Jessie Ware has always moved between worlds. She's a British soul singer who spent the early part of her career making intimate, understated records. Then, in 2020, she released What's Your Pleasure? and morphed into a full-blown disco goddess. The record received widespread critical acclaim, earned Jessie her first top-three album on the UK charts, and was nominated for British Album of the Year at the BRITs. Today Jessie traces that sonic evolution back to an especially ripe creative period in her life, when she launched Table Manners, the podcast she hosts with her mom Lennie. Table Manners has become one of the UK's most beloved shows, racking up over 60 million listens, and in turn gave Jessie a new kind of confidence.
This month Jessie is releasing Superbloom, her sixth album. As she has since What's Your Pleasure?, Jessie A&Rs the record herself, staying carefully in control of every creative decision. Her production team included core collaborator James Ford, the producer behind landmark records with Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Florence and the Machine, and Blur. As well as three-time Grammy winner Stuart Price, best known for producing Madonna's Confessions on a Dance Floor and The Killers' Day & Age.
On today's episode, Leah Rose talks with Jessie Ware about how Superbloom was born after a particularly difficult year filled with illness and loss, and how that led to an album that sounds like pure joy. Jessie also talks about channeling Grace Jones to slip into a sexy persona to record sultry new songs like "Ride" and "Sauna," and she explains how Minnie Riperton and Stevie Wonder inspired her to make her private life public like never before.
You can hear a playlist of some of our favorite songs from Jessie Ware HERE.
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