Our music critic Lydia Bowden on Jessie Ware
Dubbed the new Katy B, may I introduce to you Jessie Ware - a
brand new artist that I think is in a whole league of her own.
It seems Jessie has been floating around for about two years,
lending her vocals to other artists like SBTRKT and Jack PeƱate; she even
released an EP in 2010 that completely flew over my head called Nervous. At that point she was turning heads about 90 degrees, not quite 180
yet, but now our heads have gone full circle.
Jessie has been releasing little tasters for quite a while
now, hinting that her first debut album is going to be a work of genius and
come at us all with force. Singles āRunningā and a personal favourite ā110%ā
are full of soulful and chilled whispers, and itās clear that from working with
DJ Joker, a subtle dub-step beat has slipped its way into her music which gives
it a need to be listened to.
She calls Diana Ross and Chaka Khan her inspiration, which
explains that 80ās vibe in āRunningā. Her most recent single āWildest Momentsā
really is something special. The song opens with a mixture of ghostly whispers
and a tweeting of birds that breaks into a sharp continual beat for the rest of
the song. The repetitive line āBaby in our wildest moments, we could be the
greatest, we could be the greatestā makes you really think about your own
relation to the song, which is something thatās hard to find in most pop music
these days.
Her debut album drops on August 20th, so this leaves
me no option but to repeat the same three songs over and over again- and Iām
fine with that.
Comments
I had never heard of this particular chanteuse but after your enthusiastic encomium I shall have to check her out!
Best wishes from Simon