With the launch of the new album A Complicated Woman, there's plenty to celebrate for Self Esteem. We dropped in to one of her very special Rescue Rooms shows and found the pop artist on exceptional form, despite some tiredness...
It is hard not to idolise (born Rebecca Lucy Taylor) as we literally look up at her and her four vocalists on stage at Rescue Rooms. They sing so harmoniously together and it feels like they are a close knit bunch based on the way they perform so well together.
Rebecca took the pop world by storm in 2021 with the very honest album Prioritise Pleasure and, on this night, we are treated to an acoustic set from the at times (seemingly) fearless artist. While Rebecca is "brave" enough to speak her truths, she is also brave enough to be vulnerable through her music. It is a difficult balance to strike but is partly what makes her so unique as an artist.
She sings with so much conviction and her words of hope through pain really resonate with us. The emotions she conjures with the songs she performs - about heartbreak, rejection, shattered dreams - are so raw and when she ends the set with I Do This All The Time, the lyrics (during the half-hour long acoustic set) cut so deep we find our bottom lips fully quivering and have to use all our power not to be spotted crying in the crowd.
Through a range of songs, Rebecca describes feeling “depressed” after her last album but caveats that there is always hope in her music.
She started the set by singing a few of the songs from the new album A Complicated Woman including tracks The Curse and Focus Is Power (which includes the iconic lyrics "I deserve to be here") and the inspiring If Not Now, It's Soon before jumping into "old" ones such as F*****g Wizardry.
The "very tired" Rebecca was giggling at times throughout the set and her friendship with her vocalists was evident as they exchanged secret looks and in jokes while on stage. However, we wonder if Rebecca may have been so tired she was slightly delirious because at another point in the performance she totally blanked and forgot what she was going to say and sing. We won't hold it against her because it added to her realness as an artist. She has a likeability factor and has the talent to match.
The matinee show at Rescue Rooms (in collaboration with Rough Trade Nottingham) was to celebrate Self Esteem's new album. Rebecca even joked that it would hurt her ego if the upcoming album didn't do better that her last (which charted at No. 11) and was "the most 'me' thing to happen," she joked.
To be frank, acoustic shows can be hard to pull off as there are no smoke and mirrors to hide behind but Rebecca sang so effortlessly and naturally for an exceptionally special, intimate show. She really is a relatable, down-to-Earth superstar-in-the-making.
As we left, we heard a fan exclaim, “She is such an advocate for women!” And we couldn’t agree more.
Despite wanting to bawl our eyes out in that final song, we left Rebecca’s set feeling lighter. And more hopeful in our own lives, too. Her music, and the life experiences which inform it, touch so many people. Let’s hope A Complicated Woman can make it into the Top 10 in the UK album charts this time!
Self Esteem performed at Rescue Rooms on 23rd April 2025. Her new album A Complicated Woman is out now.
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