The last video to feature Jessie Ware’s vocals involved pole-dancing. As with the London singer’s stripper-friendly ’90s R&B cover with Japanese duo BenZel, the lovely “Sweet Talk,” from our 5 Best New Artists alumna‘s solo debut LP Devotion (SPIN’s No. 28 abum of 2012, for those keeping score) sets a similarly adult mood. But the video for the minimal, post-dubstep quiet-stormer, much to our delight, takes a dramatically different approach. Rather than playing up the song’s willing seduction, the video — directed, like previous Ware videos, by Kate Moross — follows some cute pre-teens as they mime the song, classic Kids Incorporated style. Except as with Ware’s music, the results are consummately up to date and thoroughly swoon-worthy.
Separately, Billboard reports Ware has thrown in the towel on a sample-clearance battle with the late rapper Big Pun’s estate. Devotion‘s lithe, lively, dancing-on-my-own highlight “110%” contains a sample of Pun’s voice. She reportedly tweaked the lyric from “carving my initials on your forehead” to “coming on a mission like a warhead” and changed the title, a reference to Pun’s “100%,” to “If You’re Never Gonna Move.” She’s quoted as murmuring cheekily, “Fuck Big Pun!” An EP, also titled If You’re Never Gonna Move, is reportedly due in the United States on January 15.
