Jessie J enters her latest era with far less interest in chasing the charts and more in sincerity. A shift that feels not only natural but freeing. She has been through quite a lot in the years that have followed her breakout success: failed relationships, public scrutiny, loss, motherhood and illness. The commercial behemoth of her early years has softened in the wake of all of this, yet she seems steadier for it. After stepping through these various challenges and milestones, she has returned with a strong clarity about who she is and the type of artist she is. She is no longer reaching for the top of the charts, and in letting go of that pressure she has delivered what might be her strongest album so far, ‘Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time’.
Without question, Jessie is extremely talented. When she steps back from the show boating and lets her voice carry real feeling, it becomes something powerful and deeply human. This album shows that shift clearly. From her miscarriage to a recent battle with cancer, she approaches these painful experiences with an endearing amount of honesty. I’LL NEVER KNOW WHY is one of the most delicate moments here, written in the wake of a friend’s sudden passing. She sits with and ponders her grief rather than trying to outrun it, repeating her sentiments with a lingering softness. SONFLOWER brings a different kind of tenderness as she reflects on the impact of motherhood and the joy her son has brought into her life. “You are my saving grace / I am growing with you” feels like a private confession of how deeply this chapter has reshaped her. It is a welcome contrast to the shrill and distracting vocal acrobatics that used to dominate her work and pull you away from what she was saying instead of inviting you in. Here, her tone is warm, steady and far more expressive for it.
The maturity runs through the writing as well. COMPLICATED has her airing everything out with a defiant breeziness, evident in the casual “sorry babe,” addressing the backlash to her comment about her bisexuality being a phase, the lingering shadow of her relationship with movie star Channing Tatum “Met a Magic Mike, will that ever be forgotten? / ‘Cause everything they write, that’s the headline and the topic”, and the personal struggles with infertility. She brushes the past aside with calm acceptance, reminding herself, “I know I mess up sometimes / But no, that does not define who I wanna be.” It feels like a grown and grounded answer to the wide eyed earnestness of her early ‘Who You Are’ anthems.
The bulk of the album sits in a decent pop/R&B space, and this is where Jessie feels the most natural. These tracks form the core strength of the record. FOR THIS LOVE stands out as a lightly euphoric dance tinged song that lifts the project without ever breaking its intimacy. There is ease in these moments, a sense that she no longer feels the need to constantly over sing or overreach like she used to and the moments she belts feel earned and never distracting.
The final stretch is where the quality dips slightly. The collaborations with Ryan Tedder, including CALIFORNIA, LIVING MY BEST LIFE and H.A.P.P.Y, do not match the emotional clarity of the earlier tracks. They lean back toward the sound of her initial breakout era, more like filler than necessary additions to the track list. They do not derail the album though, but could have easily been omitted to keep it a solid 13 track record.
Yet even with that slight wobble, Jessie has delivered one of her most cohesive and emotionally honest projects. The album holds real sustenance and sincerity in its words, and shows her finally trusting the artist she has grown into. In many ways, this is the album she should have been releasing a few years ago, the one that could have properly cemented her place as one of the UK’s strongest vocal exports. Instead, she arrives here now, with lived experience and a clearer sense of herself and the result feels far more compelling for it.
3.75/5
