Jessie Ware

One Liner: Big-voiced sophisti-pop and disco-fied R&B

Wikipedia Genre: Sophisti-pop, disco, R&B, electronic, soul

Home: London

Poster Position: 3 (9)
Both Weekends.  

Saturday.

Thoughts:   I truly believe that she has been on the poster before, but I don't see any review in my history, and four seconds of research didn't bring her up.  Maybe I'm just conflating her with some other big-voiced British singer.  While I like the term "sophisti-pop" I got from Wikipedia, this is very disco-fied in my opinion.

In 2015, I reviewed one of her albums.  Not sure why.  But here are my thoughts from back then: "Jessie Ware - Tough Love.  Another falsetto-draped singer over electronic music.  Not sure how I've found the treasure trove of these ladies recently, but I feel like I'm losing a connection on which one is Tove Lo, FKA Twigs, Banks, and this gal.  That being said, I like the majority of this album. "Keep on Lying" sounds like I made it on my Casio 2000 in 7th grade, but "Tough Love" starts out like "When Doves Cry" and then goes through a solidly sad love song.  "Cruel" brings a dance-able beat and more clever lyrics about love and relationships.  And "Say You Love Me" turns off the falsetto to showcase a really fine voice.  This is a nice album, but its just outside of my zone.  I doubt I'll keep it around."

Her older sister is an actress who is best known for things I've never heard of - Emma Kane in the Starz political drama series Boss (2011–2012) and as Sara Hanley in the ABC primetime soap opera Betrayal (2013–2014).  Some other strange ties - she went to school with Florence Welch, she worked as a journalist at the Jewish Chronicle, and later was a work colleague of the lady who wrote Fifty Shades of Grey.  She has a podcast with her mom called Table Manners, and has had a who's who list of guests including McCartney and Ed Sheeran.  She is a fan of Manchester United.

"Shake the Bottle" sounds very much like Madonna in parts.  One track is much more streamed than all the others - here is "Say You Love Me," with 185.1 million streams.

Really pretty, great voice, but also solidly in the realm of boring for me.  Ah, this was on the Fifty Shades soundtrack - that is probably why it has so many streams.  Also, the song writing was assisted by Ed Sheeran.  5 proper albums, so she has been at it a while, with 2012's Devotion, 2014's Tough Love, 2017's Glasshouse, 2020's What's Your Pleasure, and 2023's That! Feels Good! (got some Shania Twain exclamation overuse there).  After that track above, her next biggest tune is "Wildest Moments," from the debut album.  52.4 million streams.

Nice, lovely tune with some heft behind it.  The funny thing is that my impression after listening to all of her albums is that most of her tunes are more of a party feel, like a dance-centered disco jam that stretches out for hours, with a few of these more pensive tunes mixed in.  It is interesting, then, that the most popular tunes are the more chilled ones.  Like, her top song on the Spotify top ten, "Free Yourself," from this year's album, has that feeling in spades.  20 million streams.

Feels like Ru Paul and Cher are going to come dancing out to it at any moment.  My feel of her show is that it will be more like this - a dance party - rather than all deep and quiet.  Could be fun!