Table Manners with Jessie and Lennie Ware - The Tables Have Turned with Zane Lowe

Episode Date: June 26, 2020

Here’s a little amuse-bouche for you - let’s call it a Friday treat. Today, my fourth record is out 'What’s Your Pleasure?' and to celebrate we did something a bit different. One of the best interviewers I know, Zane Lowe joins us for a special (and completely unorthodox) ‘Tables Have Turned’ episode and we talk all things music (& of course a bit about food). We’ll have Zane back for a proper dinner soon. In the meantime, enjoy this one and if you fancy, go and have a listen to my new record! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, I'm Jessie Ware, and this is Table Manners, but with the tables turned on me. I have a record out. It's my fourth record. It's called What's Your Pleasure? And it came out today. So we thought we'd give you a little amuse-bouche, a little appetizer of what's to come. It is a bonus episode, so we don't feel like we've denied you your weekly gluttonous fill of food. But we decided to ask probably one of the best interviews I've ever had to turn the old table

manners on me. So we have the charming Zane Lowe chatting to us. We will ask him some table manners questions however it will be a little tit bit shall we say. And a moose boosh. A first course.

And we will definitely be having Zane Lowe on again at some point. But yeah, we're going to have a little chat about music. Food will, of course, play a part. My mum will probably say something about how handsome Zane is. So that's all to come. Zane Lowe coming up on Table Manners. The tables are turned. Zayn is. So that's all to come. Zayn Lowe coming up on Table Manners The Table's Art Music

Music Music Music Music Music Hi I'm Zayn Lowe and I'm so excited to be chatting on Table Manners with Jessie Ware and her mum, Lenny.

In celebration of Jessie's new album, What's Your Pleasure, that's out today, I'm going to be turning the tables and asking Jessie and Lenny questions that you all want to hear the answers to, as well as delving into the magic behind this brand new album with Jessie. Hi. Hey. How are you? I'm good. How are you? I'm all right. You look great. So do you? I'm good. How are you? I'm all right. You look great.

That LA. So do you. Oh, thanks. This is my mum. She's just gone to the kitchen to get more wine. So you can see she's well up for this. Hi, darling. How are you?

It's great to meet you. It is a real pleasure to chat to you. And I feel like we need to talk a bit about food. Can we talk about your album? We can talk about it. Yeah. Hold on. Wow.

Is that the cover? Yes. Show me. Have you not seen it? No, I've heard it. Yeah. Hold on. Wow. Is that the cover? Yes. Show me. Have you not seen it? No, I've heard it. No airbrush happened on that. Oh, my God. Beautiful.

Listen to it. Jessie, you look amazing. Because I had loads of fucking beauty lamps on me. But thank you very much. Jessie, I don't believe that. But even if it was true, like, you're going to put a realistic photo on an album cover to sell it. That's fucking true, too.

Like, this is me. I woke up at six in the morning. I'm raising kids. Take it or leave it. Like, there's a time for that. But if you want to sell a, you know, really sexy, upbeat dance record, then, you know, go for it. Thank you, Zane. You're right. You're right. You've just given me a pep talk. I need to stop the self-deprecating thing. You've been in LA too long, man. You're so, you're optimistic. Well, actually, you're always optimistic. You're the most, you are the most

optimistic person. You're most, yeah, I should take a leaf out of your book. But yeah, no, I made, I made a but yeah no i made i made a um yeah i made an upbeat record it's amazing record my mum says that she learned well thank you she made she said that she um everyone i've obviously talked about this to a few people in in the press and whatnot and i said yeah it's quite you know it's me trying to do a bit of a sexy record my mum's like darling and well yeah i mean she's been getting a lot of texts about it with horny devil emojis from her friends. So now I feel actually quite disgusted by it.

So I'm never using that word ever again regarding this album. I mean, you know, you have set yourself up for a really awkward sort of chemistry of circumstances around releasing, you know, your sexiest album to date, given that you're also riding a wave of enormous success in a co-hosted situation with your mum. in a co-hosted situation with your mom. That being said, let's be really clear here that Sexy Time led to you in the first place, which ultimately led to you having created a career and you found yourself making this amazing, really incredible, deep, soulful kind of club record. And what I love about this album, Jesse,

is that you've pressed all the deep buttons. You know, you've got these really big songs with amazing kind of verses and choruses and melodies and it all fits together beautifully but you and James I'm assuming James kind of worked on all the record right James Ford with you yeah he's yeah it was he was exec but also just like James being the producer I wanted that I wanted it with this one because I hadn't had that since I did the first record with David Kumu where I wanted that. I wanted it with this one because I hadn't had that since I did the first record with Dave Okumu where I wanted that like intimacy and that kind of nurturing feel. And you know, you know James Ford, he's fantastic and cool and I don't want to say snob, but like the coolest.

