Jessie Ware Is About to Get Groovy on 'That! Feels Good!'

Written by T. Tian, Photo by Jack Grange

British singer Jessie Ware is back with a brand new single. Much like the lead single “Free Yourself” released in summer last year, “Pearls” is backed by a vibrant disco groove, building on juicy basslines, definite piano strokes, and sparkling synths. Marking her comeback to music since 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure?, Ware’s fifth studio album That! Feels Good! is set to come out on April 28th. Provided the two singles paint a rather accurate picture of what the new era will sound like, she is about to take her audience into another one of her lavish disco carnivals.

After the 2017 Glasshouse underperformed commercially, Ware sought an emotional outlet in her podcast program Table Manners. By showing her personable character and featuring famous guests from all aspects of the entertainment world, she ended up gaining millions of listeners she would hardly have with her sophisti-pop sound in music. As a more empowered form of self took her over, she started working on a new album with James Ford, a long-time producer of hers, which would later become the dance-pop-infused What’s Pleasure?.

Reviving 70’s funky vibrations with modern synthesizers and glorious string arrangements, they approached dance music by all its intricacy and captured it at its most intimate, creating a delicate Donna-Summer-meets-Robyn sound. Fans embraced it fondly, and so did the critics. The album reached the top 3 on the UK Official Albums Chart, breaking her personal record, and was later certified silver for selling over 60 thousand copies in the country. Critically, it was ranked among the top 10 albums of the year by multiple music publications, including Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, and Slant.

Born amidst the chaos of COVID-19 as well as a mainstream disco frenzy involving Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia and Kylie Minogue’s Disco, What’s Your Pleasure? proved to be a highlight of not only Ware’s own career but also the early 2020s music scene. With the upcoming That! Feels Good!, she assures the party is far from over. As made clear by the videos of “Free Yourself” and “Pearls,” this time she is ditching the sense of intimacy and inviting a larger gathering to her disco extravaganza, righteously so in the post-pandemic world, even exuding a dash of comedic humor. If you’re a fan of Jessie Ware’s music, you’re in for a treat, and you’d better shake it till the pearls fall off.