For three albums, Jessie Ware has offered an escape hatch: a shimmering, 1970s-inspired fantasy, far removed from the world we live in. But with “Superbloom,” the likely closing chapter of a trilogy, Ware tries something trickier: She’s letting real life in. As she talks to me about that — about motherhood, about “just getting that balance right” — a knock interrupts us. It’s FedEx.
“I don’t know what I’ve got,” she says, laughing. “I don’t know what I’ve ordered on TikTok Shop.”
Even in this funny, fleeting moment, you can see how “Superbloom” exists between two worlds — just as Ware does here, caught between disbelief and campy outrage when someone shows up at her door mid-interview. She’s aware of her fans’ need for escapism, especially her queer audience, and this time, she’s weaving that need with her own: a record that’s both rooted in her reality (yes, sometimes FedEx shows up!) and unapologetically glamorous (yes, sometimes you just want to channel a Roman goddess!). In the video for the album’s lead single, “I Could Get Used to This,” she channels Juno and invites listeners to “step into my secret garden” against a pillow-soft, airy disco backdrop, promising that “everyone deserves their flowers.” The sensual “Ride” feels like a musical cousin to Madonna’s “Justify My Love,” a reminder that Ware loves our gay icons as much as we do.
Recently, I spoke with Ware about the confidence she’s found in her voice and storytelling, the ways she hopes her queer fans will feel seen and celebrated in the process, and what “White Lotus” has to do with any of this.
Last time we spoke, you were fielding rainbow emojis from around the globe.
[Laughs.] And our love is still going strong, so it’s great.
How do you keep your queer fans in mind while creating your work, but particularly this work?
- Advertisement -
My queer fans have given me such confidence in myself and my ability, but also the way I present myself. They’ve made me feel so adored and sexy. That’s an amazing thing to feel when you have had three kids and you are stepping into a leotard for the first time on the last tour. And for this record, I think I’ve delivered some queer moments for them.
Doesn’t hurt that you cosplay as a goddess.
We tried the goddess. We also tried a gorgeous actor in leather chaps.
Do you run stuff by your gay brother — like James Norton in that “Ride” video in those chaps?
[Laughs.] You know what? He did text me today and said, “Good job on the video.” That’s like him telling me, “Yeah, you did all right, sis.” I also feel like on this record, I provided big vocals and I feel like that my queer fans will appreciate that.
You always provide big vocals.
No, but I really went for it. I dug deep with my vocals, and that was very much because I know they want a diva that can sing.
How did you decide that this would be the album in which you would deliver even bigger vocal moments?
The success and response to the last two records has given me this confidence to try harder, work harder and show more of myself. I think I was ready. Lots of people would come to the shows and enjoy the live vocals and be like, “God, it’s even better live.” And that’s very sweet. So I felt like I needed to maybe have a studio moment like that too.
There are elements of fantasy and escapism in your music. As a queer listener, I’ve always gravitated to that. How aware are you of that in your work and how much your fans might need it?
As much as my fans need it, I think I needed it too. I wanted to escape from myself and it started more on “What’s Your Pleasure?,” with the character, but also these idyllic pictures. The world was up in flames and I remember writing “Remember Where You Are,” and I think Trump was visiting [the U.K.] and I wanted that feeling of, “The world’s on fire, but we can still have this.” So fantasy has been something that I’ve really played with and has become kind of part of my identity.
However, with this record, I was worried that I was becoming too much of a caricature with some of the characters, which I love to dance in. But I was like, hang on, am I losing sight of actual real life? And so that’s why I wanted to pull domesticity and real life and my children into the record. I felt like I wanted to marry these two worlds together that I adore and feel very lucky to have. But fantasy, I didn’t appreciate what that was doing for my queer fans until I listened to them and then I understood it. “Free Yourself” was a direct communication with my queer fans. I’m really glad that it became the song that it is and there wasn’t meant to be an agenda behind it. It was just supposed to be like this celebration of who you are and that really resonated.
Where were you emotionally while making this album?
I’ve been on this kind of Groundhog Day of touring and writing and then touring. I just had to sit back and actually take stock and appreciate that I have this wonderful life of being able to be a parent, living quite a normal life, but also I’m able to kind of play dress-up. Maybe I’d watched too much “White Lotus” at that point and I was feeling very Portofino. It’s all probably due to my love of musical theater as well. Theater and performance and drama and a touch of camp and celebration and all of it.
When you embody that “goddess energy,” what does that performance look like — hairpieces, latex or just the vibe?
I’ll tell you what: It is going to be hairpieces because I will fuck my hair up and I’ve just got it back to being glossy. So I’m going to do wigs. I don’t give a shit. I’m going to do wigs and they’re going to be fantastic wigs. And maybe I’ll do a few different wigs because that’s what I can do and that’s what the people want. There will be costume changes and I want to fly in the sky, but I don’t know if the budget will allow that. I want it all. I want all the decadence and revelry. I’ve assumed this role of goddess, and I say this with inverted commas because this is what you make me feel, but it’s also a great theme: We can all be gods and goddesses.
We all have to at least pretend to be gods and goddesses in this era.
[Laughs.] Well, at my show, you can. I want you in a toga. I want you with a little leaf on your… you know. All of it. I want the Garden of Eden. But yeah, I get quite greedy with it. I want it all. I want all that kind of romance of performance, like watching an old YouTube video of Bette Midler. I want that glamor.
I’m getting showgirl vibes. We need the Jessie Ware Vegas show.
I did get offered a Vegas show.
And?
We couldn’t make it work, but I would love to make that happen. I love the idea of a residency. I love the idea of going to work and being like, “I got to go and do my show.” I just love it: being a jobbing, working singer.
Your albums — “What’s Your Pleasure?,” “That! Feels Good!” and “Superbloom” — feel connected. Do you see them as a thematic or emotional trilogy, and did that happen organically or consciously?
I decided this at the end of “What’s Your Pleasure?” I wrote “Remember Where You Are” and I was questioning whether I should keep that on that record or save it for the next record. Then I was like, “Oh no, this can be the way they tie together.” So that informed how I made the next record. And then that happened again with “That! Feels Good!” I feel like I’ve got the cousins of “Ooh La La.” You’ve got “Shake the Bottle.” And then on this record, you have “Mr. Valentine.” So I’ve tried to marry a song to a record from the last two. It hasn’t always worked, don’t get me wrong. But they have informed each other.
I don’t know if I fucked myself by saying a trilogy. I think I know what I want the next record to be: far more synth and electronic and kind of blue and crooner-y. I feel excited about where I go next. But also I really want to enjoy this moment that, due to the love that has been given to me, I’ve been able to make this very confident record that I feel is really coherent. It’s very much like dancing with the gods and goddesses in heaven, because where do you go after you’ve had such satisfaction from “That! Feels Good!” and this intensity? You go to the heavens and dance with the fairies and nymphs. So that’s what I want at the party.
What tracks on “Superbloom” do you secretly hope become queer anthems, or songs a drag queen could lip-sync to for their life to?
I feel like “Don’t You Know Who I Am?” is a lip-sync song. I really believe that. And in fact, I really wanted to go to this Bangkok drag night where my choreographer was sending me videos of these amazing queens singing songs from my first record. “Sauna” is a song that was birthed from this amazingly beautiful night in New York with the “Joy Boys,” coined by a friend. These boys were so gorgeous and we had this beautiful Passover dinner together and then it turned into this rave and we were dancing. And I was going to a lot of saunas at the time. So that may be too on the nose. I think “Ride.” Judging by the school moms who are high fiving me after that video — I’m sorry, you can’t only have that one because the gals like it too. The heteros like it too. [Laughs.]