Superbloom

Dance-pop queen Jessie Ware returns with another helping of what people love. On her sixth studio album, Superbloom, the Londoner navigates between the dancefloor and the bedroom on a multifaceted project.

Dancing Queen

Jessie Ware‘s first taste of the music industry came from the shadows. Providing backing vocals for Jack Peñate. Amassing connections from this, Ware released collaborations with the likes of Sampha, SBTRKT and Florence + The Machine. 2012 saw the release of her debut album, Devotion, which was a Mercury Prize nominee. Ware’s follow-up album, Tough Love, failed to hit the same heights. However, things changed with the brilliant third album, Glasshouse, in which her style was beginning to solidify.

Natural exhaustion ensued and a brief hiatus was cut short with the release of What’s Your Pleasure? which became a phenomenon. The disco-inspired sound and fantastic production propelled the album high in the charts and caused it to feature on many publications’ album of the year lists. Ware championed this disco-pop style into the follow-up of this new era with That! Feels! Good!, released in 2023. This style would follow into the singles leading up to her latest album, Superbloom.

Pablo Silhouette, Venus Energy

Opening with “The Garden Prelude“, a sparse fluttering of piano keys and ethereal synths, Ware introduces the concept. Softly speaking the lyrics, “Superbloom, I had a dream, that you were me. Wow!”, it’s cryptic enough to spark my interest.

The celestial aura continues straight into the lead single, “I Could Get Used To This“, which soon comes to life with a funky, dance instrumental. The instrumental almost exists in the background, making it sound like spillover in a nightclub bathroom. It’s a real pop-icon style of track, acting as an invitation into Jessie’s world. Naturally, her voice is at the forefront, showing off the talents she has championed so frequently. It’s a little mellow, but there’s a really cool key change at the latter half that really brought me back into it.

The elements of romance and enticement continue on the title track, “Superbloom“. The instrumental arrangement has that perfect 70’s soul sound, with hand drums and a grooving bassline. Ware’s vocals reach an even higher level, with support coming from Donna Summer-esque backing vocalists. The song acts as an invitation home from the club, and I’m not sure it’s good enough to make me want to leave.

The baritone voice of Colman Domingo sets the stage for “Automatic“, whose upbeat energy does more than enough to get my head bopping along. That 70’s style instrumental turns more funk and disco, with strings only adding to the sweetness in Ware’s voice as she reflects on the love she has earned. The layers run even deeper with a jazz flute and some effective false breaks. Everywhere you look, there’s something to enjoy here.

Temperature Rising

Flowing seamlessly into “Chariots Of Love Interlude” , it acts as an extended outro to its predecessor. It just works, there’s little more I can say on it.

The upbeat instrumentals keep the tempo going with “Sauna“ and I’m firmly on the dancefloor. The groove is vibrant, as are Ware’s impressive vocals. The innuendos that exist in the lyrics are a little disappointing however. It’s something I’d expect from the likes of cupcakKe and I’m not saying that as a bad thing. I just don’t think it suits Jessie’s soulful attributes, but maybe that’s just me.

Unfortunately this energy continues into the girly-pop “Mr Valentine“, which pulls me away again. The bass and drums are probably the only redeemable elements of the instrumental, which is full of silly space-synths and swelling strings that only work in the soul-filled chorus. The verses make me dislike the song a lot more than I should. Ware’s vocals here even sound like a mimicry of Doja Cat in “Ain’t Shit“, which I feel takes away from the soulful style she normally undertakes.

The soulful elements thankfully make a return in “Love You For“, whose smooth instrumentals allow Ware’s voice to fully shine. Lyrically filled with infatuation, it makes for incredibly easy listening. Layers upon layers of vocals exist throughout, with such beautiful harmonies in the choruses. The song features another extended outro, which only reaffirms the love-filled feelings portrayed throughout.

From The Chaise To The Car

Opening with a pitched-up, robotic sample of the theme from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, “Ride“ hits hard with Europop synths and a smooth backing. The vocals are a lot more mellow, which creates this really cool dichotomy. It’s such an anomaly, I can’t quite decide if I like it or not. It’s teeming with really cool elements however, that repetitive synthesised sample and those “giddy up” hooks, it’s certainly something different which ties into Ware’s style seamlessly.

Another u-turn takes place with “Don’t You Know Who I Am?“, which melds soulful balladry with a dark groove. Lyrically, Ware warns her love of losing her forever making it a fantastic love-filled empowerment anthem. The vocal progression at times does sound like a rip-off of “I Will Survive“, but I’ll let it slide.

A further change in intensity occurs in the piano ballad that is “16 Summers“. Splashing waves accompany the piano and Ware’s sumptuous vocals on this unexpected gem. The song acts as a display of Ware’s beautiful voice, with discrete strings only adding to the emotion in her voice. It’s truly wonderful and comes completely out of the blue.

To be honest, I wish the album ended there. The second-last track, “No Consequences“ adds little more than another funky bassline with a slight Diana Ross vocal ensemble. It gets confrontational in the chorus, but as far as girl-power anthems go, this one falls flat.

The album finishes with “Mon Amour“, which becomes an unwanted earworm. While I do like the instrumentals and vocals in some parts, it ultimately comes across as a failed Eurovision entry. I’m sure she was aiming for this grandiose ending, but this does very little to achieve that.

Final Thoughts

Upon first listen, the album did very little different that I haven’t already heard from Jessie Ware on her last two or three albums. Naturally, her voice is the standout star, and of course the instrumentals were incredibly enjoyable in many parts across the album. But I was really expecting something different from Jessie here. Something more.

While the instrumentals were certainly dance-filled in many respects, I don’t think the overall album hit the same heights of groove that I had come to expect from Jessie Ware. Of course there were anthems and girly-pop songs, but they fell so flat that I began to detest them on further listens. The songs that were created truer to her style were more enjoyable, but I did notice a lot of nods to other female soul legends throughout, whether intentional or not.

This isn’t a bad record overall, but I don’t think there is enough to enjoy to salvage it from being forgotten in the time to come.