Ok, so the phrase “Champagne Kisses” might elicit just a tiny bit of nausea. But so do other excessively sugary terms like “unicorn princess” or “reverse mortgage.” Despite its high-fructose moniker, Jessie Ware’s fourth single off of Tough Love is actually a smooth and complex concoction, brimming with steamy builds and lip-licking lyrics.
Jessie channels the larger-than-life pop aesthetic of Lana Del Rey, while still managing to blend in the soft melancholy of Lykke Li. Still, for a listener like myself, it’s far easier to identify with Jessie Ware when she’s accompanied by the endless reverb of SBTRKT, than it is when she’s just fucking crooning about nothing.
But wait! To our sheer delight, here comes our hero Darius to turn a mildly sexy yet conventional release into an absolutely transcendent siren song of seductive bliss. Darius propels the track into a sonic wonderland of infinitely lush expanse and slow-motion orgasm. And if that sounds dramatic, that’s because it is. Darius effortlessly spools the song into almost twice its original length and still makes it feel shorter than before. On “Champagne Kisses”, he drives the track into a practically orchestral climax, and leaves us in bed clawing for a cigarette before nodding off to sleep.
You can stream the track below:
