{"id":388247,"date":"2026-04-20T05:09:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:09:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388247\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T05:09:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T05:09:07","slug":"jessie-ware-superbloom-album-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/388247\/","title":{"rendered":"Jessie Ware: Superbloom Album Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Charli XCX<\/a>\u2014whose tossed-off quotes have lately had as much impact on the zeitgeist as most world leaders\u2019\u2014openly mused that \u201cthe dancefloor is dead\u201d last week, many leaped to argue the exact opposite. You can safely ignore most pop stars when they make sweeping, declarative statements about the state of culture at large. We are not yet living through Gen Z\u2019s \u201cDisco Sucks\u201d moment. But Charli\u2019s quote has lingered in my head ever since listening to Jessie Ware<\/a>\u2019s dead-on-arrival sixth record, Superbloom. I hate to admit that this time, she might actually have a point.<\/p>\n

Ware broke out in 2012 with a debut<\/a> that established her as a torchbearer for sophisti-pop and the Big British Ballad. She sensed the winds change with the brutal response to her 2018 Coachella performance, an event so technically marred and painfully out-of-step with her crowd that it prompted her mother to counsel: \u201cDarling. Quit.\u201d Ware\u2019s subsequent record, What\u2019s Your Pleasure?<\/a>, administered a much-needed shock to her sound, quickening the pace and lighting a much-needed spark that recast pet themes of love and devotion with newer, sweatier nightclub urgency.<\/p>\n

No score yet, be the first to add.<\/p>\n

One quality about Ware\u2019s pivot to the dancefloor never quite added up: She came across more like the poised host than a partygoer. The singer\u2019s first three records were tasteful and unbelievably mature, combining a West End knack for drama with R&B vocal pyrotechnics. Never lacking in commitment, Ware threw herself into the nightlife in a whirlwind of pearls, caftans, and hairpieces, soundtracking other people\u2019s abandon while remaining exquisitely composed herself. Like an episode of Bridgerton overseen by the Countess Luann, Ware as mistress of ceremonies could be queenly and overstated, but she was never messy or ridiculous enough to see the fantasy through.<\/p>\n

With its third installment, her loose disco trilogy has finally run its course. Superbloom is another helping of polyester in an age of microplastics, weighed down by chintz and notably shorter on dazzle and wit. Ware\u2019s fantasia of instant connection and rapturously good sex is backed by music that is punishingly exact, conjuring a Studio 54 that\u2019s as VIP as an airport lounge. The record marks the point where the singer\u2019s disco purism tips over into outright literalism. That it was released on this year\u2019s second Coachella weekend seems painfully fitting.<\/p>\n

Inspired in part by Gillian Anderson\u2019s compendium of women\u2019s erotic fantasies, Want, as well as Nancy Friday\u2019s My Secret Garden, Superbloom is, in theory, a manifestation of Ware\u2019s deepest desires. But despite PG-rated lyrics and wallpaper-flowery production, the record seems almost pathologically hesitant to say what those might be. The songwriting is so chaste and disembodied that an Old Hollywood censor would have no problem greenlighting it. Arms and the sensation of being held by them is the record\u2019s prevailing erotic act, appearing on the title track, \u201cAutomatic,\u201d \u201cLove You For,\u201d and \u201cNo Consequences.\u201d Ditto \u201ctouch,\u201d evoked in such non-descript ways that you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking it was part of a Covid protocol. Apart from the raunchy bathhouse escapade of \u201cSauna,\u201d Ware does not express a thought that could be construed as unseemly, kinky, or perverse, which is to say in any way relatable to a wider audience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Charli XCX\u2014whose tossed-off quotes have lately had as much impact on the zeitgeist as most world leaders\u2019\u2014openly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[4958,156,157,111,139,69,1251],"class_list":{"0":"post-388247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-albums","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-web"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}