If Jessie Ware’s sixth album Superbloom were a flower, what would it be? “The problem is I want a bouquet, babe,” the London singer-songwriter tells Apple Music. “I don’t want just a flower. Superbloom is a bouquet. Superbloom is a forest. Superbloom is a garden. Superbloom is endless.” Exaggerated as that sounds, it’s perfectly on par with an artist who’s built the later part of her career on disco fantasy—a world rich in passion, opulence, and drama, and soundtracked by warm grooves and cinematic soul. When Ware laid the foundation for that world with 2020’s What’s Your Pleasure?, it served as a refuge from a world in social and political turmoil. Across that album and its follow-up That! Feels Good!, she instead leaned into theatrics, creating alter egos (such as the latter’s Mother of Pearl) through whom she could safely act out emotional extremes like lust and longing. While those worlds grew, Ware began to see the small fantasies in her real life as well: in being a wife and mother, launching a podcast with her own mom, expanding her circle of friendships, and simply being a woman who’s comfortable in her own skin. Superbloom cracks that door open. Multiple songs (“Love You For,” “16 Summers”) are both written for and feature her children, while “Automatic” celebrates the trust and stability she and her husband share. “I was ready to reveal myself a little bit more, less through metaphor and character,” she says. Read on as Ware breaks Superbloom down, track by track. “The Garden Prelude” “I was so excited by this record that I wanted it to feel quite cinematic, and so I felt like I needed opening credits. I wanted an invitation, a way to ease the listener in and have them feel a sense of discovery. There’s a wooziness at the beginning, an uncertainty, and then you step into ‘I Could Get Used to This.’ It’s like arriving at the gates of a garden of heaven, filled with celestial beings and sex nymphs. I wanted that journey.” “I Could Get Used to This” “‘I Could Get Used to This’ felt like a bright declaration. That’s why we did the video the way we did. The first lines are ‘This is what I know, step into my secret garden/It’s not impossible to bloom and grow/’Cause everyone deserves their flowers,’ and I feel like I’ve been given my flowers. Again, it set the scene for the world I wanted to paint.” “Superbloom” “‘Superbloom’ takes you deeper into the garden, and there’s more intimacy there. It’s a conversation between two lovers and this complete push-pull of frustration, a longing for a nostalgic place. I wanted everyone to be transported to this magical place where everything is open, honest, and exciting. When I made ‘Remember Where You Are’ on What’s Your Pleasure?, it became a song I’m incredibly proud of; it affects people. I wanted another one of those on this record. They feel very harmonious.” “Automatic” “‘Automatic’ is effortless. It’s a declaration of love and respect to my husband. There’s an empowering feeling to it. He’s good to me, and there’s trust and security there. But there’s also an acknowledgment that I know what a good thing he’s got, too. You feel empowered by the partner you are to that person.” “Chariots of Love Interlude” “I knew I wanted the record to ascend with ‘Automatic’ because it was so fizzy and romantic. Then I was like, how do we make it crescendo even more? I had this vision, because I knew I wanted to fuck it up straight after that. I’d been watching a lot of Wicked at that point. It was like Glinda in the bubble. It’s bordering on saccharine, it’s technicolor, it’s too good to be true. You’re ascending and it just can’t get any better; it’s climactic, and then you drop into ‘Sauna,’ where it’s just deep sexual desire and heat.” “Sauna” “‘Sauna’ was the last song I wrote on the record. It was inspired by a party at the home of Benj Pasek, the wonderful songwriter who did Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman. It was this beautiful Passover party where we had Shoshana Bean singing, and then it turned into this big party in the living room. There was this new friend who introduced me to these wonderful guys, and she called them ‘The Joy Boys.’ I thought that was such a great nickname, which is why there’s the line ‘I want the boys who seek the joy.’ It took me back to that feeling of endless possibilities, excitement, and newness—but also sexy, hot, and gorgeous.” “Mr Valentine” “I really wanted something that works with ‘Ooh La La’ on What’s Your Pleasure? and ‘Shake the Bottle.’ It’s very character-driven and cheeky. I also loved the idea that I have this beautifully earnest song called ‘Valentine’ with Sampha, which I’m so proud of, but how could we make the ‘devil’ version of that song that isn’t earnest at all? In my head, I’m pretending to be Lana Del Rey singing ‘Mr Valentine’ as an alter ego on the verses, followed by a Phil Spector-style ‘wall of sound’ Motown chorus.” “Love You For” “‘Love You For’ has my kids singing at the beginning. It’s a song my daughter demanded I write for my youngest because she said it wasn’t fair that she had a song and that the middle child already had one. So I had to write one for him, and whilst it is for him, it’s really for all three of them—that’s why I wanted them all on the record. It’s about that infinite amount of love you have for your child. It’s just a very cute declaration of adoration for my gorgeous children.” “Ride” “I’m aware of these cute, sweet moments with my kids singing on the record, so I wanted to fuck it up by having something that shattered that in a second. That’s why ‘Ride’ needed to come at this point: It needed to break the sweetness and show another side of me.” “Don’t You Know Who I Am?” “Credit to Jake Shears: He came up with that line, ‘Don’t you know who I am? I’m the love of your life.’ We’d created this mood that felt a bit like a Bond theme at the beginning, and the chorus is another example of somebody believing I could deliver that line, and I was like, ‘Fuck yeah, let’s go.’ I think it’s a bit of a silent assassin; people are either going to get it or they’re not.” “16 Summers” “It’s about the idea that you only get 16 summers with your kids until they don’t really want to hang out with you. It’s this idea of losing time and making the most of it. That was really cemented when we lost a friend who left behind two children. You never know what’s going to happen. Instead of it being a self-centered song about guilt or working too hard, it turned into a song about acknowledging how beautiful life is and appreciating those moments.” “No Consequences” “I made this with Tom [McFarland] from Jungle and Jack Peñate. It was really about the groove; the drums at the beginning were just us clapping and messing around. We’d never worked together, so we were just trying to see what happened. I like how it has two different heads: You have these quite church-like chords in the verses, but that gets shut down with this very rhythmic ‘I had a dream about you last night.’ I think the song needed both of those things.” “Mon Amour” “The closing credits. I wanted to leave people on this beautiful high, but still with a bit of groove. It feels bright, glorious, celebratory, feminine, and confident. I like this idea of me walking out of the album with my head held high, arms open, a smile on my face, wearing a fabulous dress and dancing out.”