Jessie Ware – Tough Love


Jessie Ware - Tough Love
I´ve been anticipating this record since the last seconds of Ware´s debut album Devotion rang out. Not only because I loved it, but because I was pretty excited in which direction she would go in the future. So slowly, and with many previews, teases and candied bits, Tough Love emerged. 

Hearing the title track and opener, I knew that great things were in store. Here she sings in a higher pitch and still the vigor of her voice shines through. With the next single “Say You Love Me” the mood was different from the bass heavy and electronic beats we´re used to in her music. Acoustic guitar, and a melody changing fluently between being a ballad and a hymnal. This is Jessie´s slowest moment yet and even better the quiet explosions of her crescendo fits the plot. The only gripe I felt was the gospel choir, which seems a little anticlimactic in comparison to Jessie´s yearning voice. 

Jessie Ware-"Tough Love" from BRTHR on Vimeo.


In general Tough Love holds much more variety in instrumentation than her previous effort. A lot more strings and guitars and no songs feature a heavy bass line like “110%”. It it Jessie´s voice that plays the main part here, and rightfully so, for her confidence overwhelms in every way. While the only thematic point holding the songs together is the tag line of “Tough Love”, every song has the refinement of a single. From playful “Kind of…Sometimes…Maybe”, disco tinged “Want Your Feeling” or the dramatic “Pieces”. The playful “Keep On Lying” and angelic “Champagne Kisses” are the tracks I keep coming back to almost every day. Especially because of the latter I can only recommend seeing Jessie live. Being one of the last songs she played, the chorus left me in an emotional high I revisit every time the song comes on. 



In this record Jessie has proven herself to be a mainstay as a singer. There is no need for any features from prominent rappers or any instrumental innovation trying to make her singing eccentric or left field. Jessie Ware might be retro or revivalist in a way, but she is doing those things better than many contemporaries. Lastly it might just be the way of relatedness that she creates in her songs of heartache and desire. Speaking of love comes close to making vocal based music in her lane itself. But for me it seems that Jessie knows that once you speak the words of love, you inevitable give away a part of yourself. Forever to be lost and only to be reconciled by being heard and accepted by the other. The road is tricky or put differently, "tough". So pick yourself up and give this one a spin!
 
9/10

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