Glasshouse (album)

Glasshouse is the third studio album by English singer-songwriter Jessie Ware. It was released on 20 October 2017 through Island Records. The album was supported by the singles "Midnight", "Selfish Love", "Alone", and "Your Domino".

Glasshouse
Studio album by
Jessie Ware
Released20 October 2017 (2017-10-20)
Recorded2016–17
Genre
Length46:19
LabelIsland
Producer
Jessie Ware chronology
Tough Love
(2014)		 Glasshouse
(2017)		 What's Your Pleasure?
(2020)
Singles from Glasshouse
  1. "Midnight"
    Released: 28 July 2017
  2. "Selfish Love"
    Released: 31 August 2017
  3. "Alone"
    Released: 14 September 2017
  4. "Your Domino"
    Released: 18 October 2017

Background

Commenting on the creation process, Ware elaborated that she "really tried to rush this record" because she wanted to finish the album before having her first baby in September 2016, and "was being led by other people in the songwriting rooms, more than I was leading" as she was pregnant when the album was being written. She further added: "I was writing really shit music because I had this fear like, 'Must provide. Must make a hit for my unborn child' [...] I think I'd lost a bit of my identity, and it took my mate Benny Blanco to be like, 'This is really shit. I don't know what you're doing. Why are you not doing what you do?' It was such a relief, because I knew exactly what he meant."[1] Following her conversation with Blanco in December 2016, she decided to reconstruct the album and booked additional recordings sessions with musicians such as producer Starsmith and songwriter James Newman.[1]

Next to Starmsith and Newman the singer collaborated with a variety of producers and songwriters on Glasshouse, including Julia Michaels, Francis and the Lights, Cashmere Cat, Benny Blanco and Ed Sheeran.[1] Ware cited Childish Gambino's Awaken, My Love! (2016), and Solange's A Seat at the Table (2016), and Christine and the Queens' Chaleur humaine (2014) as her major inspirations for the album, noting: "They all have such strong identities, and I wanted that. I wanted to feel in control," she said.[1] When asked about the message behind this album, she said: "I've written with a lot of different people, but I think what's bringing it all together is my voice, and the storytelling. It's quite a personal record, which I didn't realize [when writing it]. I thought I was just writing songs, but it's become this record that's for my husband and my baby. It's been a wild couple of years, and I feel like this album represents those ups and downs, the fear, the beauty, and the celebrations."[1] On 5 September 2017, Ware announced the album's title and posted its artwork on social media.[2][3][4][5]

Title and artwork
Artwork for Glasshouse was photographed at the Neuendorf House near Santanyí, Mallorca.[6]

The album title was inspired by Edward Thomas's poem "I Built Myself a House of Glass". While song titles were used while naming Ware's previous album, she "just didn't feel like any of them did justice to this album." In an interview with Billboard, she further commented: "Glasshouse, I guess for me represents this beautiful thing, which is very easy to shatter. I’ve become a mother; it’s changed my world for the better. But I’m also learning how to do it. Also, I think I’ve given more of myself in this record [...] So, it’s about me working out this situation and trying to do the best, but also knowing that it’s quite a fragile, funny situation."[7]

The cover artwork for Glasshouse features Ware emerging from the courtyard of the Neuendorf House on the island of Mallorca, Spain. Designed by architects John Pawson and Claudio Silvestrin in 1991, the modernist villa is a vacation house for a German art dealer set in an almond grove.[6] Ware wanted the cover to emphasize architecture; as she explained in an interview with The Fader the week before the image was shot, “This record is so personal and romantic, that I want a nostalgic image on the front [...] I really want architecture in the album cover. I want to graduate from being in the [photo] studio for artwork where it had to be all about my face. I want it to be a beautiful image that maybe I'm a small part of.”[1] As a reuslt, the cover is not exclusively focused on Ware. According to Pitchfork, "the eye is drawn as much to the soft, ruddy brown of the walls or the blue sky packed into a crisp rectangle above her," while Ware's name and the word "Glasshouse" are stylized in an uppercase pale pink font and located in the center of the image.[6] The album artwork and singles campaign was designed by Samuel Muir Studio.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic72/100[8]
Review scores
SourceRating
The A.V. ClubB+[9]
Allmusic[10]
Clash[11]
Consequence of SoundC+[12]
The Observer[13]
Pitchfork8.0/10[6]
Slant Magazine[14]
Tom HullB+ ()[15]

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Glasshouse has an average score of 72 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 13 reviews.[8] Pitchfork editor Brad Nelson felt that "each song on Glasshouse has its own distinct aesthetic; unlike her previous albums there are no songs here that could be confused for each other, none that seem an afterthought carved from the greater mood of the album. Here, tracks are discrete entities, seemingly designed and assembled by its own team of architects [...] It almost feels like Ware is trying to divert attention from herself, but she is positioned directly at the center of the album’s trembling choreography. She connects each of these unrelated environments—shaping them."[6] Andy Kellman from AllMusic gave it a three-and-a-half-out-of-five rating. In the positive review he wrote that "Ware's third album is packed with finely woven adult-pop ballads about lust, longing, commitment, and reassurance." He found that "Though Ware co-wrote all the songs and is in full command from start to finish, the album has a stitched-together quality that starts to slowly unravel during the second half.[10]

