Billboard Magazine

Gail Mitchell L.A

May 24 2011

It was 2009. Ester Dean had been plugging away for several years -- without much success -- trying to establish herself as a singer/songwriter.

Then she experienced what she describes as her "oh, wow" moment. Dean saw the inspirational 2006 documentary "The Secret," which its creator Rhonda Byrne later turned into a best-selling book. The personal empowerment message of the film -- "everything is possible, nothing is impossible" -- resonated strongly with Dean.

"I'd put so many limits on how I believed things should work," Dean says in her Southern-accented Betty-Boop-ish voice. "I started taking away those limitations, took myself out of the box. Now I'm ready to wow the
world."

Dean, who just three years ago was living on Section 8 housing vouchers, has started to do just that. The Muskogee, Okla., native was singing on demos and writing songs in Atlanta when she was introduced to Polow Da Don. He asked her to write a hook for Young Jeezy, and ended up signing her to his Zone 4/Interscope label in 2009. She also inked a publishing deal with producer Christopher "Tricky" Stewart's RedZone Publishing.

Fast-forward to 2011. Now based in Los Angeles, Dean (@EsterDean) has co-written four of the first quarter's top 100 airplay songs: Katy Perry's "Firework" (No. 2); Rihanna's "What's My Name," featuring Drake (No. 4), and "S&M" (No. 27); and Lloyd's "Lay It Down" (No. 94). Those join a growing list of writing credits that includes T.I.'s "Remember Me," featuring Mary J. Blige; Blige's "I Am"; Rihanna's "Rude Boy"; and "Let Me Take You to Rio" for the soundtrack to the animated feature "Rio." Dean also co-wrote three tracks on the 2009 album "Graffiti" by Chris Brown, who returned the writing favor by guesting on Dean's own single that year, "Drop It Low" -- the first release under the deal she signed with Zone 4/Interscope. The track peaked at No. 38 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Now signed to Universal Music Publishing Group, Dean is working on upcoming projects from Blige, No Doubt and Nicole Scherzinger.

When did you start writing and singing?

When I was in the third grade; I wouldn't pay attention in school at all. I did love English because they let you tell stories. I used to have these big-ass notebooks in which I'd write down all my thoughts. But in school, I was just the girl who sang all over the place, trying to see who wanted to make a group.

What key qualities do you have that make you a hit songwriter?

I'm limitless, spontaneous and fearless. I can take direction and also give it. And I don't dwell on celebrity. [Artists and producers] don't want me to kiss their ass and be all over them like a groupie. They want me to deliver. Some people can't get past the fact that they're standing in front of so-and-so. For me, it's "Let's get down to business."

How did "S&M" come about?

I wrote it, Father forgive me, on a Sunday. The track was already there. The first thing that came to me was "Come on, come on." I'm thinking, "I don't know what in the hell this is about to be." And I remembered I'd seen something that said, "Sticks and stones may break my bones." Then came "But chains and whips excite me." And I'm like, "Oh, my God, I got to write that." I'm in the studio with the engineer and just kept looking at him, asking, "Is that OK?" And he says, "I like it." When people have a great track that speaks to me, it feels like it already has a story in it.

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Pop songwriter Ester Dean’s Brentwood home is vibrating with heavy synths as the singer-songwriter lays down the vocals on one of the handful of demos she is completing that day.

The first thing she does when she emerges from behind the sound booth is comment on this writer’s tardiness to a scheduled interview and listening session.

“You’re late,” she said, adding an expletive, before erupting into fits of laughter.

Dean’s unabashed demeanor is infectious -– especially as she apologizes for the amount of curse words she said she's sure will hit the cutting room floor. Her engineers and co-producer barely keep a straight face as they work as she cracks jokes and throw out vulgarities in between takes.

As clichéd as it sounds, it’s tough to imagine the amount of work the hugely in-demand, Grammy-nominated 24-year-old is able to get accomplished with her playfulness often keeping her doubled over in laughter. She's written songs for Britney Spears, Chris Brown and a host of others, and is prepping a solo record.

“Three years ago I was dead broke,” she said in a rare moment of seriousness.

A wall in her studio is covered with collages of the goals she still hopes to achieve. Pictures of castles, cars and money are pasted together and surrounded by self-affirmations. She dreams big, but is the first to tell anyone who will listen that her success came only after she altered her outlook on herself.

