Self Esteem and her label team have spoken about their ambitions for new album A Complicated Woman, her first record since signing to Polydor.
Released on April 25, the record is the follow-up to Self Esteem’s 2021 album Prioritise Pleasure (Fiction), which has 46,609 sales to date (Official Charts Company).
“At its heart it’s a record about the beauty and chaos of being a woman in your late 30s, with incisive lyrics that will break your heart one minute and have you cry-laughing the next,” said Naomi Williams, Polydor’s senior marketing manager.
Williams noted that Self Esteem’s lyrics will be at the forefront of the campaign.
Louise Latimer, who manages Self Esteem (Rebecca Lucy Taylor) with Cherish Kaya, told Music Week about the “ridiculously small number of sales” (27 copies) that denied the artist a Top 10 result last time. The new label will be aiming to go higher this time.
“We’ve achieved one of our goals, landing the holy trinity of playlist adds at Radio 1, 2 and 6 Music for Focus Is Power, which I think speaks to Rebecca’s hugely broad appeal,” said Polydor’s Naomi Williams. “Streaming is definitely an area we want to grow in, as well as broadening her international fanbase, but I’m confident that with a body of work this strong we’re going to attract a legion of new fans.”
With a breakthrough moment at Glastonbury in 2022, live has been key to Self Esteem’s progress. The new album was launched with a London residency at the Duke Of York’s Theatre in London.
“It’s the straddle between the online world and how far you’re willing to kind of expose everything on TikTok and Instagram, versus Rebecca,” said co-manager Cherish Kaya. “What I think really works for her is being in the room and seeing her speak her lyrics to all of the people that can relate.”
I’m confident that with a body of work this strong we’re going to attract a legion of new fans
Naomi Williams
As she did on Prioritise Pleasure, Taylor has also made use of a choir on A Complicated Woman.
“Using the choir has helped with switching my brain to thinking the music is not just for me,” Taylor explained. “It is about people, it’s for everyone, which is hard to say without sounding really cult-leadery. It’s screaming and shouting at the system and the relief that brings. I also just like harmony and choir and that level of immersive-ness. I hope it goes how I want it to.”
The album features collaborations with Nadine Shah, Moonchild Sanelly, Sue Tompkins from Life Without Buildings and drag queen Meatball. But was she ever tempted by a big pop collaboration?
“Well, firstly, I don’t think Olivia Rodrigo would answer my emails,” said Taylor. “But I think you can always smell the collabs that have come up in the boardroom and those that come from the heart. I did that collab with Becky Hill [2024’s True Colours] because I fucking love her and the song was about what I care about.”
“The collaborations show my brain in one place,” she added.
Subscribers can read the full interview with Self Esteem and her team.
