Self Esteem
Prioritise Pleasure
Release Date: Oct 22, 2021
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: Fiction
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Album Review: Prioritise Pleasure by Self Esteem
Absolutly essential, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 5
There's a lot to take in over the course of Self Esteem's second album, Prioritise Pleasure. There's the fact that it's a massive jump in quality from the first album Compliments Please (which is some achievement as that album was, itself, excellent). There's the sheer genre-hopping madness of it: from spoken word, to discordant rock, to proper ‘this will be Number 1 for weeks’ pop music.
Based on rating 10/10
It's in this pursuit of pleasure that Taylor snatches the opportunity to embrace emotion in abundance. "Don't be embarrassed that all you've had is fun" she preaches on gripping centrepiece "I Do This All The Time", her vocals backed by a choir. The inclusion of these choral outbursts throughout the album help to reinstate Taylor's messages of unity, with the sea of vocals welcoming washes of sonic euphoria.
Based on rating 9/10
There's an inevitable stage in most artist's careers where they run out of new things to say. A writer can only mine the past for inspiration for so long, and any success only widens the gap between musician and listener. And yet, now into the second decade of her career and with her seventh album, Rebecca Taylor has more to say than ever. In a year of reserved, stripped-back pop albums, Prioritise Pleasure feels like a bolt from the blue.
Opinion: Excellent
'Prioritise Pleasure' is the second album from Self Esteem, aka Rebecca Taylor, and follows her 2019 debut, 'Compliments Please'. With 'Prioritise Pleasure', Taylor shines as the truly unique alternative popstar that she is. Her vocals are distinctive and, furthermore, she is willing to tackle difficult topics such as consent, while also focusing on self-love, throughout the album.
'Prioritise Pleasure'
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