What's Your Pleasure?

After the promotional cycle for her previous album Glasshouse, Ware felt pressured to quit music due to low album sales and her exhaustion with touring. However, Ware's podcast Table Manners gained a larger following of 13 million listeners and soon became Ware's main priority. Speaking to The Independent, Ware described the podcast's success as a "turning point" that changed her outlook of herself: "I suddenly felt more comfortable in my skin." With the podcast, Ware discusses more personal topics that she felt forced to publicise with her music. Upon the announcement of the release of the album in February 2020, Ware described the album as a "two-year labour of love", further citing the album as her visions of "escapism [and] groove". The twelve tracks on ''What's Your Pleasure?'' move away from her usual "melancholy" sound in her previous releases, to focus on disco, hi-NRG, and house. With Ford co-producing the album, Ware intended to pay homage to what the duo called "wedding jams", along with the soul of late American singer-songwriter Minnie Riperton, and the New York underground disco scene. == Release ==

''What's Your Pleasure? was initially scheduled to be released on 5 June 2020; however, the date was moved to 19 June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ware then announced that she would be pushing the release date back another week so as not to conflict with Juneteenth. The album was released on 26 June 2020, making it her first major release since Glasshouse'' (2017), and subsequently her first release after giving birth to her second child. Music videos were released for the title track, "Soul Control", "Step into My Life", "In Your Eyes", and "The Kill". The cover art for the record sees Ware sport red lipstick, a black shirt and a golden necklace, with Pitchfork calling it a "spitting image" of Polaroids taken by American artist Andy Warhol of former actress Bianca Jagger. On 8 January 2021, Ware confirmed the forthcoming release of a deluxe edition of the album on Twitter. Just before the album's release, Ware announced that she would embark on the What's Your Pleasure? Tour, starting in April 2021. Ware promoted the album through virtual performances, aired by several television programmes, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. ''What's Your Pleasure?'' features elements of disco, post-disco, rave, new wave, trip hop, The single "Overtime" released in 2018, was originally going to be part of the original album, but ended up being taken off the original tracklist and was re-released with a different mix. == Critical reception ==

''What's Your Pleasure?'' received widespread critical acclaim. It was praised for its "disco-inspired" sound and cited as the singer's "finest" work. Ware earned praise for "going back to where she started" and for sounding "bolder, looser" compared to her previous releases. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 84, based on 18 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". In February 2026, the album was included in Spotify's list of Classic Pop Albums of the Streaming Era (2015-present). The list is picked by editors that selected 30 albums that define the ambition, emotion, and cultural impact of modern pop. Accolades == Commercial performance ==

According to the Official Charts Company, ''What's Your Pleasure?'' was the most downloaded album over the weekend upon its initial release on 26 June 2020. The album eventually debuted at number three on both the UK Albums Chart and Scottish Albums Chart, giving Ware her fourth consecutive top-ten entry on the former and her first top-three entry on both. By this, the album became Ware's highest peak position on both charts, surpassing the number five peak and number twenty-six peak achieved by her debut album, Devotion (2012). The album is also Ware's first top-forty entry on the Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) chart since Tough Love (2014), debuting at number thirty-six. It was also her first release to spend more than one week within the top ten of the UK Albums Chart, as it reached number seven upon its Platinum Pleasure re-release on 11 June 2021, nearly one year after its original release. == Track listing ==

Notes • signifies an additional producer • The song "Mirage (Don't Stop)" contains elements of the song "Cruel Summer" performed by Bananarama. ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''What's Your Pleasure?'' Musicians • Jessie Ware – vocals • James Ford – keyboards, percussion, programming (tracks 1–5, 7, 9–12); synths (tracks 1–5, 7, 9, 11, 12); guitar, bass, drums (tracks 5, 7, 9, 11, 12) • Dave Okumu – guitar (tracks 1–4, 8) • Leo Taylor – drums (tracks 1–4, 8) • Shungudzo – backing vocals (tracks 1–4, 12) • Danny Parker – backing vocals (tracks 1–4, 12) • Bim Amoako – backing vocals (tracks 1–4, 7–9, 11, 12) • Senab Adekunle – backing vocals (tracks 1–4, 7–9, 11, 12) • Morgan Geist – programming (track 4) • Midland – synths, programming (track 5) • Joseph Mount – keyboards, programming (track 6) • Dante Hemingway – string and brass arrangements, programming (tracks 1–4, 6, 12) • Adam Bainbridge – keyboards, programming (track 8) • Clarence Coffee Jr. – backing vocals (tracks 10, 11) • Jules Buckley – string and brass arrangements, conducting • Tom Pigott-Smith (leader), Lizzie Ball, Marianne Haynes, Laura Melhuish, Kate Robinson, Charlie Brown, Nicky Sweeney, Jeremy Isaac, Hannah Dawson, Oli Langford – violins • Vicci Wardman, Helen Kamminga, Reiad Chibah – violas • Ian Burdge, Chris Worsey, Katherine Jenkinson – cellos • Richard Pryce – double bass • Richard Watkins, Nigel Black – French horns • Tom Walsh, Louis Dowdeswell, Andy Wood – trumpets, flugelhorns • Callum Au – tenor trombone • Dave Stewart – bass trombone Technical • James Ford – mixing (all tracks), recording (tracks 1–5, 7–12) • Joseph Mount – recording (track 6) • Joe LaPorta – mastering • Billy Foster – engineering assistance • Matt Jaggar – engineering assistance • Lewis Jones – string and brass recording • George Oulton – engineering assistance Artwork • Mat Maitland – creative direction • Dan Sanders – commission, creative • Rory Dewar – artwork • Carlijn Jacobs – photography • Suzanne Beirne – set design ==Charts==