Jesse Ware, Tough Love

Jessie Ware

Tough Love

Reviewed by: Lara Supan

That “Mariah Carey” sound is coming back into style big time, and Jessie Ware is right there with it on Tough Love.

To place Jessie Ware into a specific category is difficult because she has such a huge physical and stylistic range that she plays with. The first song on the album is appropriately titled “Tough Love” and sounds like an Imogen Heap style electronic Brit-pop anthem. Immediately after that is “Cruel”, which sounds like Rihanna and Mariah Carey had a love child and brought her into the future of R&B. Next up is “Say You Love Me”, complete with an acoustic guitar and a lower voiced Ware, along with a gospel choir. What will she think of next!

Singing her praises aside, Ware also delivers some repetitive, forgettable clunkers on Tough Love. “Sweetest Song” is overly simplistic and sounds like it was made for a dance hall, with “Kind Of…Sometimes…Maybe” coming in a close second, featuring a mumbling male voice in the background while she repeats herself for three and a half minutes. The order of these songs could have been chosen more careful in retrospect, especially the transition between “Pieces”, which is a slow ballad, and “Keep On Lying” which starts in immediately with a jarring upbeat synth rhythm. Make sure to give yourself some time between each piece so you don’t end up with tonal whiplash.

Overall, Jessie Ware has a good thing going. She’s got a little bit of Brit pop, a lot of Mariah Carey vibe, and some solid R&B in her repertoire. Although the album seems a little disjointed, I’m assuming Ware did this intentionally to fully realize the heart-broken and somewhat schizophrenic theme of Tough Love. However, if you’re going for Mariah Carey you can never top the original!

Rating: Listenable