Sunday, October 21, 2012

Why Doesn't Jessie Ware Get As Much Love As Ellie Goulding and Alex Clare?

With all the adoration that the UK is currently showering on talented new female singer-songwriters (Emeli Sandé, Paloma Faith, Rita Ora, Rumer), how is it possible that not one of 2012 newcomer Jessie Ware's four singles so far from Devotion, her Mercury Prize-nominated debut album, has made it into the Top 40 there. Is Ellie Goulding's "Anything Can Happen" (which I love, by the way) really so much better than "110%" that it peaked a full 56 notches above Ware's No. 61 non-hit and third flop single?

Considering that Goulding's "Lights" only made it to a lowly No. 49 in the UK more than a year before it climbed to No. 2 in the U.S., perhaps it will be America to the rescue for "110%," a great down-tempo chill-out single that sounds a little like what I was kind of hoping La Roux might sound like when they finally decide to come around again. (Incidentally, my friend Atzin, who introduced me to La Roux, also turned me onto Ware, via a post on my Facebook timeline.)

Finally boosting Ware to the tops of the pops would be the least my country can do to make up for launching the likes of Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj and sending them loose on the world. May Jessie Ware follow fellow Brits Goulding and the equally talented Alex Clare (whose big hit "Too Close" might actually be the weakest link on The Lateness of the Hour) into the the Top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100.

Jessie Ware "110%


Ellie Goulding "Anything Could Happen"


Alex Clare "Whispering"

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