IT’S fair to say that Jessie Ware’s fourth album is the singer’s best.
She describes What’s Your Pleasure? as “flirtatious and seductive” and it is vibrantly brought to life by her sultry and soulful vocals.
On a Zoom video call from her East London home, she says: “I’m proud of everything I’ve done but I feel most at ease at the moment. I’m feeling the most confident I’ve ever felt and I’m really enjoying promoting this album.”
The last time I spoke to the Mercury Prize- nominated singer was in 2017 for her previous album Glasshouse.
Jessie told me about Table Manners, a podcast about food, family and conversation she was launching then with her mum, Lennie.
Table Manners has been so successful it has produced a cookbook and a live tour — although the tour has been postponed because of the lockdown.
Guests have included A-listers such as actress Florence Pugh, singer Dua Lipa, Friends star David Schwimmer, and journalist and broadcaster Emily Maitlis. It’s been likened to Graham Norton’s chatshow.
But perhaps more importantly, its success has given Ware the boost she needed when making music.
Ware, 35 says: “We totally go out and get who we want, though people do approach us now, which is amazing.
“And through the podcast, there is no mystique around me. Everyone knows about me and my mother.
'MY EARLY SUCCESS FELT TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE'
“That meant it was quite freeing for making this record. I think there has always been a misconception about me. I don’t take myself too seriously and the podcast has given me that confidence to feel that I can expand.
“I think people have had this expectation from me that I should be bigger than I am, when actually I am quite happy where I am. I was always a bit self- deprecating because my early success felt too good to be true.
What's Your Pleasure?
- Spotlight
- What’s Your Pleasure?
- Ooh La La
- Soul Control
- Save A Kiss
- Adore You
- In Your Eyes
- Step Into My Life
- Read My Lips
- Mirage (Don’t Stop)
- The Kill
- Remember Where You Are
“When I got a record deal, I felt like I hadn’t earned it and I’ve let nerves get the better of me in the past even though I am so socially confident.
“Like at my shows I used to speak a lot between songs — that was my way to navigate myself out of being nervous. Just talk it out.
“But now I feel established, I feel confident, and feel I am getting better as an artist. Making the podcast has got me out of this rut of feeling guilty that I don’t deserve to be here.”
When it came to the sound for What’s Your Pleasure?, there was one rule.
When I got a record deal, I felt like I hadn’t earned it and I’ve let nerves get the better of me.
“I just needed to dance a bit,” she says. “I was thinking how I really wanted to enjoy having more uptempo things in my live shows.
"And kind of going back to the roots. There are definitely nods to (previous albums) Devotion and Glasshouse in there.
"I started as a dance vocalist so it felt right to let the beat dictate the energy of the track. And it’s perfect for the kitchen-dancing times we are in at the moment.”
On the album, Ware worked with producer James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence + The Machine and Foals) who she had hired for her second collection Tough Love.
She says: “I’ve known him for years. He’s very steady and thoughtful. He’s ridiculously talented, but there’s no ego with James.
"And we both have young families so there was a real understanding of juggling family and work, which I really needed and enjoyed. We just felt excited by the music we’d made.”
'MY DRIVE WAS FIERCE AND FEROCIOUS'
Ware — who gave birth to her second child, a boy, with husband Sam Burrows last March — has been open about how she struggled with touring after having her first child, a daughter now four.
She says: “I think you punish yourself when you have children. I feel I worked too hard when my daughter was born, out of fear that I maybe wouldn’t be accepted.
“I had a crazy drive — it was fierce and ferocious. When I had my son I did sporadic things while James had other projects he was working on.
“Lockdown has meant I am with my family more than I would be usually. So I’m grateful for that.”
Her latest album is full of standouts, in particular the final track, Remember Where You Are, which has a Nuyorican Soul feel to it.
Spotlight, Save A Kiss and Adore You, which she made with Joe Mount from Metronomy, also hit the spot.
“He’s great. I’ve always been a fan of his music, and Metronomy are so brilliant live,” she says. “He’s incredibly talented and I’d love to work with him again.”
Mirage (Don’t Stop) pays tribute to Bananarama’s Cruel Summer – though unintentionally.
Ware says: “That happened by complete accident. I thought I’d written something really original and everyone said, ‘That’s great’ then my manager Peter said, ‘I think it’s very close to Cruel Summer’.
“Then I heard it and was like, ‘B****r, that’s really close’. So we just offered them publishing because it sounds really similar.”
Lockdown has meant I am with my family more than I would be usually. So I’m grateful for that.
Ware says she’s over the moon with the response to the album — her singles have been all over the radio in recent weeks.
“Radio 2 are being amazing to me. They are really getting behind the record. I am really chuffed that I can be on 6Music, Radio 1 and Radio 2 at the same time. It’s quite a unique position to be in so I appreciate that.”
This week, Ware announced she was pushing the album back a week so as not to be released on the US holiday Juneteenth (aka Freedom Day), the celebration of the end of slavery.
On social media she said: “It’s been brought to my attention that June 19 is in fact a special date in American history.
"It’s an incredibly important day for black voices, and I don’t want to distract from those voices or those experiences or stories in any way.”
Last weekend Ware took part in the Black Lives Matter protest in Parliament Square with the banner “Silence is Violence”.
She says: “My kids helped make it that morning. It’s important to use my platform. It’s vital that people speak out and call out racism.”
'THINGS FELL INTO PLACE'
As a mother, Ware, who has a degree in English Literature, also believes that Black History needs to be within the curriculum.
Ware says making What’s Your Pleasure? has been a positive experience and having a new management team has helped.
She says: “My priorities are different. Weirdly when I stopped trying so hard to appease so many different people, things fell into place.
“My new management (Fascination, who also manage All Saints) are so positive and they help me with the podcast and make me feel like I can do anything.”
This week, Ware also announced her UK tour for next year. It was originally planned for this year before coronavirus put a stop to it.
“I had to cancel a tour that I hadn’t actually announced yet,” she says. “I also had a big festival booked, which I was a bit gutted about, but I can’t really complain in that sense.
“I can’t wait to play this album live. I made this album so that I could dance with my fans, so it can’t come quick enough.
“I’m excited to play lots of new music and expect lots of dancing. Hopefully there will be more dates and festivals to come too. I hope that, by the time I’m back touring, people will know this record inside out.
“There’s not going to be any social gatherings happening for a while and so I’m just going to go back into the studio and make more music — that’s my job.
“But I’m alright. It is all OK. A global pandemic puts everything into perspective.”
- What’s Your Pleasure? is out on June 26. Tickets for the tour are on sale now.
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