At the Commodore on Monday, April 8

The last time Jessie Ware played Vancouver, she was a back-up singer without so much as a song or record deal to her name. Nowadays, the London-born chanteuse is on the brink of shiny pop-soul stardom, slowly bewitching North America just like she’s seduced her dear old Blighty.

This might be behind the winning smile that she wore all night during her Straight Series show at the Commodore Monday night. Riding on the high of her acclaimed debut Devotion, Ware was greeted by a lively crowd of adoring devotees (pun intended) when she took the stage after New York-based openers MS MR.

Kicking off with the album’s alt-R&B title track, Ware’s perfectly refined voice, in the vein of a huskier Emeli Sandé, induced cheers and blissful shimmies right off the bat. And when the singer ended the song by running—well, scuttling, in towering high heels—off-stage to deal with a technical difficulty, spirits weren’t at all dampened.

“It’s a proper operation now!” Ware announced with a laugh while a trio of roadies helped her with her earpiece.

As she breezed through the ’80s-pop inspired “Night Light” and the sweetly fluttery “If You’re Never Gonna Move”, the songbird’s almost nonstop banter would have been tiresome if she wasn’t so damn charming. Whether she was remarking on the cuteness of a couple in the audience or confessing to spending the previous night puking, her stage presence was refreshingly honest and down to earth.

Referring to a particularly orgasmically enchanted, hands-in-the-air front-row, she quipped, “Vancouver, you are the loudest, touchiest crowd.” And after mimicking their fist pumping, she teased, “I feel like I’m somewhere in between Justin Bieber and Limp Bizkit with you lot.”

Even with her cheeky mood and a very English cup of tea at her side, Ware seemed to take a few songs to loosen up, yet even then she never truly unwound and cut loose. But calm and collected seemed to suit her understated style just fine. And her happy-go-lucky sense of humour was offset nicely by her sad, longing eyes and all-black, vampy attire.

Although her audience was grooving like nobody was watching, Ware’s moves consisted of little more than a classy hand twirl here and a bum wiggle there. She never lost her velvety smooth composure, besides a few pulled faces and self-deprecating jokes.

Equally chilled out were Ware’s backing band, whose drummer Dornik Leigh enjoyed some center-stage attention during “Valentine”. The lullaby-like duet, originally released as a single on heart-shaped vinyl, caused more than a few fans to swoon due to what Ware dubbed Leigh’s “dulcet tones”.

It was a surprise to no one when the rising star capped off the slow-burning set with “Wildest Moments” and “Running”, her crowning hits to date and two of the most intensely received tunes of the night. Here Ware seemed to lose herself in the music more completely, hitting her big notes with a little more abandon, a little less restraint.

And as driven home by the two fans who actually high fived after Ware finished belting “Running” out, she couldn’t have done a better job of nailing the song’s final notes. It's no wonder this former backup singer now has her own name in lights. If the cheers for more as she slinked humbly off-stage were any indication, North America is officially ready for this ambitious Brit.