Jessie Ware Sets Herself Free On The Dancefloor With New Album ‘That! Feels Good!’
The London pop star’s fifth album finds liberation deep in the heart of disco
Jessie Ware has released her highly-anticipated fifth album, That! Feels Good!, diving deep into disco and finding freedom and power within it.
The record picks up where the London pop star’s previous album, 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure?, left off, taking that LP’s glitterball sounds and ratcheting up their sparkle into an all-encompassing festival of escapism.
“I was responding to the reaction to What’s Your Pleasure? Like, I’m going to carry on with this party, but take it into a different room,” Ware told the Financial Times of the idea behind That! Feels Good!. “It’s going to be more groove-led; it’ll have elements of disco – that sense of celebration and escape – and the big vocal with melodrama, beautiful arrangements and a driving beat. And it’s going to show more of my personality.”
Written and recorded with her frequent collaborators like James Ford, Clarence Coffee Jr, Shungudzo, and Danny Parker, the album also sees Ware team up with Stuart Price for the first time. Famed for his work with the likes of Madonna and Pet Shop Boys, the producer brought a new perspective to the pop star’s process and was integral in songs like “Free Yourself” and “Freak Me Now.”
That! Feels Good! has won acclaim from numerous publications so far, including being awarded Pitchfork’s Best New Music tag. “That! Feels Good! stays focused on a mission that never feels like a chore,” the site wrote. “In its relatively brief 40-minute runtime, Ware takes her task extremely seriously, but she’s unencumbered by its immensity; actually, it seems to unleash her, as she experiments with vocal tricks with the sure knowledge that the good-time, nighttime prima donna was always who she was meant to be.”
Elsewhere, The Guardian gave the record a full five stars and described it as “21st-century disco that never resorts to tacky cliches,” noting: “This is pop music made by people who really know what they’re doing.” NME added: “That! Feels Good!’s 10 tracks often depict romantic relationships, but taken together, they are actually affirmations of self, a reflection of communal dancefloors world over.”
Buy or stream That! Feels Good!.
That! Feels Good! tracklist:
1. That! Feels Good!
2. Free Yourself
3. Pearls
4. Hello Love
5. Begin Again
6. Beautiful People
7. Freak Me Now
8. Shake The Bottle
9. Lightning
10. These Lips
