Tough Love (Jessie Ware album)

Tough Love is the second studio album by English singer Jessie Ware. It was released on 13 October 2014 in the United Kingdom and 24 October 2014 in the United States. The album was supported by the singles "Tough Love", "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 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'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 and mega-producer Benny Blanco who Ware previously worked with on the single "If You Love Me"; Benzel are also executive producers of her new album. Kid Harpoon, Dave Okumu, Julio Bashmore, Miguel, James Ford, Nineteen85, Sam Smith and Ed Sheeran also worked on the new album.

Singles
"Tough Love", 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, 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 and Kidnap Kid remixed the track.

On 17 January 2015, Ware confirmed on her Twitter 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. According to Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average 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. David Brusie of The A.V. Club graded the album an A−, describing it as a "more than worthy" follow-up to Ware's debut album Devotion, while highlighting Ware's strengths as a singer and songwriter. In her review for Pitchfork, Jill Mapes noted that "rarely does a major-label pop singer sound as tasteful as Ware does, especially while avoiding the sleepy trappings of adult contemporary. At its best, Ware's music sounds truly exciting without sounding as if it's trying too hard to come across that way."

At PopMatters, 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". NME critic David Renshaw found that Tough Love "excels [...] while collaborations with Dev Hynes and Miguel save the latter half from drifting too far into languid MOR ballad territory." Similarly, Paula Mejia, writing for Rolling Stone, noted that Tough Love had "plenty of showcases for Ware's acrobatic vocals [...] and when A-list modern-soul auteurs including Dev Hynes and Miguel lend their talents, they only complement the strengths that Ware continues to refine within herself."

Guardian critic 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." Exclaim!'s Cam Lindsay called Tough Love a "tour de force album, one that nails heartache with sophistication and class," while Andy Baber from MusicOMH wrote that "for the most part, it is an assured collection of songs that exudes the confidence of an artist at the peak of her powers." AllMusic editor Andy Kellman rated the album three stars out of five, claiming that Tough Love has the same "high level of sophistication" as Devotion, but with "less stimulating results." In a negative review, Fact's Josh Hall called the album "functional, designed to break her into the mainstream proper."

Chart performance
Tough Love debuted and peaked at number nine on the UK Albums Chart in the week of 25 October 2014 and would remain 18 weeks on the chart. It was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 17 July 2015 and reached Gold status on 4 June 2021 after surpassing sales in excess of 100,000 copies. In April 2023, Music Week reported that the album had sold 108,839 units in the United Kingdom.

Track listing

 * Say You Love Me features additional vocals by Ed Sheeran.
 * Kind of... Sometimes...Maybe features additional vocals by Miguel Pimentel.

Personnel
Credits for Tough Love adapted from AllMusic.


 * 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