He's a deep music nerd. Yes. And so I'd be there kind of jazz hands and he'd be like, I'm into it. And then I'd be more jazz hands and he'd be like, okay, let's like dial this back a little a little bit maybe well that's why adore is so sick because it's like got this amazing kind of song that you could play on piano or guitar which just cuts right to the core of what you're trying to say it's like you know music's most simple message is the one that's that's um it's music's most important message is the most simple message delivered with the most authenticity right and you've done that with the door and then what he's done is he's built this world around you which is just it's almost Frankie Knuckles-ish, you know, Knuckles-ish. That's a mouthful. I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore you, I adore you.

I want to give you more, that's all that I wanted to show everybody. Show everybody. I want to tell the world, want everyone to see that you belong to me. And also shout out to Joe Mount on that one Because it was Joe Mount from Atronomy Who I wrote that with And did a lot of that production too And like that was, yeah, that was a real treat

It was like this kind of blind date that we had Where he was a bit late Because he'd had to take the kids to school And I was a bit late Because I had a kind of newborn Oh no, I didn't I had a baby in my tummy And yeah, we just kind of navigated our way Around this kind of newborn oh no I didn't I had a baby in my tummy and um yeah

and we just kind of navigated our way around this kind of awkward thing you know what it's like you write songs um and you I don't know how many sessions you've done with like complete strangers yeah a lot but it can be of yeah it can be quite uh interesting it can even work it's like speed dating it's really awkward I mean even ones that turn out to be great it's you kind of they have to be awkward to get to great in some ways because when you meet someone that you get on immediately well and then you try to write a song often you settle into the into the friendship side of it way too quickly and and you've got to we've got to kind of you've got to be uncomfortable sometimes to get those to go to those places i think yeah you're right and i think it's definitely like there's that sometimes you get that magic where

you'll be writing the song and maybe you're kind of creeping away into it and that was very much what adore you was like it was like and you know're kind of creeping away into it. And that was very much what Adore You was like. It was like, you know, it was me creeping in, being like, I'll speak really quietly. Like I used to speak with subtract and I'll make a joke in between when I'm singing. But when I'm doing the takes, I'll be like, because I don't really want him to hear in case it's really shit. So if you just mumble, then you can get away. And then he was like, right, I'll take that. I think that's really good.

What about that? I really like that. And thank God there's people like that otherwise i'd never get albums done i tell you this record has been the funnest easiest record and it's exactly what I needed and it was like exactly what I think my fans needed and it's um it's kind of the pressure's off weirdly I think I got sucked into this thing where people wanted me to do so well and they started comparing me to these other high-flying singers female singers and I kind of didn't come from that world and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be in that world and you get taken along for the ride you go to the LA songwriting sessions you you get flown out to do a session with Jeff Baxker um in Venice and get put up in shutters and you're like oh god the pressure is just too much this is too terrifying and um and then I just I don't think it it worked well for. So I needed to do a London record,

but with the help of some brilliant LA songwriters, actually. It's such a London record. The sound of it is just, like I said, it sounds like London when I first arrived in the mid to late 90s. And, you know, the clubs were dark and the bars were really kind of seedy and dark, but the music was so amazing. And the DJs were just just you know impeccable your

latest single was save a kiss tell us about that one so it's it was about feeling a bit guilty about always being late home um if i'd be in the studio or i'd be doing a photo shoot or i'd be doing table manners and being always texting my husband being like i'm on my way i'm sorry um wait and so this was called save a kiss and it's like save a kiss for me tonight wait for me no compromise promise you I won't be long or it won't be long um and just kind of feeling slightly verging on in the doghouse but weirdly we put this out during covid and the lockdown and then the words all kind of changed into a totally different meaning of being like you know

wait for me on the other side of this bloody pandemic and that need to want to kiss and hug and yeah be close to someone that you can't be yeah so it kind of it has two different meanings now save a kiss for me tonight wait for me no compromise promise you it won't be long just save a little bit of your loving baby save your one

whisper mind save the thought of me tonight promise you it won't be long just save a little bit of your love baby save a little bit of your love what smoothie is that that you just sipped it looked like a very very healthy smooth it's not it's a very no it's not coca-cola that's some acai shit or something is it yeah some delicious homemade assay stuff yeah

it's good oh come on who made it did you make it my no my wife she does the mean smoothies and um and uh she made one for me this morning because i was i woke up this morning i was like i'm not feeling great and she was so she was kind enough to take care of me so she's the best oh what a woman can i just say aren't you glad saying that that Jessie's made a record that isn't kind of, that's a bit more groovy? Mum, watch what you say. No, no, listen, I understand where your mum's coming from. Yeah, I love the groovy,

remember where you are is my favourite, favourite. It sounds like Earth, Wind and Fire. Yes, let our bodies testify And the spirits be entwined forevermore Every day you get up You better get up The window take a breath of morning air And listen to the people out there

As the birds are singing I do it with the morning traffic What's the one you're hearing? What's the one you're hearing? The heart of the city is on fire So long as the highs are gonna fall But nothing is different in my eyes So darling, remember, remember Can we keep moving beneath the clouds?

