Self Esteem’s Superbowl-level show on its way to Reading
Make a date for pop star’s Sub89 show next month and hear tracks from her latest album, Prioritise Pleasure. JESS WARREN chats to the star
PREPARING for the launch of her second album, musician Rebecca Lucy Taylor said her latest release tells a story of selfacceptance.
Performing under the name Self Esteem, her solo pop venture began in 2017, following a stint in Indie folk duo Slow Club.
The 11-track album, Prioritise Pleasure, is an evolution from her debut album, Compliments Please.
“I don’t think it’s a wild departure, I think it’s just a more galvanised, focused version of what Compliments Please was,” she told Wokingham. Today.
The album features a female choir and quartet, bringing rich and textured tracks layered with meaning.
“I’m so inspired by group vocal,” she explained. “In my childhood I was obsessed with Sister Act 2. I like singing with a load of other people in harmony, that’s what I love.
“For the second record, I was like, I want every single person that’s ever sung with me to make up this organic choir.
“The girls that work with me are so talented and so incredible — I’m really lucky. You put it all together and it’s very special.”
In April, she released I Do This
All The Time, the first single from Prioritise Pleasure, and was heavily featured on the BBC Radio 6 playlist.
It explores what it’s like to be a woman in your 30s, from everyday sexism, to marriage and friendships, with lyrics including “getting married isn’t the biggest day of your life, all the days you get to have are big”.
She said the first track on the new album, I’m Fine is one that she is really proud of.
“Trying to articulate something so s*** I went through. It was really tough, but a weight lifted, in a way.
“Everyone is like ‘I get the biggest goosebumps’, and people think I’m being very timely saying we’re scared walking home everyday of our lives, and my point is, I wrote this two or three years ago. This has been my life,
this has been our life forever.
“My agenda is to educate and not school, not chastise people and bully them into changing, it’s more like education about the female experience.”
And each song on the album shares a message.
“I feel personally very much in a place of self-acceptance, but knowing the job isn’t over,” she explained.
“I always expected one day something would happen to me, and I’ll be happy. When I’ve got the thing, that will solve everything.
“It’s always a journey, and if you’re lucky, it’s a journey that’s going upwards.”
The album explores confronting your flaws, dealing with pain and trauma, tending to your own needs and being a woman in the 21st century.
“I write these songs for myself,” she said. “I know I’ll spend X amount of years touring them, so what do I want to do every night? It sort of starts in a selfish place.
“I devote my life to figuring out what might help, realising and accepting that it’s a journey.
“I almost feel like I’ve got a life hack cheat code, and I put it into my music to let others in on the secret.
“I’m just selfish, it’s just for me. It’s a form of repetition in a way, but then
I just cannot describe how amazing it is to see people who like Self Esteem getting what they get from it.”
Writing about big topics helps her feel less alone, she said.
“It’s an unbelievable bonus to feel like I’m helping people,” she said. “It’s not what I set out to do particularly, but of course it feels wonderful to do it. It’s authentic.”
She added: “I’m a people-pleasing Libra and this is a great big version of that. I think I can win at being a Libra if I can make this cult of self-care for everyone else.”
Transitioning from folk to pop artist has brought more joy, she explained.
“It’s just what I want to make, it’s what interests me. I guess it is pop. I don’t really think of it as pop, it’s just what I like.
“I like just getting to the point quickly. I like to dance, and I like to feel things really deeply from my tummy, and I’m not very interested in subtlety. I’m not really interested in stuff you can put on at a dinner party.”
Self Esteem is performing in Reading on Monday, November 15, as part of her UK tour.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “We’ve done festivals and it was amazing, but I’m so excited to go into venues of my fans, and see what happens.
“The album will be out, people will know the words.
“The venues are pretty small, and who knows if I’ll be in bigger venues next time, so we are all gagging to do it.”
Despite the size of the stage at Sub89, she is bringing it all.
“Because we’ve been so busy with promo, tour is actually quite relaxing,” she said. “My one job a day is to put on a show, which is the thing I’m best at.
“I knew starting a solo career would be back to the venues I’ve not been in, in quite a while, and I knew that I’d be on at festivals at midday.
“I thought, ‘what’s going to be interesting’, why not use the stage, the lights, the PA, like I would if I was doing the Superbowl.”
“No matter what size they are, they’re still a stage and I’m going to put a show on.
“No matter the venue, we will go for it. I’m giving to you and I’ll give you the best I can.”
Self Esteem will be live at Sub89, on Friar Street from 7.30pm to 11pm.
Tickets cost £16.80 with a £1.80 booking fee.