Self Esteem – Prioritise Pleasure
Rebecca Taylor takes the crown of pop star of the year with Prioritise Pleasure, her second album as Self Esteem
Ever since Rebecca Taylor – formerly one half of Slow Club – put her indie days behind her, she quickly established herself as a fully-fledged pop star with her solo project, Self Esteem. Her 2019 debut, Compliments Please, was easily one of the most exciting releases that year, and Prioritise Pleasure follows suit. On it, Taylor’s vocals are bigger and bolder, and the subject matter more expansive. Voicing the frustrations of fed-up women everywhere, Taylor is simultaneously angry and jubilant, criticising a society that puts women down while celebrating the things that build us up.
'There’s nothing that terrifies a man more than a woman who appears completely deranged,' says an unknown speaker at the end of opening track I’m Fine. The clip is taken from conversations Taylor had with female-identifying creatives when devising a play on consent for The National Youth Theatre in 2019. There are pure pop bangers in Fucking Wizardry and Moody, and cinematic epics in I Do This All the Time and Still Reigning.
Taylor might not have been coming for the crown of pop star of the year, but with Prioritise Pleasure she’s certainly taken it.
Listen to: I Do This All the Time, Moody