What I really love about this album, which I think probably speaks a little bit to what your mum is saying, I really love about this album which I think probably speaks a little bit to what your mom is saying is it does seem less concerned about ticking all the boxes of a record that will work here and work there and everything else and that's not to say any of those songs that you wrote before didn't come from the heart and aren't special and don't matter but I just feel like you found yourself in a room on this record and you wanted to stay in that room and it was like I don't care if anyone else comes in this room this is the room I want to be in this is what I want to make and if you want to come and join me then hallelujah and I and I think that that's really just a very freeing and inspiring

you know can I start saying that in my press i mean i've done all my press now but like that was the right way to say that's exactly what it was it wasn't like well you should have come to me at the beginning shouldn't you and i could have helped you out with a few of those already made answers album five needs to be made so there we go let's chat about that dark room that we're going to make some beats and you know and bring james along and whatnot um yeah at least everyone's going to be able to dance, darling, at Glastonbury. Hang on, sorry, Mum.

Just hang on one second. Jessie, did you just throw in a stealth invitation for me to help you on your next record? For sure. Why not? I'll get the, you know, I mean, it's like, you know, why not? I've got bloody Benji B helping me out.

You can bloody help me. Alice, that stays in. That stays in. If you'd like to make a kind of mini Ripperton slash kind of hair musical album, then we're up. That's what we're doing. Well, that's what I love about Remember Where You Are is it has that whole mini Ripperton feel to it. And there are very few singers who can get to that space vocally and deliver that kind of emotion and that kind of performance, right?

It's a very, very, it's a challenging thing for a lot of performers to step into those shoes. You know, that is powerful soul music. Powerful soul, darling. You know what was really nice about that one? I actually don't, I mean, I sing the chorus, but I sing it with like a group of amazing voices where Shun, who is an incredible LA writer. Shunguzo?

Shunguzo, who is like incredible i mean she's written the whole record nearly with me and danny parker and there's a lot of the billionaire is how was that not a bigger record when it's unbelievable she'll she'll get her like time and she i mean people don't know shun's written all the songs that you've heard so far really spotlight and ooh la la and what's your pleasure will be coming out anyway so her and danny were my like crew that came over from la and we just adored each other and we kind of be plotting how risque we could be and having such fun and i think they really loved the freedom that was you know coming to london and feeling they're such anglophiles but feeling like they don't necessarily have to do the whole kind of pop factory thing with me.

It was totally, we were like doing what we fancied. But yeah, Shun, the words she says, the way she does her words. And then with Danny's little naughty kind of you love, you give it back to me. Who can deny this perfect symmetry? Just what I need. Just what I need. Come on, I push, press, more or less. Here together, what's it

about oh In Your Eyes is that's the first song that we did on the record so I came back from doing that tour in America yeah and I came back and this is the first song that we wrote and it was like totally everyone should listen to Lewislor an amazing soul singer who was signed to island records and was just so amazing so this was definitely with lewis taylor in mind a bit elisa stansfield and it was i i didn't having jules buckley do the strings on this record and the horns and composing um he managed to kind of elevate it into this slightly bond-esque theme with the horns and composing um he managed to kind of elevate it into this slightly bond-esque theme with the strings and i love it i feel like i'm a woman well i wish i was that octopusy woman coming out of the bloody water and i see a tall dark stranger basically i think it's my bond theme

of the album It's harder to see when you're giving me every look I need I live and don't wanna be saved But what I'm trying to say is that it feels right We've been dancing to the song all of our lives And when you're here, leave the fire behind okay let's talk about soul control i love that one oh soul control also this has been really nice so basically shout out to morgan geist who i didn't realize was a nice Jewish boy um he's from New York he is the guy that made the beat for this and we still haven't met each other but we started emailing it was really weird because I don't usually work like this but James asked for people to give beats and and he got from Morgan Geist and I was like Morgan Geist is really cool and

we kind of never got connected so I gave him we wrote to each other the last past few weeks and just to kind of me to say thank you and him to be like each other the last past few weeks and just to kind of me to say thank you and him to be like thanks for having me on the record and just a bit of a love-in I love it that he's like a nice Jewish boy and that I'm sending him a babka as a thank you um so yeah L'chaim Morgan So control, that's how I'm giving to you. So control, that's how you want it. So control, that's how I'm giving to you. Baby, it's automatic. We're touching, it feels like magic.

