Jessie Ware: Singer reveals candid moment with Kylie Minogue

As she prepares to launch her new album, Jessie Ware reflects on the enduring role Kylie Minogue has played in her life – and the life-changing moment she first encountered her idol.

UK singer Jessie Ware has always felt a special connection to Australia, and she believes it was forged in childhood, telling Stellar: “My mum loved Neighbours; we grew up with [the theme song as] our lullaby.” It clearly made an impression, given Ware has turned out Kylie Minogue-esque soulful ballads and disco-pop bangers in equal measure, winning over critics, a growing fan base and even Barack Obama.

Stellar: The music on your first few albums drew comparisons to soul-pop singers such as Sade and Lisa Stansfield. But with 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure? and your new album That! Feels Good!, you have morphed into something of a 21st century disco diva. What inspired this change in direction?

Jessie Ware: It’s a return to something that I love, which is dance music. I don’t think this is a disco record, per se, just as I didn’t think What’s Your Pleasure? was. But it’s generous for people to say that, and I welcome it. It’s been really freeing for me; I knew I had something more to give, and I’d shown a lot more of my personality with the podcast [Ware and her mother Lennie host Table Manners, a popular food-focused podcast featuring famous guests] that started during album three [2017’s Glasshouse]. I think I’d hidden behind my music for those first three albums, [like] I hadn’t told the full story. And now, weirdly, I don’t feel like I need to. It’s an emancipation from having to make autobiographical music all the time. Because I have quite a boring life when I’m at home. It’s lovely and stable, but people are already hearing what I’m eating for dinner every week.

Jessie Ware: ‘I’m not perfect, and I’m still trying to work out the juggle.’ Picture: @jessieware via Instagram

S: The extra punctuation mark in the title of That! Feels Good! doesn’t make grammatical sense. Is there any secret meaning?

JW: It’s there because I’m excited and happy for the situation I’ve created for myself. So “that” can be my life. It can also be a certain spot of someone’s. It can be a mood, a moment, a touch, a kiss… anything for anybody. This is an upbeat, fun, engaging record. Let’s dance, let’s kiss, let’s move. Those exclamation marks are me just shouting it from the rooftop. You know, when I announced the album, somebody said that Shania Twain did it with ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ and it did very well for her. I thought, well, perfect.

S: Ironically, though, what may end up your signature song is ‘Remember Where You Are’, a haunting orchestral ballad that made former US president Barack Obama’s famous year-end playlist in 2020, and also became a lockdown anthem – in part thanks to the music video that featured actor Gemma Arterton wandering the empty streets of London.

JW: It’s really unusual for that to have happened; I feel like we tricked everyone. That was the last single we put out from [What’s Your Pleasure?]. We were in this lockdown. It was bleak. But I think the song stands up. People really believed in that song, and it did accompany them at a really tough time, which is a huge honour. But it hasn’t been that long since we lived it. [So] in 10 years, the eeriness and loneliness of that time, combined with the warmth of the song... the video will probably be even more powerful then.

S: You have three young children under the age of seven. And you keep busy making albums, recording your podcast, performing around the world... what’s your silver bullet?

JW: I’m not perfect, and I’m still trying to work out the juggle. I don’t think I’m the greatest mother all the time. My children are so amazing and I’m so proud of them. They drive me f*cking crazy, don’t get me wrong, but my husband [personal trainer Sam Burrows] is unbelievably supportive, with no ego about the fact our world revolves around my schedule and my life, which is quite gross and I feel guilty about that. But we make it work, and we have fun with it.

Jessie Ware features in this Sunday’s Stellar. Picture: Sam Bisso for Stellar.

S: You opened for Harry Styles during his Chicago tour dates last year. But you haven’t performed in Australia since 2013. Are you trying to get back?

JW: I’m desperate. I love the place, and it’s very annoying that I haven’t been back. Touring is an absolute bugger; it’s the hardest thing to do at the moment. I’m complaining, yes, because I make my records – always – with the live show in mind. Maybe what I need to do is combine [a tour] with some episodes of Table Manners, and get in the Hemsworths, Nicole [Kidman], Russell [Crowe] – all the Aussie greats. And we can get Kylie [Minogue] in again with her sister Dannii, and kill two birds with one stone.

S: Speaking of Kylie, in 2021 you shot a music video together for your duet ‘Kiss Of Life’. Were you a fan of hers growing up?

JW: My mum loved Neighbours; we grew up with [the theme song] almost being our lullaby. Kylie was the first pop star who I really idolised; she was my first concert when I was six. It was well extra – my mum’s friend got us limousines to

the show, we had new outfits... and then I couldn’t see her for sh*t, because we had crappy seats and she’s tiny!

S: You filmed that video with her just nine weeks after you’d given birth to your third child...

JW: You only do that for Kylie Minogue, because she’s the greatest. She’s been so generous; it was a real pinch-me moment to write that song with her, and to sing and perform it. She’s a superstar, and there’s a reason why she carries on being

a total icon. I have so much time for her.

Jessie Ware’s album That! Feels Good! is out this Friday.

Originally published as Jessie Ware: Singer reveals candid moment with Kylie Minogue