The A.V. Club gave the album a B+ rating and compared the album to "Haim’s studio-perfect (and occasionally too studied) evocation of decades of pop radio and adult contemporary music. It’s timeless stuff, almost imagistic in the way it conjures the specters of belters past like Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, and Annie Lennox." The online newspaper added: "Glasshouse resolutely has the goods, packaging a handful of searing, bring-down-the-house ballads in an album that stands alongside her debut [...] There’s an earned earnestness to its emotional palette, even as it tumbles into schmaltzy paeans to domestic bliss. If it weren’t executed so sincerely, the whole thing would fall flat. But Ware walks the tightwire, and the result is as thrilling, in its own quiet way, as anything she’s produced."[9] Michael Cragg, writing for The Observer, described the release as "solid ground" and a "pivotal release for Ware." He felt that while the singles released in advance of the album "hinted at a more robust sound [...] it still feels a little too safe," though all song "perfectly showcase Ware’s crystalline vocals – you just wish she’d step out of her comfort zone more often."[13] The same rating was given by Clash's Robin Murray, who wrote that Glasshouse "promised to break the glass ceiling, but instead finds the singer treading lukewarm water [...] Too often, it fails to challenge itself."[11]

Commercial performance

Glasshouse debuted at number seven in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2017, with 8,448 album-equivalent units, as reported by Music Week.[16] The album became Ware's third consecutive top ten entry on the UK Albums Chart.[16]

Track listing
Standard version[17]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Midnight"
  • Langebaek
  • Wansel[a]
3:57
2."Thinking About You"
3:28
3."Stay Awake, Wait for Me"
3:35
4."Your Domino"
  • Ware
  • Battacharya
  • Parker
  • Danny Schnair
  • Govere
  • Stint
3:47
5."Alone"
  • Ware
  • Dante Hemingway
  • Sarah Aarons
  • Hull
  • Kid Harpoon
  • Stint
3:36
6."Selfish Love"
3:57
7."First Time"
4:05
8."Hearts"
3:33
9."Slow Me Down"
3:24
10."Finish What We Started"
  • Ryan
  • Bunetta
3:49
11."Last of the True Believers" (featuring Paul Buchanan)
  • H. White
  • F. White[b]
3:53
12."Sam"
  • Blanco
5:15
Total length:46:19
Deluxe version[18]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
13."Til the End"
  • Ware
  • Okumu
  • Sacha Skarbek
  • Scott
3:02
14."Love to Love"
  • Ware
  • Battacharya
  • Parker
  • Govere
  • ST!NT
3:31
15."Hearts" (Acoustic)
  • Ware
  • Michaels
  • Levin
  • Ash
  • Blanco
  • Two Inch Punch
3:30
16."Alone" (Acoustic)
  • Ware
  • Aarons
  • Hull
  • Kid Harpoon
  • ST!NT
3:46
17."Last of the True Believers" (Acoustic)
  • Ware
  • Howe
  • H. White
  • F. White
  • H. White
  • F. White[b]
3:41
Total length:63:49

Notes

  • ^[a] signifies a co-producer
  • ^[b] signifies an additional producer.

Charts
Chart (2017) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] 67
Croatian International Albums (HDU)[20] 4
Greek Albums (IFPI)[21] 34
Irish Albums (IRMA)[22] 31
New Zealand Heatseeker Albums (RMNZ)[23] 4
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[24] 9
Scottish Albums (OCC)[25] 11
UK Albums (OCC)[26] 7

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Poland (ZPAV)[27] Platinum 20,000

Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. Myers, Owen. "Jessie Ware Is Coming Back Strong". The Fader. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  2. Anna, Gaca (5 September 2017). "Jessie Ware Announces New Album Glasshouse". Spin. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  3. Ross, McNeilage (6 September 2017). "Jessie Ware Announces New Album 'Glasshouse' With Stunning Artwork". MTV News. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  4. Jamie, Milton (6 September 2017). "Jessie Ware's new album is called 'Glasshouse'". DIY. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  5. Mike, Wass (5 September 2017). "Jessie Ware Reveals The Cover of Third LP, 'Glasshouse'". Idolator. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  6. Nelson, Brad. "Jessie Ware – Glasshouse". Pitchfork. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  7. "Jessie Ware Aims to Shatter Expectations on 'Glasshouse': Interview". Billboard. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  8. "Glasshouse by Jessie Ware". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 October 2017.
  9. "Here are 7 new albums you should know about this week". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  10. Kellman, Andy. "Glasshouse: Review". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  11. Murray, Robin. "Soulful talent surrenders to safe, often beige tones..." Clash. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  12. Sackllah, David. "Jessie Ware – Glasshouse". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 18 October 2017.
  13. Cragg, Michael. "Jessie Ware: Glasshouse review – on safe ground". The Observer. Retrieved 22 February 2019.
  14. "Slant review". Retrieved 7 November 2017.
  15. Hull, Tom (13 July 2020). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  16. Homewood, Ben (3 November 2017). "Top of the pops?: How BBC One's new primetime music show has impacted the biz". Music Week. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  17. "Glasshouse by Jessie Ware on Apple Music". iTunes Store (AU). Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  18. "Glasshouse (Deluxe Edition) by Jessie Ware on Apple Music". iTunes Store (AU). Retrieved 14 September 2017.
  19. "Ultratop.be – Jessie Ware – Glasshouse" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  20. "Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  21. "Official IFPI Charts – Top-75 Albums Sales Chart (Week: 45/2017)". IFPI Greece. Archived from the original on 23 November 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  22. "Irish-charts.com – Discography Jessie Ware". Hung Medien. Retrieved 7 January 2018.
  23. "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 30 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  24. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  25. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  26. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
  27. "Polish album certifications – Jessie Ware – Glasshouse" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
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