It’s Gwen Stefani’s “B-A-N-A-N-A-S” if “Hollaback Girl” was about self-flagellation. It’s rare a record makes you feel liberated while talking about dark subject matter - one of the ‘poptastic’ songs is “Moody,” which applies a typical cutesy song structure where she spells out the song’s title to the idea of comments people have made about Taylor’s demeanor. Prioritise Pleasure juxtaposes harsh realities of everyday - hookups, self-reflection, and regret - next to gargantuan themes of joy, pleasure, and self-reliance. It never feels right when doing that,” she mentions. I haven’t had access to all the things these huge stars have access to.’” She recalibrated, and attempted to make a Radio 1, ‘poptastic’ album so she wouldn’t get dropped from her label, but held herself back. “The record label was like, ‘You’re making fuck-all money, so we don’t know if we want you to do another one.’ That was really gutting, because it was like, ‘Of course I haven’t. When I ask Taylor about the process of creating the record, she mentions it started out as largely monetary-based. It is a near-perfect, colossal record, impossibly difficult for me to not recommend it to anyone. That sophomore album made her critics’ breakout darling for 2021.ĭescribed as “life-affirming,” “unabashedly dramatic,” and a “maximalist pop triumph,” Prioritise Pleasure received ten perfect-score reviews and sits atop music aggregation site Album Of The Year’s critic list for 2021. It’s an inventive, endlessly fun album that discussed self-destructive behavior (its standout line is “ When I fall, I like to arch my back”), bisexuality (“Girl Crush”), self-assurance (“Steady I Stand,” “In Time”), and sometimes desperation (“The Best”). Her debut album, Compliments Please, landed in 2019, and critics praised her obvious love of hip-hop with devastatingly personal lyrics. She released the double single “Your Wife” / “Omg” in 2017, a year after Slow Club’s final album, and had a tongue-in-cheek glint at humor she has in abundance today: “ Yeah, your wife thinks of me / While you’re thinking of me,” she opens. But as it was clear in the rumbling anxiety of some of her music, there was a need to break out, to explore creatively and develop her own sense of style. If you’re craving more Self Esteem-isms (deeply felt lyrics along with a personal vocal performance), 2014’s Complete Surrender has them in spades. But I’ve sold out three nights in London in a place you only play once.”įor the first 12 years of her music career, Taylor was one half of Slow Club, a Sheffield-based folk band that released five albums, which scored fairly decently among critics. She’s the “Bermuda Triangle of music,” she says. The record’s momentum is extremely rare, but as Taylor keeps booking gigs (UK’s game show Taskmaster, or her US debut with The Late Late Show With James Corden), people keep tuning into the album and what she has to say. When we talk, Taylor, known by her stage name Self Esteem, is in the middle of a sold-out UK tour promoting that same sophomore album, a year and a half after its release - practically unheard of for an artist just breaking through. “All I’m ever doing is processing my own shit on my own time, and the songs reflect that.” “I think if it resonates with you, it feels like gateway therapy,” she says. A year later, when I speak to her over Zoom, I ask her what she thinks it is about her music that rings true so deeply with people: It’s not uncommon to see people tattoo her lyrics on their bodies, or appreciate her unflinching confidence. That was March 2022, six months after Prioritise Pleasure had changed my mindset and validated my belief system, which seemed at odds with the party school I was attending at the time: That it’s fine if you want to stay home and read instead, and nothing is wrong with how you feel. When I said I was a Virgo, she shook her head, said, “Makes sense.” Prioritise Pleasure, Self Esteem’s sophomore album, released October 2021 She listened intently as I rambled, then asked what my sign was. In the back room after a packed show at Los Angeles’ Moroccan Club, I was lucky enough to quickly tell her how much her music, specifically her sophomore album, Prioritise Pleasure, has meant to me.
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