born 15h July, 1998) is a singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer. Born in Houston, Texas but raised in London, England from the age of 4 Crystal grew up in a musical family and sang in her school choir as well as her church, she had a brief stint in an unsuccessful girl group at age 13 which was her first introduction to the music industry. Throughout her career, Crystal has sold over 130 million records worldwide, making her one of the worlds best selling artists. She has won 21 Grammys. In 2023, she became the highest-paid musician in history.
EARLY LIFE
Crystal Estal was born in Houston, Texas in 1998 to a Rose and David Estal. Her mother is from Dominica and her father is from Cuba. Her family moved to London, England when she was aged 4. Her parents later divorced and her father moved back to Houston while Crystal and her siblings stayed in London with their mother. Crystal grew up in a musical family and sang in her school choir as well as her church. She grew up listening to R&B music as well as music from the Caribbean such as Soca, Dancehall and Bouyon. She cites her most notable influences as Brandy, Beyonce and Janet Jackson, noting that Brandy is the reason she knew she wanted to sing and create music.
At age 13 she joined a girl group named 'Echo' they tried to secure a record deal but struggled and eventually parted ways. Crystal was distraught about the failure of the group and decided to stay away from music industry but continued to write music for personal pleasure. In secondary school her school expanded and had the addition of recording studio the student could access, she was coerced by her friends to begin recording the music she had written.
CAREER
Heartbeat
Crystal recorded the music she had written over the years in the studio at her school and produced her first body of work, a mixtape titled Heartbeat. It was release in May 2016. The subject matter was centred around teenage life. All the tracks were written by Crystal and produced by Boi-1da, MNEK and Monte Booker. No singles were released from the mixtape however it still caught a lot of attention and streamed well. Crystal became a notable name in England and performed around the country while still keeping up her studies.
Tracklist:
| 1. | "I Wanna Love You" |
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2:19 |
| 2. | "Down Low" |
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4:54 |
| 3. | "Heartbeat" |
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5:29 |
| 4. | "Suspicion" |
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3:47 |
| 5. | "Nothing" |
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4:23 |
| 6. | "Forget Me Nots" |
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2:00 |
| 7. | "The Way To Love" |
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4:01 |
| 8. | "Love Denied" |
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3:55 |
| 9. | "Only For Tonight" |
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4:13 |
| 10. | "Decision" | . Crystal Estal |
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4:56 |
| 11. | "My First" |
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4:41 |
| Total length: | 44:32 | |||
Four AM
After the success of her mixtape Crystal began work on an EP which became "Four AM" production wise it had a darker more somber tone to it dealing with mostly subject matter revolving around relationships. Crystal released the EP in November, 2017 independently banking of its success to secure a record deal and the somewhat newly established "Factory Records" an international urban record label. Again no singles were released and the EP only impacted the streaming charts however Crystal wasn't fazed by this as her main aim with the EP was to get signed. The EP was again written purely by Crystal and produced by WondaGurl and Boi-1da.
Tracklist:
| 1. | "Its Cold Outside" |
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3:25 |
| 2. | "I Called" |
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3:57 |
| 3. | "Nothing" |
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4:23 |
| 4. | "Obsession" |
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3:56 |
| 5. | "Fly Love" |
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4:17 |
| 6. | "Four AM" |
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5:12 |
| 7. | "I Called / Do You?" |
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3:02 |
| Total length: | 28:08 | |||
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