Baby, it's automatic. We're touching, it feels like magic. Baby, it's automatic. We're touching, it feels like magic. Baby, it's automatic. We're touching, it feels like magic. Okay, if I'm this sort of de facto host of table manners right now, then it's time to listen to Ooh La La. Well, whilst we've got you, we need to know what your last supper is. Starter, main, pud and drink of choice.

And it's not going to be a bloody smoothie, is it? It's not going to be a smoothie. No offence, Cara. Well, you know, I'm a big fan of, you know, hummus and feta and lamb and like... You'd have a little meze. You're living in the wrong part of the world zane but that's okay because you know you can't always get what you want all the time

but if you try some time you might just yeah exactly you just might get you just might get your meze um isn't that a rolling stone yes mom jesus caught the up sorry i've had three glasses of wine god you're not on my fucking zoom quiz i tell you and also if i may swear we sort of fucking destroyed that rolling stone song in a really bad way it was really quick it was a cryptic clue we shoved it in um so i mean my look my starter would be you know just some beautiful warm bread by the way this is going to change next time we do this i have a completely separate last summer okay i don't want to be held to this so beautiful warm bread maybe a little bit of burnt butter just something which is sweet and delicious and incredible butter you've been in la too long

baby and then uh and then and they just give me a fresh platter just filled with falafels and just warm lamb and marinated chicken and hummus and feta, mulched it up and just, oh my God, I'm just the flavours and the spices and just go, go, go, go, go. So what, is that start around the main? No, yeah, start at main and then at the end.

Dippy dip situation. Yeah, sharing plate, darling. No, I'm not sharing it with anyone. What are you talking about? No, yeah, start at main and then at the end. Dippy dip situation. Yeah, sharing plate, darling. No, I'm not sharing it with anyone. What are you talking about? No, Jessie wouldn't either. You're in good company. Joey doesn't share food. And then at the end, I don't know,

hit me with something that's kind of crunchy and sweet and berry-ish, like a sort of pavlovery, just a thing I can just stick a spoon in it no matter what just something i could put a spoon in and i don't have to like put a spoon in four different things to get the perfect bite because every bite's gonna be yeah i agree eaten mess or pavlova that's a bloody good point that's why the eat and mess does work it's a gift that keeps on giving eat and mess you just no matter where you go it's all it's like a jesse wearer album close your eyes tap for any song you want and it's gonna taste delicious a gorgeous melon and what are you gonna

drink oh champagne oh do you like champagne i do like champagne what about rose whispering angel okay on a hot day but i mean i've learned about that in chateau marmont it's a it's a it's a it's a nice drop love it but i mean actually given that it's that i'm going in with some pretty you know deep kind of rich sort of spicy flavors probably um probably a pinot noir maybe like a really delicious new zealand pinot and by the way um i really hate it in terms of table manners because I know this podcast I really hate it when people lean in too close at

dinner I don't like it when yeah when people have conversations they lean right in like does that happen quite a lot are you finding this

is happening more in LA no no it's not happening more in LA because everyone's like you know terrified of getting too close to anybody

now everyone's obsessed with compulsive anxiety ridden kind of like you know no one knows how to deal with each other they're not used to it but um no I just don't like it when when someone's kind of you know after a few glasses of wine or whatever they kind of like think that like leaning in is a is like an endearing way to be doing an English accent so I feel like yeah it's English people then I love you man it's not English people it's just just that, by the way,

the English accent only comes out because I'm hanging out with you. No, it's just, I don't know, man. It's just a weird thing. I'm quite a sort of, part of my OCD is I like a bit of space, you know? Zane, thank you for doing this. Oh, it's a pleasure.

Thanks for making another great album and for making our lives so much better, Jessie. Every time you come out with music, it's brilliant. And you could easily just, you know, settle in and take your time making music. And you've got so much going on between the podcast and motherhood and all your other ambitions i'm sure but the fact that you're still so loyal to your first love i think which is music right am i right yes it's like it just it makes our life life so much better so i'm sort of speaking for everybody when i say that oh mate thanks dude i mean look yeah i can't wait to finally get out to america to play

it i can't darling he's a motivational speaker that zayno i'm feeling great I'm feeling pumped I'm feeling ready for my album to go straight to the top thank you so much to Zane Lowe we will be doing a part two hopefully with you with food we will bring the lamb we will bring the dip I can do all the dishes he wanted darling absolutely very handsome very handsome and very kind and has been a lovely supporter of mine forever so i very much appreciate him taking an hour out of his time my album what's your pleasure which i'm incredibly proud of is out now and i'd love you to have a listen to it mum what's your pleasure oh watching Man United this week against Tottenham, darling.

Less filthy. More PG-13 than I thought. I'm not going to lie. Thank you. That's my pleasure. Table Manners is produced by Alice Williams.