Whether she’s getting real about being a working mum, tweeting about Love Island or joking about finding the perfect Dirty Martini (more on that later), there’s one thing that can be said about musician and podcaster Jessie Ware: she’s refreshingly relatable.
Frank, funny and a little self-deprecating, at 34 Ware admits that she has finally managed to let go of her troublesome 20s, and start to fully love life. “You spend your 20s and teens – more my 20s for me – filled with neuroses and stressing, but my 30s are different,” she says.
“Life feels really good, I am living victoriously at the moment – I feel so much more comfortable in my 30s. You bed in and you work out your priorities; you pick those times when you have your Dirty Martini and you pick the times when you go to bed early. I feel really centred and like there are so many worlds opening up to me.”
It’s not just the way Ware feels about herself that has changed in the past decade, how she socialises has too, meaning that she now finds joy in the smaller, subtler moments which highlight the quality of her friendships.
“I would love to still party with my girlfriends like 2007-2009; even though one has got a baby and one is with child. We all text each other about going on this big night out, it’s really fun fantasising about it. I’d go where Benji B was playing, he’s a great DJ, he plays great tunes.”
As a working mum, Ware admits that it hasn’t always been easy. Juggling a multifaceted day job, as well as two children under three – she has, at times, put pressure on herself to be perfect.
“I was so keen to prove to myself that I could do it all and have it all the first time that I nearly sent myself over the edge,” she says. So now she makes sure she has time for socialising, and for celebrations big and small: “My mum is particularly good fun for sharing a Cosmopolitan with. And I feel so lucky that I have such a fun job, that’s even more varied now than just being in music and that’s been so amazing. The fact that we’ve been to Edinburgh to do Table Manners live is quite a ‘pinch me’ moment, but also quite petrifying. It was such an honour to be involved in that, from what started as just a bit of a hobby.”
But how does a woman with so much on her plate find time for herself?
“I usually rely on other people to help me out to be able to take time for myself – whether it’s my husband taking the baby or my mum helping out, it takes a village. I can’t do it if I don’t have other people helping me, like when I DJed for Grey Goose and my husband and my nanny tag-teamed me.”
Indeed, she credits her husband, Sam Burrows, whom she married in Skopelos, Greece, in August 2017, for helping her to take time out when she needs it. Especially when it comes to taking a break from her phone. “My husband is really good,” she says. “He’s always berating me for being on my phone because I’m glued to it. Whether it’s working or telephone calls or social media, sometimes it takes him to remind me to be in the present. I’d like to be more spontaneous. But I always have to have a plan, I love a schedule.
“I’m not very good at taking moments for myself, so I find the way that I actually feel that I can escape everything is cooking. I love it. I like to do things that are as hassle-free as possible but with lots of flavour, something that won’t take forever but requires me to switch off for like half an hour. Thirty-minute, impressive meals that actually haven’t taken huge amounts of work.”
Little wonder then that her perfect day would be spent with her family and friends, enjoying the small moments. “I’d attempt a lie in and we would sit in bed with all the family and put music on and have tea and toast.
“My perfect day would revolve around eating. My husband can’t understand how I can get so excited about eggs, or why I should be so excited about paying a ridiculous amount for a poached egg. I love it. We’d go somewhere delicious for breakfast, probably Esters in Stoke Newington and then I’d go to the Towpath for lunch – that place is the most popular place in the world. I’d go in the week when all the locals are having their catch-ups. And then we’d have a good walk. Then I’d have the most perfect Grey Goose Dirty Martini as a sundowner – don’t scrimp on the olive juice.”
Ware in the World …
The city break …
“Lisbon is amazing, I played there last year and we had a few days off after. You can get the best seafood, the people are gorgeous and it’s so romantic.”
Favourite cocktail spot
“Gloria in Shoreditch was good fun, everyone’s been Instagramming it. I went there on a girls’ date, but I think it would be really good for a proper date.”
Favourite cocktail
“The Grey Goose Dirty Martini. My mum is someone who really knows how to make one. And she’s taught me [See recipe below]. Go really grimey.”
The songwriting spot …
“LA – even though I never get a good song there! It’s all about the palm trees and the sea view, I love it.”
The place to people watch …
“Paris is the best. They’ve got the right seating in the cafes so you can chill and look out. And the Towpath in Hackney, even if there are always passive-aggressive cyclists passing ringing their bells.”
How to make a Grey Goose Dirty Martini
Ingredients
50ml Grey Goose Vodka
50ml Noilly Prat Original French Dry Vermouth
10ml Mediterranean Olive Brine
2 Mediterranean Olives
Method
Pit four olives and muddle with the olive brine in the base of a Boston glass.
Add Grey Goose and Noilly Prat.
Top with cubed ice and stir.
Fine strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Garnish with a pair of Mediterranean (pref Lucques) olives on a Grey Goose pick.
Check out some cocktail recipes at greygoose.com
