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‘Glasshouse’ is an emotional
and technical masterpiece

> Jessie Ware album review

Joshua Toevs
Contributor

 

kkk

lasshouse is the third record from
UK contemporary pop artist Jessie
Ware. She released Devotion in 2012,
a record that was sonically beautiful
and lyrically mature. There was depth
and layers to each record and each song
hit in a different way. Jessie followed
that up with Tough Love in 2014, a
project that was a lot more mainstream
and felt a bit flat in comparison to
her debut. Thankfully on this new
album, Ware is focused, thoughtful,
and as emotionally charged as ever.
This focus is evident right from
the beginning. “Midnight” features a
synth sound that is absolutely infectious
and plays a perfect complement to
the subtle drum arrangement and the
piercing keyboard loop. Ware's vocals
are very strong, showing the power and
range that she has while also displaying
moments of beautiful restraint.
This song is all about the desire for
another. It is sleek, sexy, and sweet.
Love is all over this record, as is the
norm for Ware—except this love seems
a lot more mature, as at this point she is

‘Poppy.Computer’ is the
Windows 7 of internet-pop,.e=s

married and has a child. That isn’t to say
there aren't some moments of young love
on this album. “First Time” starts with a
gorgeous drum piece that fits perfectly
with the soft guitar loop. Ware speaks
about falling in love all over again with her
husband, just like the first time. She wants
that fire to still be there and to not have
this relationship become mundane or safe.
Vocally, Ware is a lot more subdued, but
it complements the production perfectly.
“Selfish Love” is an absolute bop
of a record. Its composition from an
instrumental standpoint sounds eerily
similar to The Cardigans’ “Lovefool.” This
is a good example of an interpolation as
it feels familiar while still sounding fresh
(take note Taylor Swift). “Selfish Love”
features a funky bassline and Caribbean
drum samples. Ware speaks on a love in
which she was really only in it for her own
gain both emotionally and sexually. It is
the outlier from the rest of the album's
message, but it is executed flawlessly.
There are so many other great
moments on this album. The electric
guitar is powerful and memorable on
“Thinking About You” and it helps add
a strong component to a soft-sounding
song. Where that song is punchy, “Alone”
is on the other end of the spectrum. It isa
little more electronic in its arrangement,
with the keys and drums having a more

>‘Poppy.Computer’ album review

Joshua Toevs
Contributor

 

kw

ppy. Computer is the feature-length

debut from UK singer Poppy, following
her 2016 EP Bubblebath. On that EP, Poppy
was abrasive and brash instrumentally
while opposing that tone with her sugary
sweet melodies. While Bubblebath was
interesting and fresh, Poppy.Computer
feels uninspired and relatively uneventful.

On a positive side, there are a handful

of interesting songs on this record. “I’m
Poppy” features 16-bit video game music
incorporating samples from games like
Super Mario World. The song has a cult-
like message with Poppy explaining how
to be just like her. Her cult following uses a
demonic vocal change that really heightens
the creepiness. The overall feel of this
song is eclectic, with the vocal glitches
on the track adding a lot of substance.
“Computer Boy,” while plain in its
computer age production with industrial

noises and off-kilter scratches, is very
smart lyrically. It is a song about finding
love over the internet, which is something
you rarely hear touched upon ona song
in any genre. Sexual innuendos abound
on this track (“I want your floppy disk
to be my hard drive”), which adds to the
quirkiness and silliness of the overall song.
“Interweb” is the antithesis of
“Computer Boy.” The song lyrically is
a bit flat and dull, describing the use
of the Interweb to talk about trapping
someone in her love web both in real life
and on the Internet. Where the song is
light lyrically, the production is dense
and surprising. Poppy’s melodies and
vocal cadence are flawless, resulting in
a really fun pop bop. Personally, I’d say
“Moshi Moshi” is the standout cut on
the album. With its cute piano K-pop
piano loop mixed with shimmering and
tingly hi-hats, the production is light-
years better than anything else on the
album. Poppy’s sweet vocals and lyrics
about spending time with her best friend
help make this is a near perfect song.
Unfortunately for this album,

artificial sound to them. Jessie is in her
lane on this song lyrically as she sings
about getting her love home with her
because her husband knocks her off her
feet and she loves being with him.

Near the end of the record, a lot
of the songs take a lighter and more
somber tone. They are almost exclusively
ballads. The best of the bunch is “Hearts,”
a song that is very minimalistic from a
production standpoint. That minimalism
gives Ware's vocals center stage. The
song is about a love gone awry—not
just any love but a deep one, as the
lyrics are dripping with heartbreak:

“If I could ask a smoking gun,
how it feels to hurt someone /

I would just ask you /

If I could ask someone I love,
how it feels to lose someone /

I would just ask you.”

The album is capped off by “Sam,” a
song about her husband of the same name.
The song is a stripped-back acoustic track
with Ware wearing her heart on her sleeve,
and is about not only her love for Sam
but also the love for her expected child.
Ware is concerned about if she will be as
good of a mother as her own was, while
also being thankful for the fact that her
husband is nothing like how her father
was. The amount of love and compassion
that Ware shows for Sam is inspiring. If

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At VAM

the lowlights outweigh the highlights.
“Software Upgrade’ is off-putting in the
sense that Poppy thinks there is something
wrong with a guy because he simply isn’t
into her and she equates that to him
potentially being gay. It feels unnecessary
as a whole. Songs like “Let’s Make a Video”
and “Beach Blonde Baby” are just terribly
average and uninspiring, making a fifth of
the album completely forgettable. Where
those two tracks add nothing new to the
pop sound, both “My Microphone” and
“Pop Music” try to stand out, but they do
so for all the wrong reasons. That latter

is a cheesy acoustic ballad with oddly
pitched vocals and such boring lyrics

that it sounds like a knockoff Taylor Swift

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(Y Chairman of the Board: Catch me if you

And more!

Promotional photo by Jessie Ware

you have watched interviews with Ware
where he comes up, there is this light that
goes off and you can see the love written
all over her face before she even talks.
True love is something that is hard to find,
and as someone who currently has that,
for this song and really just all the songs
that go into detail of love on this record, I
completely resonated with the sentiment.
I think that is the reason this album is
so good to me. The love is real. With each
word, you can feel just how impactful Sam
is to Ware’s life. On a lot of pop records
from bigger names, the love feels really
surface level. Here on this album Ware
is real and raw with her emotions. There
is almost nothing bad to say about this
album. It is a perfect combo of her first
two records while adding more variety
both lyrically and from a production
standpoint. If you are looking for an
album to throw on for a romantic night
or just when you are feeling in a loving
mood, this should be that album.

Still from ‘Computer Boy’ music video by Poppy

love song. The former uses what sounds
like a generic guitar solo sample from
GarageBand. It is so forced and simple that
it becomes nauseating to get through.

Overall this album is a misstep in
execution. Poppy's sound and style was
fresh three years ago, but now artists
like Kero Kero Bonito and FKA Twigs
have merged in her lane and eclipsed
Poppy in the process. This album comes
off as boring. Even at its strangest, the
production feels very restrained, as if
Poppy is scared to showcase her true
self on a debut album as to not scare
new people away from her sound. At
the end of the day, Poppy's persona and
ideas outshine the actual product.