Ah, some much needed and seriously sensual aural therapy: Jessie Ware is back with “Tough Love,” her first new music since 2012’s excellent Devotion, and it is a decidedly dark and slow-burning ballad that would have worked well in the Valentine’s Day episode in season 2 of Orange Is The New Black if they hadn’t already opted for a different Jessie Ware song.
“Tough Love” finds Ware in a freshly scabbed place, definitely occupying a headspace that is tangential to her last album. Seduction has given way to heavy, doleful heartbeats. The bare production by Benny Blanco and Two Inch Punch is forlorn in the same way that Diplo and Amber Coffman’s “Get Free” is–both lean on understated, pretty melodics that never quite soar. That’s tough love though.
Stay tuned for more updates as Jessie Ware gears up to release her as yet unnamed sophomore album. Sound off in the comments below and at Nerdist Music about whether this song turned you on or bummed you out.
Thank you for making me a-Ware of this! She’s awesome!
I make no apologies for the pun.