British techno-chanteuse Jessie Ware caught our attention two years ago as one of the freshest voices in alternative R&B with her elegant vocals and understated sound highlighted on her acclaimed debut album "Devotion." Since then, Ware hasn't done much on the music front, but now she is set to return with her as-yet-untitled sophomore album later this year and has shared the video for the new album's elegantly devastating first single, "Tough Love."
On Ware's earlier songs, she demonstrated a soulful style of downtempo pop. With "Tough Love," produced by BenZel, she experiments with even softer atmospheric textures and plays with the tonality in her voice. It's a warm new-age power ballad, one that's slow to build, but once it does around the three-minute mark, the song explodes into a gorgeous crescendo of buzzing synths against Ware's alluring vocals. "Tough Love" has ethereal, Kate-Bush-esque vocals, a crisp, Prince-ly beat, and enough thick, delicious bass to satisfy the fans who came to her via electronic artists like SBTRKT and Joker.
"Tough Love" is a convincing sign that Ware may actually outdo her first album with her next. Speaking about the track previously, Ware commented: "I had just finished a run of shows in the States and went to NY to work with BenZel for a couple weeks, mainly as a different focus to touring. I didn't have any expectations or pressures with what would come out of those two weeks, and think 'Tough Love' sums this up. It was me experimenting with my voice and having fun with it. It just felt right and kind of dictated the route of the next album, much like 'Devotion' did on my first album." Ware's lyrics were inspired by the trails of maintaining a long-term relationship with her fiancée while touring round the world. "It's not always easy being away from the person that I love so much, but I'm also doing something that I really, really love," she explained. "It's realistic that it's not always real easy."
Directed by BRTHR, the clip plays like a European experimental film from the early '70s. It matches that song's slow-burning aesthetic and seamlessly translates the song's gossamer vibes into visual form, which mainly means lots of shots of roses, lights and sees the London soul singer running through a sunny field and lying among purple flowers. The clip is full of ravishing golden-hour images of the back of Ware's head, film that changes from color to black-and-white, and close-up images of plant life and underwater faces. It's not an attention-grabbing video, or even a particularly notable one, but it's all arranged around the song, which still kills.
On Ware's earlier songs, she demonstrated a soulful style of downtempo pop. With "Tough Love," produced by BenZel, she experiments with even softer atmospheric textures and plays with the tonality in her voice. It's a warm new-age power ballad, one that's slow to build, but once it does around the three-minute mark, the song explodes into a gorgeous crescendo of buzzing synths against Ware's alluring vocals. "Tough Love" has ethereal, Kate-Bush-esque vocals, a crisp, Prince-ly beat, and enough thick, delicious bass to satisfy the fans who came to her via electronic artists like SBTRKT and Joker.
"Tough Love" is a convincing sign that Ware may actually outdo her first album with her next. Speaking about the track previously, Ware commented: "I had just finished a run of shows in the States and went to NY to work with BenZel for a couple weeks, mainly as a different focus to touring. I didn't have any expectations or pressures with what would come out of those two weeks, and think 'Tough Love' sums this up. It was me experimenting with my voice and having fun with it. It just felt right and kind of dictated the route of the next album, much like 'Devotion' did on my first album." Ware's lyrics were inspired by the trails of maintaining a long-term relationship with her fiancée while touring round the world. "It's not always easy being away from the person that I love so much, but I'm also doing something that I really, really love," she explained. "It's realistic that it's not always real easy."
Directed by BRTHR, the clip plays like a European experimental film from the early '70s. It matches that song's slow-burning aesthetic and seamlessly translates the song's gossamer vibes into visual form, which mainly means lots of shots of roses, lights and sees the London soul singer running through a sunny field and lying among purple flowers. The clip is full of ravishing golden-hour images of the back of Ware's head, film that changes from color to black-and-white, and close-up images of plant life and underwater faces. It's not an attention-grabbing video, or even a particularly notable one, but it's all arranged around the song, which still kills.
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