Riding high from the release of her sophomore album Prioritise Pleasure, SELF ESTEEM (aka Rebecca Taylor) has taken to the roads of the UK to spread the word about its release.

Prioritise Pleasure is the follow up to her acclaimed 2019 debut album Compliments Please and features her recent single ‘I Do This All The Time,’ which made the Radio 1 and 6 Music playlists and was the subject of a much talked-about performance on Later... With Jools Holland.

As Self Esteem, Rebecca Taylor has shaken off the shackles of her indie band past to become the unapologetic pop star she always wanted to be. 

Tonight sees the UK tour starting to apply the brakes as the Self Esteem bus pulled into Exeter where she’ll be gracing the stage of The Phoenix in the heart of the city centre, let’s head there now and see what’s going on….

To see the venue full on a Tuesday evening is amazing, a sure fire sign that people feel safer venturing out to enjoy live entertainment once again after spending so long cooped up like battery hens, waiting to be told by our wonderful government. The bar was bustling with people and I’d have expected a much younger demographic but instead, there were people of all ages that had come along to witness this spectacular artist in a very intimate environment.

Human Interest took to the stage to open up the evening’s entertainment, it took me a couple of tracks to get the feel of them but after 20 mins, I had made my mind up that the mix of upbeat, melodic post-punk, fused with groovy basslines and a killer rock n’ roll beats firmly lodged them into the ‘must check them out later’ folder of my musical brain. The between song banter was sharp and witty, I could hear hints of many bands in their music, greats such as Pixies and Talking Heads were there. As the set wore on, the guitar became more angular, riffs that reminded me of the off-kilter approach of newer acts such as Squid came to mind and come the end, they had definitely won some new fans.

Between acts, I met Sarah Gosling (BBC Introducing/Radio Devon) in the bar and we had a great chat, she told me about how she had been a follower of Self Esteem for some time now and regaled a story about when she was asked to open up the main stage at lunchtime on a Sunday which really helped her to reach a lot of people at a great festival.

At 9:30pm sharp, the background music dropped and the drummer and bass/keyboard player took to the stage and kicked out a fantastic beat which welcomed Rebecca Taylor and her two backing singers/dancers to the stage. From the start, she made it clear that this was going to be one energetic show, dance moves accompanied every track and I was worn out after track 3 and that was just watching them!

Tracks lifted from her new album ‘Prioritise Pleasure’ sounded immense, the electronic samples, live bass and drums created an almost tribal feel to the sound and with the dancers doing their thing, the show was complete, firm faves for the audience included the title track and ‘Fucking Wizardry’ which got everyone up and dancing in no time at all.

The quality of musicianship on display was incredible, as I mentioned above, the tracks were created with a deep dark layer of synths, live bass guitar and drums which sounded incredible in the auditorium. Rebecca and her backing singers created some kick-ass vocal harmonies which ranged from heartfelt ballads to joyful, empowering songs which pleased the capacity audience no end.

Self Esteem has certainly embraced the genre of ‘pop’ with her tight vocals and the energetic dance routines but it was the music that added an extra layer with its more funk infused style which bought the act into a new dimension, the whole package really would appeal to anyone.

Being a proficient drummer, it was great to see Rebecca swap positions with the bass player and take to the floor toms, again, creating an ethereal, almost tribal feel to the end of one song, this girl got talent!

‘Just Kids’ sounded great, Rebecca strapping on a guitar and performed with just a light piano backing, a short but sweet track that demonstrated she has the ability to take things down a notch or two but still remain a powerhouse on the stage.

The set came to a close with ‘I Do This All The Time’ with it’s mixture of singing and spoken word, as it came to a close, it was clear that she hadn’t finished yet….

After a short break, Rebecca and her backing singers took to the photo pit at the front of the stage and played a wonderful acapella version of ‘John Elton’, no amplification was used and after a couple of vocal harmony issues, they were off, the stage lights cast a shimmering glow over the audience as they swayed in time to this truly wonderful song.

‘The Best’, lifted from her debut album Compliments Please bought the show to a close, another pop-fuelled banger which saw the audience giving it all in a last ditched attempt of squeezing as much as they could from this cool Tuesday evening in Exeter.

You know when you see an act and you can’t help but feel that it won’t be long until they’re gracing main stages of key festivals all over the place? Well, tonight was one of these nights. You won’t have to keep an eye on Self Esteem as she’ll be all over the place in 2022 and is destined to be HUGE, mark my words!

Words and Pictures by Steve Muscutt