Album Review: Jessie Ware 'That! Feels Good!'

The U.K. singer finds the right feeling and hits her stride.

Jessie Ware is on the cusp of having her big moment, and her new album That! Feels Good! may very well be the spark to the flame. After 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure? Ware made it clear that she was making a concerted effort to pivot her sound towards something even funkier. The funky sensibilities she leaned into in 2020 multiply tenfold on That! Feels Good!

At many moments, That! Feels Good! is a high-octane record built for the discos. At others it’s laid back, but it never loses its danceability. In interviews, Ware name-checked Grace Jones, Teena Marie, Prince, Donna Summer, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads, The Gap Band, Rotary Connection, Earth Wind & Fire, and The B-52’s as the inspirations whose DNA makeup That! Feels Good. Those influences are evident throughout the album, crossing over one another to create a wondrous tapestry of classics-driven material, with a fresh spin. 

That! Feels Good! is sweaty and sexy, and yet it’s also lush and sensual. Ware does a fantastic job engaging with both sides of the dancefloor, and effortlessly traverses any barriers between them. The album opens with a breathy chorus of voices (which include Kylie Minogue and Roisin Murphy) whispering “that feels good,” and bursts into a brassy bout of pure 70’s funk on the title track.

That sweat isn’t just sex-fueled, either. There’s a theme of determination in these songs, such as the lead single “Free Yourself.” She pushes along with the record’s persistent keys and driving beat as she emphatically encourages self-liberation. It’s a call to action: Shed those inhibitions, hesitations, fears, and doubt, and embrace authenticity and honesty. 

Similarly, on the Stevie Wonder-inspired  “Begin Again,” she’s delivering a wake-up call. “I work all night,” she sings while pondering, “Is this my life, beginning or ending? Can I start again?” It’s a relatable rumination on the monotony so many experience in their day to day lives, which serves as a worthy companion to Beyonce’s resilient “Break My Soul.”

Elsewhere, she’s making calls to get sweaty and sexy. On “Pearls”, she’s “so 9-5” and “a lady,” who likes to get loose, commanding, “Shake it till the pearls fall off!” over the record’s glamorous chords and chimes. It’s a classier call to get loose over the glitz of disco, with flourishes of 90’s house in the chords. Keep in mind, she’s singing to a generation who have made pearls their pooka shell necklace. It’s crystal clear that she not only knows that she caters in-part to an audience of Gen Z gays and theys, but they she knows what they want and need. And that, is to dance hard. 

When she does slow things down on records like “Hello Love” and “Lightning,” it’s still easy to imagine swaying from side-to-side on a disco ball-lit dance floor. It’s high class, choreographed, music for lovers. The album closes on a similar, high-class note with the lush “These Lips.” Swirling with a cool ecstasy, it’s bougie, affectionate, and sensual in all the right ways, while still maintaining its total danceability. It feels like the perfect cliffhanger. She rattles off a list of the “so much more” that her lips can do, including set off chain reactions. And they certainly have. Her North American tour almost sold out in less than 2 days, even with additional dates in multiple cities. 

That! Feels Good! is not Beyoncé’s Renaissance. It’s not Kylie’s Disco, either. Nor does it strive to be. Nor should it be contrasted with either, because frankly, stan Twitter will fight those fights without any provocation, to stupefying results. That! Feels Good! is a dance record that overflows with influences from disco, house, R&B, jazz, funk, and new wave. It’s sweaty, yet sensual, and a major step for a burgeoning artist.

Jessie Ware is on her journey of self-discovery. She posed a question in the title of her 2020 LP, and appears to have found her own answer in 2023. But it isn’t a fully formed one, yet. It’s a massive step in that direction. She found something that feels good, that results in pleasure, and it’s evident that she plans to continue to elicit that something. That, might feel even better.

Stream Jessie Ware’s That! Feels Good!