Jessie Ware: Coming out of her shell

Jessie Ware continues on the road to fame with a headline slot at MTV Crashes Cork, writes Ed Power.

AN Jessie Ware become a pop star? Her record label seems pretty confident: for her second album, Tough Love, the Londoner was paired with hit-makers such as Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco, artists who could pen chart-toppers in their sleep. She wasn’t told to write a smash, exactly — but the implication was there. After a critically lauded 2012 debut, there is a sense that this is her moment: Ware has entranced the critics, now it’s time to win over the music-downloading masses.

You can see why the moguls would have their hopes up. Ware, 30, is photogenic, stylish and articulate — with a swoonful voice and a musical sensibility that moves comfortably between pop and soul. She is equally at home performing in a church in north London — where the new LP was launched — and headlining an MTV event, as she will do in Cork on Thursday.