The newest song I can’t stop listening to is “Say You Love Me” by British artist Jessie Ware. It’s one of the singles off her sophomore album, Tough Love, which is already out in the UK, but because of dumb international release date differences is not due out in the US until October 21. Luckily NPR Music has the album up right now as part of their First Listen series. If it were possible to wear out a digital copy I might have done so because I have pretty much been listening to it on repeat. The whole album is fantastic, but this is the first song I heard off of it and for now it’s still the highlight.

It’s a great soulful sounding R&B pop song, which is different than what I feel like we normally get when a BritPop star also makes it big in the States. She sort of reminds me of what Alicia Keys was doing back in the early 2000s. Although I would like it anyway, what really kicks this song into the amazing category is when the chorus turns into a choir with hand clapping. I am a sucker for hand clapping. The fact that these things aren’t pervasive throughout the song, but instead the song just sort of build to this crescendo you didn’t know was coming and then just as quickly goes right back to what it was doing is magic. It gets even better on subsequent listens because you know it’s coming so the anticipation builds. Go ahead and take a listen and be sure to check out the whole album as well.