Single review: Jessie Ware - Save A Kiss

Jessie Ware is rolling out these singles like toilet paper replenishment in supermarkets. It's only been 5 minutes since we got "Ooh La La" and now we have another song to mull over, "Save A Kiss".

The What's Your Pleasure? 'era' as it were has been an interesting one for Jessie, as it's seen her release some of her most diverse singles to date. No two songs have sounded alike and it does make you wonder what her team are going for. Especially in light of "Ooh La La" sounding like something from Duolingo's Future Nostalgia and barely featuring her vocals, and now "Save A Kiss" sounding like Robyn. If Jessie is trying to gain herself a new audience following the lukewarm response to Glasshouse, then being compared to commercial and critically successfully acts like Duolingo and Robyn isn't the worst thing.

But if you look at all of the singles we've had from Jessie post Glasshouse from "Overtime" onward, Jessie upcoming album is more than a likely going to be an ode to the variations of dance music through the decades. After all, Duolingo's Future Nostalgia is based on an existing sound that's run rampant in the charts for years and the same goes for Robyn. Looking at Jessie's releases in this vein, "Save a Kiss" feels like a culmination of all of what Jessie has released over the past couple of years and actually makes sense for her. It has the Disco flourishes of "Spotlight", with the club vibes of "Adore You" and the directness of "Ooh La La". Even with its Robyn overtones, it does still feel like a Jessie Ware song and like the kind of thing she would've put out for her last 2 albums had she still worked with the likes of Julio Bashmore, who produced "110%" from Devotion and "Imagine It Was Us" from its re-release.

"Save A Kiss" definitely feels like a more logical follow up single to "Spotlight" than "Ooh La La" did. The release of which I feel was somewhat of a response to Future Nostalgia and a test. The song had no damn artwork and there's no plan for a video. Meanwhile "Save A Kiss" has already been spun on BBC radio, has a video in the works and has its own artwork. There are also themes that carry through from "Spotlight" too. The Disco style string  arrangements. The sensuality. The lyrics being about wanting to go back and relive a specific moment of love. But "Spotlight" was instant. From the song kicked off, you knew it was the one. And the song never let up. It blossomed, it grew, it took you places. Comparatively "Save A Kiss" is more of a grower. The song also stays at this same level from start to end with no real change; which feels nice on one hand, because it almost mimics a steady heartbeat. But it also gives the song a sense of going nowhere. Even just the addition of some hi-hats and snares during the final run of the chorus would have been something.

"Save A Kiss" is no "Spotlight", which isn't a diss to "Save A Kiss" as much as it is an acknowledgement of just how perfect "Spotlight" was and still is. My wig is still on a train in Serbia. "Save A Kiss" is a good song, but it's just not memorable. With how I feel about the song now, it's not one I'll go back to and play often. But I feel it may work better in the context of the album. So we'll see how it fares come June 19th when What's Your Pleasure? drops.

RATING: 6 / 10

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