Jessie Ware: "Strangest Feeling"

South London singer Jessie Ware comes armed with one collaboration with dubstep king Joker, multiple vocals on the SBTRKT debut, a heart-shaped 7” duet with Sampha and an upcoming LP produced by the Invisible’s Dave Okumu. Having banked enough street cred to make Henry Winkler jealous she’s also released her own single, “Strangest Feeling,” which draws on all the genres she’s so far been invited to lend vocals to. No wonder she’s had time to also gain an English degree—revision/regurgitation is clearly her specialty.

Everything she’s learned plus her Diana Ross-like range go into “Strangest Feeling,” which opens with a peal of eerie Hammond organ like Jools Holland let loose in a cathedral. Ware’s voice floats across it, cooing “I’ve been having the strangest feeling / That you walked out on me one evening…” It’s a short step from there—from realising your beloved maybe left you—to laying the table for two while alone and then, tragically, cross-dressing. The use of a woofer tapping out SOS in bass shows this isn’t a normal bid for stardom: Ware wants her launch-pad to be a breakup song with attitude, the very real bile targeted equally at both parties. Let’s hope she can keep things this strange and equal on the forthcoming LP. A UK funky track about understandable adultery, that would be nice.