Seraphina Lotkhamnga on September 11th, 2014

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Jessie Ware, the U.K. soul chanteuse who has made the quiet storm genre hip again (and grabbed our attention with her debut “Devotion” in 2012), returns Oct. 21 with “Tough Love,” which bears the same name of album’s lead single. Ware recently followed it up with the Ed Sheeran-co-written pop ballad “Say You Love Me,” a sprawling song that simmers beautifully until it bursts into a gospel-rock bridge with a backing choir for the last one-third of the song. However, the music video directed by Tell No One – the duo of Luke White and Remi Weekes, whose work has been showcased in places from New York’s Guggenheim Museum to London’s British Film Institute – is nothing grandiose. There is nothing over-the-top about their extended takes of Ware sitting on a faux-rock in front of an outdoor back drop. The focus is on Ware’s expressions as she pours emotions into the lyrics as if she and the camera were having an intimate conversation. Even as the lighting slightly changes, it’s still Ware and her words allowing the visuals to slow dance with the music. “Tough Love” is out Oct. 21 via PMR and Island.

||| Live: Jessie Ware plays Oct. 23 at downtown L.A.’s Tower Theatre.

||| Also: Watch her video for “Tough Love.”

||| Previously: Live at Coachella 2013, live at the El Rey Theatre, “If You’re Never Gonna Move,” live at the Bootleg, “Night Light”