“My mind set changed. I started thinking I deserved more,” she said of her positive outlook, which she attributed to the popular self-help DVD “The Secret.” “Things started happening for me. And quick.”

And in those three years she went from “dead broke” to one of urban pop’s most sought-after scribes.

After being introduced to producer Polow da Don and signing to his Zone 4 imprint through Interscope Records she went on to write tracks for Rihanna, Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, Nicki Minaj, Mary J. Blige, Usher and Ciara among others.

She said the steady flow of work came from her hunger –- and a reminder of those days of financial uncertainty, which she makes light of today (“Not being able to afford Fruit Loops and having to buy the Fruity O’s in the white box, or the mac and cheese that’s not in the blue box,” she joked.)

“I’d never leave the studio. [Polow] would leave to take a shower and I’d have my clothes ready to use the studio shower. He’d go to sleep and I’d work,” she said. “There are lots of people way more talented than me -- but I work more and I wanted it more. I never waited on anyone else.”

Dean, like most songwriters, initially planned on being an artist –- but she talked herself out of pursuing it.

“I had so many beliefs against being a singer, or what it takes. There was a lot of pain associated with that,” the Muskogee, Okla., native said. “The rejection of it all. I lived in a rejection state of mind. Not because of my voice, the mike never rejected me. It was harboring all those bad memories of being broke. It teaches you your worth. Nothing good comes from that.”

Ironically, her first offering as an artist, 2009’s Chris Brown-assisted “Drop It Low” came by happenstance.

“'Drop It Low,’ honestly, was for Ciara, but she didn’t come get the song. And then Britney [Spears] wanted it,” she said. “During the demo [Polow] kept telling me, ‘You’ve gotta believe it’ as I was singing it. A week later he asked if I wanted to hear my new single.”

The club-friendly track, released as a single for the soundtrack to the LeBron James documentary “More Than a Game” cracked the Top 40 of Billboard’s Hot 100. She said she feels ready now that she has “gotten her mind right” about stepping out from behind the scenes.

Dean offered a sampling of what she was crafting for the album including “Gimme Money,” a thumping R&B/Europop hybrid, and “Hero,” a sweeping pop ballad begging for radio play were standouts. She knows they are hits, but she has made it a habit of not being married to music.

“Look, these songs are for me, but I ain’t stupid,” she laughs. “If somebody wants them, they can have them.”

Though there is no release date pegged for the album, Dean is enjoying the ride –- which she is in control of.

She recently landed the title song to the upcoming children's movie “Rio” (character voiceover has been a long dream of hers); despite Spears not recording “Drop It Low,” she scored two tracks on the pop diva’s comeback album, “Femme Fatale”; and she currently has a handful of hits on the charts courtesy of Rihanna’s “S&M” and “What’s My Name?” and Katy Perry’s “Firework.”

She's tight-lipped on anything else in the works.

"I don’t believe in saying things before they happen. When it comes out, and you see my name on it, let me know," Dean said. "If I say something and it doesn’t have my name on it, then that’s embarrassing."

-- Gerrick D. Kennedy

Los Angeles Times April 5th

Photo: Ester Dean. Credit: Meeno Peluce

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Music Inspired by the film More Than A Game features "Drop It Low" by Ester Dean feat. Chris Brown and is available now!

Pick up a copy from your local store today or download it from iTunes or Amazon now!

Tracklisting:

1. Drop It Low (Ester Dean feat. Chris Brown) (3:14)

2. Forever (Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne & Eminem) (6:00)

3. King on Set (T.I. feat Young Dro) (3:46)

4. Stronger (Mary J. Blige) (4:06)

5. History (Jay-Z) (4:43)

6. Top of the World (Rich Boy feat. Chili Chil) (4:08)

7. I’m Ballin’ (Soulja Boy Tell ‘Em) (3:38)

8. We Ready (Ya Boy) (3:42)

9. Go Hard (Hayes) (4:11)

10. Frozen (Jarred Evans) (3:54)

11. If You Dream (Tank, Tyrese, Toni Braxton, Jordin Sparks, Omarion, Faith Evans, Jojo, Charlie Wilson, Tamar Braxton and Steve Russell) (5:03)

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» www.interscope.com