Tough Love Jessie Ware Analysis

Two years ago Jessie Ware released her debut album, Devotion, to an uproar of critical acclaim, a Mercury Prize nomination, comparisons to Sade and Adele, and topping numerous best of 2012 lists. Impressive is an understatement for the twenty-nine year old English singer-songwriter. With the impending sophomore album expectations and a recent marriage, Jessie Ware comes back with confidence and elegance on Tough Love. Teaming up with producers Benny Blanco and Ben Ash, otherwise known as BenZel, Jessie Ware perfected her style of sexy and intricate ease. She even brought in Miguel, Ed Sheeran, and Dev Hynes, of Blood Orange, to co-write.

Even with the new producing team and her special guests, Tough Love is still very much a Jessie Ware classic, polished and smooth. After releasing the title track back in April, a whole six months before the release of her album, you could sense the confidence Ware had in herself and her single to keep her audience’s attention and devotion. With the astonishing chorus and the complex, yet soft synths on “Tough Love,” it’s relieving to
“I was so sure this was real but/ Now I’m sure of nothing at all/ I had to shatter the pieces/ That made me reveal myself,” she sings in an incredible pre-chorus/chorus transition. “Say You Love Me,” my personal favorite track on the album, is a telling sign that Jessie Ware can write a universal song that you can take in a multitude of directions. The song has a sad tonal quality, but it unfolds into a triumphant embrace, completed with a choir set to the beat of handclaps. One of the best aspects of her music is when she slightly alters the pitch of her voice or changes the pacing of a tune to add emphasis to her words in order to emotionalize them. “I want to feel burning flames when you say my name,” she sings and it cuts right through