Hello! It’s been a while. I moved back to New York City this past weekend. Eight years in Manhattan just wasn’t enough, I guess.
I sort of forgot (okay, minimized in my mind) how much unpacking, buying, fixing and doing is involved in uprooting your life, as well as all of the heavy emotions and existential crises that come with the territory for the separation anxiety-riddled soul, so I’ve been mostly radio silent on the socials for the past week. And honestly? It’s done wonders for my mental health, but my therapist could have already told me that.
I’m happy, ultimately, but enough about me: it’s time to move on to a fellow Jewish Queen of Pop and Podcasts making some new moves: Ms. Jessie Ware.
If you’ve hung out ’round these parts for the past year, or tuned into Legends Only, you’d already know that Jessie Ware’s 2020 studio album, What’s Your Pleasure?, was a highlight of last year. In fact, it was one of the best albums of the year – easily.
Evidently, she saw all the clamoring online – as we couldn’t do much to celebrate the album in person, despite its dance floor-ready design – and decided that it wasn’t time for the last dance just yet.
“I had such an amazing response to the What’s Your Pleasure? record that I didn’t want the lights to go up and the party to be over just yet!” she explains. And neither do we, especially given that we might just have an actual summer this year, fingers crossed.
And so, we now have this: What’s Your Pleasure – The Platinum Pleasure Edition, out on June 11, extended for his or her or their pleasure.
While the collection does not seemingly contain the much-anticipated Kylie Minogue duet (very curious, we’ll have to see what comes of their collaboration), it does still have plenty of new (and old) tunes, including the deserving 2018 tune “Overtime,” one with Kindness (“0208”) and lead single “Please,” which sounds exactly like the crowded rooftop revelry many of us have been craving for about 13 months and counting.
“‘Please’ is full of optimism and ready to be played in a place where we can all be together and flirt, dance, touch, and kiss. A wonderful excuse not to stop the party from ending,” Jessie says of the track.
In many ways, Jessie hasn’t skipped a beat: the charming, nostalgic disco cut is another winning team-up with the album’s main collaborators, James Ford, Danny Parker and Shungudzo.
It’s an earnest, sunny earworm that only grows increasingly catchier with each play, full of all the hope of a flirty first meeting with someone special on a vaccinated dance floor this summer: “So please / Show me you know to be sweet / Don’t you be too good to believe / I could be the girl of your dreams.” That playful guitar, those background vocals – it’s truly a treat of a cherry on top, and we’re absolutely better off for having this addition to an already fantastic album.
It’s really the right idea for Jessie Ware to keep the Pleasure coming in 2021: every artist who released a dance record in 2020 should, honestly. (Róisín Murphy got the memo, too.)
As long as we keep the vaccines coming, there’s no reason we won’t be able to make up for last year soon…and then some.
WHAT’S YOUR PLEASURE? THE PLATINUM PLEASURE EDITION TRACKLIST
1. Spotlight
2. What’s Your Pleasure?
3. Ooh La La
4. Soul Control
5. Save A Kiss
6. Adore You
7. In Your Eyes
8. Step Into My Life
9. Read My Lips
10. Mirage (Don’t Stop)
11 .The Kill
12. Remember Where You Are
13. Please
14. Impossible
15. Eyes Closed
16. Overtime
17. Hot N Heavy
18. Pale Blue Light
19. 0208 (feat. Kindness)
20. Adore You (Endless Remix)
