After releasing her second album Prioritise Pleasure in October, Self-Esteem will headline at Manchester Cathedral during an eight date UK tour.
Prioritise Pleasure features the singles How Can I Help You, I Do This All The Time and Moody, a song which Self Esteem declared was “a song about reclaiming being a moody cow. My whole life I’ve been referred to as mardy (northern for moody) but lately I’ve been realising as a woman in this world, especially as a woman in the music industry, of fucking course I’m moody! It’s such a slog even getting heard, every day shitting yourself about your safety, the societal expectations. I’d love to be sweet and happy go lucky but I’m afraid I’m too tired to be most of the time.”
Prioritise Pleasure is the follow up to Self Esteem’s 2019 debut album Compliments Please and sets about reminding us of the importance of being ourselves. The album features tracks touching on difficult themes including self-sabotaging habits, trauma-suppression, self-doubt, heartbreak, sexual assaults, all delivered with lyrical wittiness and nuanced songwriting.
The seeds for a large part of the album were sewn during work Self Esteem did in 2019 with The National Youth Theatre, devising a short play with a group of young female-identifying creatives on the topic of consent. As she explains, “It turned into the most amazing month, sitting in a circle and having all these teenage chats. But every now and again, there would be some particular insight that would just put goosebumps all over my body.” One such moment was a story shared by a woman in her early twenties, whose fear of walking at night can be heard on the track. “It sounds so stupid, but me and my friends…if we are approached by a group of men, we will bark like dogs…there is nothing that terrifies a man more than a woman who appears completely deranged.
“It sets the precedent for the whole record; like really, is that what we have to do to feel safe?” says Taylor. “I am so angry that I can’t go on holiday alone. I’m so angry I can’t walk home without someone freaking me out, or worse. And the idea that the only defence we have is to be terrifying is so wrong, but it’s as normalised in society as the idea of feeling heartbroken by a guy that doesn’t text you back enough.”
When does Self-Esteem headline at Manchester Cathedral?
Self-Esteem headlines at Manchester Cathedral on 23 March 2022. The Manchester gig is one of eight UK dates she is playing in February/March 2022:
28 February – Huddersfield, The Parish
1 March – Glasgow, St Lukes
2 March – Leeds, Stylus
3 March – Brighton, Chalk
4 March – Bristol, Trinity
23 March – Manchester, Manchester Cathedral
24 March – London, The Forum
25 March – Sheffield, Octogon
Manchester gigs – Self-Esteem – image courtesy Olivia Richardson
