''Tough Love'' is the second studio album by English singer

Jessie Ware Jessica Lois Ware (born 15 October 1984) is an English singer, songwriter and broadcaster. Ware came to prominence following the release of her debut studio album, ''Devotion'' (2012), which peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart, produce ...

. It was released on 13 October 2014 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and 24 October 2014 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The album was supported by the singles "

Tough Love Tough love is the act of treating a person sternly or harshly with the intent to help them in the long run. Description Bill Milliken described tough love through the expression, "I don't care how this makes you feel toward me. You may hate m ...

", " Say You Love Me", "You & I (Forever)" and " Champagne Kisses".

Background

At the beginning of 2014, Ware returned to the studio to write her second album.

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

confirmed in an interview with '' Daily Star'' that they had written a song together for the new album. (The song, "Say You Love Me", was released on 13 August 2014.) "Tough Love" is the first single to be taken from the new album, airing for the first time on BBC Radio 1 as "Hottest Record" during the

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

's show and slated for a UK release on 3 August 2014. "Tough Love" was compared to "Prince at his minimalist '80s best" by Pitchfork, who interviewed Ware prior to the release. "Tough Love" is produced together with BenZel, the production duo composed of London post-bass producer

Two Inch Punch Ben Ash, professionally known as Two Inch Punch, is an English record producer, musician, remixer and songwriter. He has written and produced records with Jessie Ware, Sam Smith, Years & Years, Rag'n'Bone Man, Tory Lanez, Ty Dolla $ign, Damon ...

and mega-producer

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also ...

who Ware previously worked with on the single "If You Love Me"; Benzel are also executive producers of her new album.

Kid Harpoon Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. Career Already a fixture at local venues in his hometown of Chatham, Kid Harpoon first emerge ...

Dave Okumu David Jairus Ochieng Okumu (born 12 October 1976 in Vienna, Austria) is a singer, songwriter, producer and guitarist, best known for fronting the band The Invisible. Their debut album, released in March 2009, was nominated for a Mercury Prize ...

, Julio Bashmore, Miguel, James Ford,

Nineteen85 Anthony Paul Jefferies (born July 1, 1985), known professionally as Nineteen85, is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. Nineteen85 holds the distinction of winning an ASCAP Music Award back-to-back in 2014 and 2015. He is best known for p ...

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...

and

also worked on the new album.

Singles

", produced by BenZel, was released as the lead single from the album on 23 June 2014. The song peaked to number 34 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, making it her first top 40 single in the UK. " Say You Love Me" was released as the second single from the album on 28 September 2014 and became her second top 40 hit, charting at number 22. "You & I (Forever)" was released as the third single from the album. The video for the song was released on 2 December 2014 and was directed by Adam Powell. London-born producer

Shift K3Y Lewis Shay Jankel (born 27 May 1993), better known by his stage name Shift K3Y (pronounced "shift key"), is a British DJ, record producer, singer and songwriter, from London. He is best known for his 2014 singles "Touch", which peaked at number ...

and

Kidnap Kid Matthew 'Matt' Rupert Lancaster Relton, known professionally as Kidnap, formerly known as Kidnap Kid, is an English electronic dance music record producer and DJ from Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He was awarded iTunes US's 'Best Electronic Song ...

remixed the track. On 17 January 2015, Ware confirmed on her

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account that the fourth single to be released from the album would be " Champagne Kisses". Chris Sweeney directed the video, which was published on Ware's YouTube account on 11 February 2015.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''Tough Love'' received generally positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. According to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

score out of 100 to ratings and reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average of 74, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 26 critics. At

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Andy Kellman rated the album three stars out of five, claiming that ''Tough Love'' has the same "high level of sophistication" as Ware's debut album ''

Devotion Devotion or Devotions may refer to: Religion * Faith, confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept * Anglican devotions, private prayers and practices used by Anglican Christians * Buddhist devotion, commitment to religious observance * Cat ...

'', but with "less stimulating results". David Brusie of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' graded the album an A−, describing it as a "more than worthy" follow-up to ''Devotion'', while highlighting Ware's strengths as a singer and songwriter. At ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', Caroline Sullivan gave a positive review of the album, calling it "sensual and intriguing", while describing the album's content as a "boneless elegance" with "premium product". At

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...

, Colin Fitzgerald rated ''Tough Love'' eight discs out of ten, noting that Ware has "gone the correct route", while highlighting the album's pop and R&B sounds of "Kind Of... Sometimes... Maybe" and the minimistical ballad "Keep on Lying".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Tough Love'' adapted from

. *Benjamin Ash – background vocals *Julio Bashmore – production *BenZel – instrumentation, production, programming *Daniel Butman – violin *Jonny Byers – cello *Gillon Cameron – violin *Mitchum Chin – guitar *Alex Cowper – design *Calina de la Mare – violin *Sam Dew – background vocals *Alison Dods – violin *Mikky Ekko – background vocals *Blake Espy – violin *Glenn Fischbach – cello *James Ford – engineering, keyboards, percussion, production, synthesizer, background vocals *Larry Gold – string arrangements *Vincent Greene – viola *Brendon Harding – engineering, vocal engineering *Emile Haynie – production *Sally Herbert – violin *Lewis Hopkin – mastering, mastering engineer *Devonté Hynes – additional production, guitar *Paul Jefferies – bass, drums, guitar *Jonathan Kim – viola *Rick Koster – violin *Emma Kummrow – violin *Oliver Langford – viola *Jennifer Lee – violin *Andrew Levin – background vocals *Jeremy Levin – background vocals *Lexxx – mixing *Vicky Matthews – cello *Luigi Mazzocchi – violin *Laura Melhuish – violin *Miguel – guitar, background vocals *Nineteen85 – production *Dave Okumu – bass, drum programming, guitar, keyboards, production, programming, synthesizer, background vocals *Phillip A. Peterson – cello, string arrangements *Tom Pigott-Smith – violin *Kate Robinson – violin *Sampha – background vocals *Chris Sclafani – engineering, bass guitar, background vocals *Ed Sheeran – background vocals *Julia Singleton – violin *Bradford H. Smith – assistant engineering *Robert Spriggs – viola *Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing *Geoff Swan – assembly, assistance *Leo Taylor – drums *Annemarieke Van Drimmelen – photography *Matthew Walker – composition *Jessie Ware – composition, vocals *Lucy Wilkins – violin *Aryn Wüthrich – background vocals

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2014 albums Island Records albums Jessie Ware albums Albums produced by James Ford (musician) Albums produced by Emile Haynie Albums produced by Nineteen85 Albums produced by Two Inch Punch