Words Lotte Jeffs
Photography Jordan Rossi
Cover Design Yosef Phelan
Stylist Ella Lucia
Stylist Assistant Lola Turner
Earrings MQT
Bra Genevieve Devine
Jacket Rejina Pyo
Skirt Citizens of Humanity

“I want the boys who seek the joy in every corner of the spa
I wanna take off in the night and land in someone else's arms”


Is ‘Sauna’ Jessie Ware’s gayest song yet? I ask the pop star this as she cruises home in the back of a car from a day of promo for her steamy new single. She’s just “shoved a bit of Farmer J salad in [her] mouth”, she tells me over the phone and I imagine her gearing up to switch like Wonder Woman back to civilian life with her husband and kids. 

“I don't know. As a gay person, do you think it's the gayest song yet?” she claps back, with a hearty laugh very familiar to listeners of her award-winning podcast Table Manners, which she hosts with Mum Lenny – officially the campest person in her family, she later confirms. 

“I definitely checked in with some of my queer friends and asked, ‘Is this okay?’ And they were like, ‘Abso-fucking-lutely.’”

‘Sauna’, her latest release from the album Superbloom, is an unapologetically horny romp. And let’s face it – we’re not talking about the community baths she goes to in South East London here. With IYKYK Easter Eggs in the lyrics – like the potential double meaning of chariots (the iconic London gay sauna) and heaven (an equally iconic gay club) this song is for us!

Jessie won’t be pushed on the references but I can hear the wink in her voice: “I definitely checked in with some of my queer friends and asked, ‘Is this okay?’ And they were like, ‘Abso-fucking-lutely.’”

She’s been sauna-ing a lot recently, as a way to decompress from her high-pressure life balancing popstardom with parenthood (she has three kids all under 10). It’s one of the only times she’s without her phone. “Being on my own probably benefits me. I just don't really like my own company that much. So I make friends in the sauna – I’ve definitely been told off for chatting.” 

And if you do bump into her by the hot coals, you’re more likely to find Jessie wearing one of those felt elf hats to regulate her temperature than “looking like Britney in ‘I’m a Slave 4 U’.” But, she adds, “my husband looks really hot when he's a bit sweaty. I'm here for that.”

For Jessie, saunas represent a moment of freedom, something she’s been enjoying more of now her children are out of the stressful baby years. “There's so much good shit going on. I don't want to miss out,” she says of life at the moment. “I just love being with people too much. Then I exhaust myself and have to lie down.”

Ever since ‘Free Yourself’ became our post-covid anthem and catapulted Jessie onto the main stage, I’ve noticed how much more joy emanates from her effortlessly cool disco floor fillers. Listening to Superbloom, I tell her, I felt a real sense of freedom and fun. I’ve known Jessie since she first broke onto the scene with Devotion in 2012. We're at a similar life stage as parents in our 40s and I hard related to the ‘fuck it’ vibe she’s so good at creating. Now is the time to inhabit our body, our sexuality and our power like never before.

“I definitely feel that,” she agrees. “As an artist I'm taking stock and celebrating the fact that I'm still around. I've built a really strong, beautiful fan base who are loyal and understand what I'm trying to do in my music.