The debut album of UK singer Jessie Ware has finally been released in the Unites States. Devotion, filled with tracks showcasing the singer’s Sinéad O’Connor-style vocals and broadcasting love, passion, and occasional blind faith in romance. In the end, Ware produces a treasure, each song a unique look into Jessie’s world and the emotions facing the singer inher most private thoughts. Here are the Top 10 lines from Devotion, selected by Stereo IQ.
10. Swan Song
“Lose yourself in the glow/ Rise and fall, breath in slow”
- Jessie Ware
In a perfect “swan song,” someone’s last grand effort before the end, Jessie hopes only for a fading away into the bliss and shelter of passion. Wishing her love to do the same, Jessie sees their last chance for salvation in a complete departure from life, diving into the hidden deeps of private love to keep the feelings alive and breathing.
“From the outside/
Everyone must be wondering why we try”
- Jessie Ware
Once a relationship starts to fall apart, even those looking on can see the stress. Well aware of the spectators, Jessie knows why everyone looks at her in confusion. With a love worn and chaotic, plenty suggests a split on the way. Still, she and her love try, keeping their desire for one another center stage and leaving the judgement behind. Sometimes all it takes is something private, far from the unknowing world.
“Are you waiting for something/
Imagine it was us”
- Jessie Ware
Never wait until tomorrow to find the situation that you want now. Instead of looking for something different, Jessie wants her love to see her as an already perfect situation. Fixing the issues that left everyone confused, the romance can be reborn and saved. Waiting may not be the best path when something wonderful is right beside you.
“Now if you’re never gonna move, oh my love/
You’ll make me come to you/
But I’m still dancing on my own”
- Jessie Ware
Jessie knows exactly what she wants, but is not willing to change herself to get it. Very much moving toward the romance she still desires, Jessie keeps her personal rhythm alive. Her love may not recognize the beauty in front of him, but with a drive to renew her passion, she will dance all day to get back to happiness.
6. Night Light
“I could be falling to pieces, so let me fall/
Let me fall into your shades”
- Jessie Ware
Totally absorbed into the romance, Jessie falls deeper and deeper into her love. Noting the danger and darkness next to the “light,” she fears nothing in the face of happiness. Jessie may be “falling” into the dark unknown, normally a scary future, but as long as she has a light to look to at the end, she can make it.
“If your love is the seed/
Watch it grow like kids”
What sounds at first like a mixed up metaphor is actually a tight line by the rising star. Hoping to see a budding love grow like a flower, Rocky plants the seeds of a deep relationship. Matching the slow, continued growth of children into adults, A$AP wants a moment that lasts for a lifetime. As a more subtle nod, Rocky points out exactly what produces kids. Either way, Rakim proves why his patented flow is nothing ordinary.
4. Running
“Your words alone could drive me to a thousand tears/ All the same words that kept me here for all the years”
- Jessie Ware
Even in pain, the right words can bring back memories of the best of times. Trapped by the very same words that brought her into love, Jessie is torn. While she wants the same passion that kept her deeply in love for years, she both fears the power of her love to instantly change her emotions and enjoys the thought. When the good times end, though, the struggle only continues.
“I wish I was you, a piece of gold at the bottom of the blue/ Too heavy to swim, but too beautiful to lose"
- Jessie Ware
Jessie’s imagery wins the day. Her love standing out like the contrast between blue and gold, Ware wishes for a similarly bright self. Still, she recognizes the flaw of a life spent entirely in perfection: it is impossible to take that beauty with you. The “gold” fixed in place, but unnervingly attractive, all one can do is plunge blindly and seek the unknown. Even with the cautions, Jessie is prepared to switch places, to savor one moment as gold, to “take in water” and drown in a bliss that few get to experience. We all dive for the gold, but always end up trapped at the bottom.
“Wait on thunder sky/ Wherever there’s smoke, there’ll soon be fire”
- Jessie Ware
Even when all seems well, dark skies can still be on the horizon. While enjoying the moment, Jessie waits for the clouds to come and shoot lightning across the blue horizon. Like smoke showing the future fire, even the smallest issues can turn into violent storms. Still, the “smoke” of burning romance can turn into passionate fire, a much happier outcome. Like Jessie’s tide, good and bad often seem to come and go as they please.
“Dreamy haze come blind me/
To take me where the tide lines will find me”
- Jessie Ware
Welcome to the master class on songwriting. Somewhere, off in a dreamland, a beautiful beach of alternating emotions and blind love lives. Seeing the “dreamy haze” in her lover’s eyes, Jessie seeks an escape from the pains of the real world, where she can hide from it all. Inside of another’s eyes, an hideaway is waiting, where the waves of love crash like the ocean.